Reversal theory and psychotherapy: A review

The present paper aims to review the emerging practice of structural phenomenological psychotherapy derived from the theory of psychological reversals and to provide some extensions of this practice. The paper does not provide a full account of reversal theory, which is available elsewhere (Apter, 1982; Apter et al., 1985). It does, however, provide an account of the way in which this theory can be applied to the practice of therapy. Throughout this paper, counselling and psychotherapy are regarded as synonymous.     

Using cultural theory to analyze psychotherapy

This paper introduces cultural theory, which used to be called Grid-Group theory, as a useful model to provide a basis for ordering research, for understanding face-to-face relationships and linking together various levels of human experience.     

Group psychotherapy and neuro-plasticity: an attachment theory perspective

This article selectively highlights relevant areas of neuroscience research which have direct application for attachment theory and group psychotherapy. Emerging evidence from the neurosciences is revealing that the developing brain of the infant, sculpted by the earliest attachment relationships, continues to be malleable in adulthood and can be profoundly influenced by ongoing relationships throughout one's lifespan. Advances in the neurosciences are also supporting the idea that strong attachment bonds and external interpersonal interactions that arise within the context of these attachments are registered as a person's neurophysiology and neurobiology. Attachment theory in particular provides a common language and conceptual framework from which the contributions from the neurosciences can be made applicable to group psychotherapy.     

Implications of attachment theory for working in psychoanalytic psychotherapy

John Bowlby's Attachment Theory is being increasingly operationalised in the world of developmental research, but as yet its implications for clinical work are relatively less discussed. This paper addresses the issue of the measurement of attachment patterns and how knowledge of these can inform psychoanalysts’ work with their patients. It looks at the implications of Attachment Theory at all stages of the therapeutic process, but concentrates particularly on how it can help with the crucial phase of building the working alliance.     

Sustained empathic focus and the clinical application of self-psychological theory in group psychotherapy

The concept of focus can provide a meaningful bridge between theory and practice. The authors' aim in this paper is to demonstrate that for theory to be clinically useful, it should provide a sense of focus and organization for clinical work. They illustrate how their particular use of a self-psychological/intersubjective model leads to an emphasis on what they refer to as "sustained empathic focus." The authors' choice of concepts leads them consistently to stress the patient's subjective experience and emerging vulnerability.     

The return of the trauma theory: Implications for hermeneutic psychotherapy

Abstract

Myth is a narrative that can preserve or alter social and political structures by its authoritative utterance under appropriate conditions. This kind of narrative shares the same normative rules as perlocutionary or performative speech acts. A performative is a category of speech act which, by its very pronouncement, can change a person's role, status or identity, or an object's significance or meaning. Speech acts have the performative power to change behavior if they are institutionalized and taken seriously by a community.     

Contributions of object relations theory and self psychology to relational psychology and group psychotherapy

Object relations theory and self psychology are psychoanalytic perspectives that are especially concerned with interpersonal relations and their mental representations. Object relations theory began as an intrapsychic "singleton" psychology with the work of Freud and Melanie Klein. It subsequently evolved into a multi-person psychology with the work of Bion on groups, as well as the clinical and theoretical contributions of Winnicott and Fairbairn. Kohutian self psychology, which emerged later, has been interested in the relations between the self and significant others as mirroring and idealizing "self-objects." Stolorow's "inter-subjective perspective" emerged from self psychology as a full-fledged multi-person point of view. This article considers the significance of contemporary object relations theory and self psychology as relational, multi-person perspectives in terms of their application to group psychotherapy, focusing upon the group-as-a-whole, projective identification, transitional space and object, and self/self-object relations as particularly useful constructs. A clinical vignette is provided.