Psychoanalysis,a Bridge Between Attachment Research and Neurobiology

Attachment theory and neurobiology are at the forefront of scientific research, particularly in the area of child psychiatry. Several authors have encountered a surprising isomorphism between findings in these areas and concepts central in psychoanalysis. The author postulates that attachment theory is an outcome of the history of the transformation of the old concept of libido now applied interpersonally. The author also postulates that the neurobiology of attachment mediates but does not substitute psychoanalysis for the final understanding of the human bond. Findings in both fields, attachment theory and psychobiology, often compellingly lead to psychoanalytic concepts; on the other hand, the neurobiology of the psyche does not make full sense without the wealth of research conducted by psychoanalysts during the 20th century. The concept of seduction in particular, in its broad sense, is akin to mirroring and attachment and a useful tool in this regard. Although some cling to the idea of the purity of psychoanalysis and see these kin areas as a threat to its integrity, the author believes that psychoanalysis, serving as a bridge between them, can only be enriched by their empirical and experimental outcomes.The American Journal of Psychoanalysis (2008) 68, 148-155. doi:10.1057/ajp.2008.4.     

Attachment,Recognition, and Secondary Trauma: Reply to Commentaries

This response first addresses the interimplication of attachment and recognition in couples work and reargues that disorganized attachment is the central dynamic underlying the emotional torment of failing relationships. In the second section, the author expands upon the secondary trauma that haunts the therapist who is trying to hold and contain the destructiveness that couples “on the brink” can enact.     

Advances in Neuropsychoanalysis,Attachment Theory,and Trauma Research: Implications for Self Psychology

In 1971, Heinz Kohut, trained in neurology and then psychoanalysis, published The Analysis of the Self, a detailed exposition of the central role of the self in human existence. This classic volume of both twentieth century psychoanalysis and psychology was more than a collection of various clinical observations—rather it represented an overarching integrated theory of the development, structuralization, psychopathogenesis, and psychotherapy of disorders of the self. Although some of these ideas were elaborations of previous psychoanalytic principles, a large number of his concepts, including an emphasis on self rather than ego, signified an innovative departure from mainstream psychoanalysis and yet a truly creative addition to Freud's theory.     

Group Therapy for Loss: Attachment,Intersubjectivity, and Healing

Loss is a fundamental human experience that can impact a person’s mental health in diverse ways. While this experience is potentially formative, harmful manifestations can fracture one’s sense of self and undermine relational health. In this article, we present a rationale for process-oriented group therapy focused on healing relational injuries associated with loss. We draw on attachment, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, and Yalom & Leszcz’s (2005) model of group psychotherapy to explore how group processes allow clients to work through losses and relational frustrations in the here-and-now. A case vignette and discussion offer practical insight on the ways in which loss manifests in the room and demonstrate the uniqueness of the group setting for reparative processing.     

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children’s self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children’s self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother’s beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children’s negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child’s perspective. Children’s greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children’s emotion understanding to these processes.     

Suicide in Group Therapy: Trauma and Possibility

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the experiences of two different long term psychodynamic psychotherapy groups in which a patient suicided. The acute reactions and longer term process of each group is described in detail and discussed. The reactions of the two leaders, married to each other and in a shared supervisory group with the late Anne Alonso, and their own working through of the traumatic losses are explored. Their experiences highlight the importance of open discussion of the suicides in the groups, consultation with senior colleagues, and continual processing of their own reactions as a means of fostering posttraumatic growth. The authors discuss their experience in light of the literature on trauma in groups and the emerging literature on posttraumatic growth and they reflect on implications for the community of group therapists.     

