Counselling and primary prevention

Counsellors and counselling services are frequently involved in primary prevention work. Increasingly these services are required to help immediately after major disasters, an implicit assumption being made that normal social support networks will be unable to cope. A review of the literature suggests extensive participation of counsellors in primary prevention activities despite difficulties in definition, training and funding, and evidence that some interventions may be ineffective or harmful. It is suggested that counsellors providing primary prevention services should be aware of the complex practice and philosophy issues surrounding such efforts, and should be rigorous in assessing the real effects of primary prevention activity.     

Counselling and primary prevention

Counsellors/therapists have much to contribute to preventionists concerning the social causes of individual distress. Such insights will lead to efforts to change society to reduce the environmental stresses, including racism, sexism, ageism and homophobia that lead to emotional problems in members of groups at risk. Political efforts by conservatives stress the medical model argument that all mental disorders are diseases or dejects of the brain and/or genes, thereby making social changes unnecessary. An alliance between counsellors and preventionists is necessary to oppose this personal defect position. The struggle for a more just and equalitarian society goes on. We must work together in this struggle.     

The deconstruction of primary narcissism

The author examines Winnicott ’s contribution to Freud ’s concept of primary narcissism. In Mourning and melancholia, Freud laid the foundations for this contribution, but it was Winnicott who turned it into a clinically useful concept. There are three of Winnicott’s ideas that can be seen as preliminary stages to his theory of transitional phenomena and illusion. They serve as an introduction to thinking about the analysis of the analysand ’s primary narcissism and the theoretical prerequisites that make the interpretation of primary narcissism possible. Through the exploration of three main points in Winnicott’s writings the author shows how Winnicott’s conceptualizations are both new and a continuation of Freud ’s thinking. His ideas are thus part of the overall theoretical pattern of Freud ’s metapsychology. The three main points are as follows: 1. In bringing maternal care and the presence of the psychic environment into the construction of primary narcissism, Winnicott made it possible to analyse narcissism. His ideas enable us to stand back from the characteristic solipsism of narcissism, which holds that everything comes from the self and only from the self. The latter concept tends to eliminate the role of the object and environment in the construction of the self. At the same time, by deconstructing the way in which the self is infiltrated by a certain number of narcissistic postulates, Winnicott made it possible to interpret the theory of narcissism itself. 2. Between the individual and the sense of self, Winnicott inserted the maternal object and her function as a mirror of affects who acts as a medium for the organization of self-identity. Primary identity is established through the construction and elimination of a narcissistic identification that becomes meaningful in the context of a primary homosexual relationship functioning as a ‘double’. 3. A process of differentiation that governs the discovery of the object is in a dialectical relationship with narcissistic identification. That process can be understood only in terms of the responses made by the primary psychic environment to the baby’s primary aggression.     

Archetype and object: primary deintegration and primary love in analytical play therapy with young children

Jungian and post-Jungian theory of the development of the child's psyche is reviewed. A discrimination between primary and secondary deintegration is suggested. Post-Freudian theory regarding primary object relations is integrated with the Jungian model. The two approaches can contribute synergistically to inform and advance play therapy with young children. Patients from widely diverse cultural backgrounds use their relationship with the therapist as a helpful person (object), and engage in archetypal material from the collective unconscious, to help them work on and through their unresolved emotional issues.     

Perspectives on scapegoating in primary groups

Theory and research related to the scapegoat role and scapegoating processes in primary groups are reviewed. This review and evaluation of the literature leads to the conclusion that scapegoating phenomena, though often highly stressful, can contribute significantly to individual and group development. Treatment issues and approaches are discussed.     

Depression secondary prevention in primary care

In order to analyse efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency of several depression secondary prevention programs, three group interventions were developed in Primary Care Centres: cognitive-behavioral therapy, promotion of one's coping resources therapy (just paying attention to abilities, without training) and social support. The sample was composed by 60 people with from-mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms, who were randomly assigned either to any of the treatments or to a control group (waiting list). Psychopathology, quality of life and attendance to mental health services variables were assessed at pretest, posttest and two follow-up evaluations, 6 and 12 months afterwards. Outcomes: both therapies had more efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency compared to the social support group, and this one was better than the waiting list.     

The factorial isolation of primary abilities

This is an experimental study of the isolation, by factor methods, of primary abilities from a battery of tests given to 240 students. The range and nature of the fifty-six tests is briefly described. Tentative interpretations of the twelve orthogonal primary factors are given.     

Power stress in primary school children

Motivation and Emotion - In this paper, we demonstrate that, in accordance with research on adults, children with high implicit power motive show power stress when their need for influence cannot...     

Varimax solution for primary mental abilities

The varimax solution for Thurstone's classic Primary Mental Abilities study is presented. Comparisons between the factors of Thurstone's original subjectively rotated factor pattern, Zimmerman's subjectively revised solution, Wrigley, Saunders, and Neuhaus' quartimax results, and the present varimax factor matrix are made by finding correlations between factors defined by these four solutions. It is pointed out that any possible ultimate merit of the varimax solution should be based on its psychological meaningfulness and on the rationale of the varimax criterion—not on its relationship to the other studies.The computations for this paper were done on Illiac, an electronic computer of the Digital Computer Laboratory of the University of Illinois. Mr. S. M. Hunka assisted in these computations.     

Swedish primary school pupils' inter-ethnic relationships

The aim of the Swedish educational policy is educional participation and academic achievement for all children, irrespective of ethnic backgroud. Majority lauguage instruction is an imortant tool used to achieve this goal. We argue that taking lessons in Swedish-as-a-second-lanuage (S2) sets children apart in their class and limits their possibilities to interact with Swedish children and the immigrant children, who do not receive S2-lessons. In accordance with the contact hypothesis, we assumed that this limitation would have a negative impact on peer evaluation of these pupils' social competence. 394 children in ethnically mixed classes (grades 4–6) participated in the study reported in this article. As hypothesized, S2-children's sociability was evaluated significantly lower than that of Swedish children. Immigrant children, who do not have S-2 lessons, do not have significantly lower scores. These findings were confirmed, using teachers' evaluations of children's social competence. It is suggested that more research is needed to investigate whether communicative skills, academic competence, or, perhaps, the organizational consequences of extra language lessons play a role in children's assessments of peer social competence.