Emotion Dysregulation,Mentalization and Romantic Attachment in the Nonclinical Adolescent Female Sample

The main goal of the current study is to verify the relationships between emotion dysregulation, mentalization, and romantic attachment in late adolescent girls (N = 120). Adolescence is a very dynamic and sensitive period, in which many changes occur in attachment and emotion regulation. The role of the primary attachment figures is gradually taken over by peers, and the beginnings of the development of romantic attachment are seen. In summary, this study was able to determine that the level of dysregulation of emotions in girls during late adolescence can be partially explained by mentalization and levels of anxiety (though not of avoidance) regarding a romantic partner, though attachment anxiety is more important for explaining emotion dysregulation than the level of mentalization. Only two aspects of emotion dysregulation show relationships with mentalization: nonacceptance of emotional responses and lack of emotional clarity. Adolescence is considered to be a critical period for interventions to protect against the onset of psychopathology. Confirmation of these relationships appears to be important for the design of therapeutic interventions. Our findings may suggest that attachment patterns, mentalization and emotion dysregulation may be good targets for therapeutic intervention in adolescence.     

Treating Insecure Attachment in Group Therapy: Attachment Theory Meets Modern Psychoanalytic Technique

Attachment theory is a comprehensive, empirically supported theory of emotional, relational, and neurophysiological development. Modern psychoanalysis is a theory of technique that addresses early psychological deficits and conflicts considered beyond the reach of traditional psychoanalysis. Both orientations have influenced the theory and practice of group psychotherapy and emphasize personality maturation as a treatment goal. This paper explores their potential synergies when treating preoedipal, insecurely attached emotional states, disrupted emotional self-regulation, and impaired mentalization. Theoretical and technical applications are suggested that may enhance the treatment of disordered attachment in group psychotherapy. By addressing insecure attachment as resistance, modern psychoanalytic techniques may engage the emotional substrates of the attachment process to facilitate the expansion of relational capacities, mentalization, self-regulation, the differentiation of self/other representations, and epistemic trust.     

Feminism,Therapy, and Changing the World

ABSTRACT

In this essay, Miriam Greenspan reviews her life’s work as an early pioneer of Feminist Therapy, the influence of her birth in a displaced person’s camp to parents who were Holocaust survivors, and her development as a feminist, social activist, and psychotherapist. She discusses her most influential works, including A New Approach to Women & Therapy (1983 Greenspan, M. (1983). A new approach to women & therapy. New York: McGraw Hill. [Google Scholar], 1993 Greenspan, M. (1993). A new approach to women & therapy (10th anniversary ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. [Google Scholar]) and Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair (2003 Greenspan, M. (2003). Healing through the dark emotions: The wisdom of grief, fear, and despair. Boston: Shambhala. [Google Scholar]). She concludes with a look back at her own spiritual evolution, her assessment of the ultimate contribution of Feminist Therapy to society, the need for a wide model of therapy that incorporates the political and spiritual dimensions of experience, and the challenges that psychology and psychotherapy face in an age of global threat.     

成人依恋、情绪调节与主观幸福感:重新评价和表达抑制的中介作用

通过对1163名大学生被试进行成人依恋关系、情绪调节策略的使用以及主观幸福感的测查,该研究从情绪调节这一新的视角,深入探讨了成人依恋对主观幸福感产生影响的可能机制。结果发现:重新评价策略的使用在依恋安全对主观幸福感影响中具有重要的中介作用;依恋回避直接影响个体的主观幸福感;表达抑制对主观幸福感影响不显著。这些结果表明重新评价策略的使用是成人依恋关系影响个体主观幸福感的一个重要途径。     

学习障碍儿童的社会信息处理、依恋及情绪调节特点

SIP是儿童社交能力的一个重要组成部分,它给儿童提供一个如何处理及解读社会情境中发生的社会线索的模型,并且根据这些线索作出行为和情绪上的决定。作为一个社会认知能力,SIP被认为是学习障碍儿童中最具有挑战性的领域之一。潜在的认知加工过程和情绪处理过程对SIP六阶段步骤起重要作用。过去的研究注重儿童认知能力对SIP能力的作用。在此研究中,我们新增了儿童的情感纽带如(安全依恋)以及强调儿童管理情绪的能力对儿童SIP能力的作用。本文通过对学习障碍儿童的情绪管理、依恋质量及社会信息加工特点的研究,希望提供关于安全依恋和情绪管理在学习障碍儿童中社会信息加工的作用一些理论参考。     

Examining School Attachment,Social Support,and Trauma Symptomatology Among Court-Involved,Female Students

Court-involved youth (i.e., youth in the foster care and/or juvenile justice systems), and particularly those in residential placement facilities, often present with trauma histories that can impede various areas of development and functioning. These traumatic histories can negatively impact academic performance and school success, leading to poorer outcomes later in life. In particular, female youth in these systems exhibit unique responses to traumatic experiences that further complicate healthy development. This study assesses female, court-involved students (n?=?141), exploring the relationship between school attachment and school involvement, school social support (from peers, teachers, and other staff), and trauma symptomatology among a sample of residential placement students exposed to a trauma-informed teaching intervention over the course of a school year. It was hypothesized that higher school attachment/involvement and social support would be associated with lower student trauma symptomatology. As expected, findings demonstrated that students in the sample had experienced high trauma exposure, as indicated by their high trauma symptomatology. Unexpectedly, they also had high school attachment. Furthermore, higher school attachment was associated with lower trauma symptoms among students. On the other hand, students reported lower levels of social support from classmates, which was associated with significantly higher trauma symptomatology. Implications for future research are addressed.     

Posttraumatic Growth in Trauma Survivors: Associations With Attachment to God and God Representation

Individuals often turn to religion or spirituality to cope with or make sense of trauma. In this study of 222 university students who reported a history of trauma, we examined whether God representation and attachment to God were associated with posttraumatic outcomes. Trauma outcomes include both the negative impacts of trauma and the perceived posttraumatic growth (PTG) that can occur in trauma survivors. Results revealed that both an authoritarian representation of God and an avoidant attachment to God were predictive of experiences of PTG.     

Changing Me,Changing Us: Relationship Quality and Collective Efficacy as Major Outcomes in Systemic Couple Therapy

We examine the sensitivity to change in the Evaluation of Social Systems (EVOS) scale, which assesses relationship quality and collective efficacy. In Study 1 we conducted a waitlist‐control, short‐term couple therapy RCT study (N = 43 couples) with five systemic therapy sessions treating communication and partnership problems; our intent was to provide high external validity. Construct validity of EVOS was assessed by comparison with additionally applied scales (Family Scales; Outcome Questionnaire, OQ‐45.2). In Study 2, N = 332 individuals completed an experiment with high internal validity in order to verify sensitivity to change in three different social contexts. Results from Study 1 revealed a significant increase in relationship quality in the treatment group directly after treatment, as compared to the control group. Sensitivity to change was slightly better for EVOS than for other measures. While this positive change could not be fully sustained between posttreatment and a 4‐week follow‐up, EVOS score did not fall below baseline and pretreatment levels, supporting moderate‐to‐large sensitivity to change. Study 2 supported high sensitivity to change in EVOS for couple relations, family relations, and work‐team relationships. Therefore, EVOS can be used as an outcome measure to monitor the process of systemic interventions focusing on relationship quality and collective efficacy. Due to its sensitivity to change, EVOS can provide evidence for treatment success with regard to relationship aspects.     

The Importance of Emotion Regulation in Understanding Attachment and Intersubjectivity: A Comment on Lyons-Ruth

This discussion provides a commentary on Lyons-Ruth's article examining the interface between attachment and intersubjectivity. First, this commentary posits that it may be useful to conceptualize proximity-seeking behaviors more broadly in order to encompass the types of communicative bids observed in the affective face-to-face interactions of parents and infants. Such a revision to this concept underscores the similarity between primitive proximity-seeking behaviors and the drive for intersubjectivity, which may fundamentally constitute part of the same motivational system. Finally, this article argues that both Lyons-Ruth and others have discussed the role of the attachment relationship as promoting the regulation of affects of all valences as opposed to just distress and that the augmentation and regulation of positive affect within the attachment relationship may be a promising direction for future research and theory.