The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child,Volume VI Edited by Ruth S. Eissler,Anna Freud,Heinz Hartmann,Ernst Kris

Abstract

The effect of affective group bibliotherapy (GB) was compared to affective group therapy (GT) on patients’ functioning in therapy and their session impression. Three small groups totaling twenty–five in–patients in a hospital in Israel participated in the study. Clients concurrently participated in both group types, undergoing three sessions in each condition. In–therapy behaviors were assessed through the Client Behavior System (CBS; Hill &; O’Brien, 1999). Results indicated that in the GB condition compared to the GT condition, clients showed less resistance, used simple responses less frequently, and expressed greater affective exploration. The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ; Stiles et al., 1994) was used to measure clients’ impressions of the sessions. Results indicated that patients evaluated the two treatment conditions equally. Overall, the results support earlier findings, suggesting that affective bibliotherapy can be an effective method of treatment.     

Psychoanalytic Education,Vol. V. Science and Psychoanalysis Edited by Jules H. Masserman

This article uses a psychoanalytic ego-psychological framework to examine the regression experienced by an individual group member and the defenses mobilized to counter it, focusing in particular on the defensive functions of constituting leadership somewhere in the group. The leader, regarded as an internal object in the member's object world, is hypothesized to be a combination of projected and personified part-objects and at the same time an integrating whole object. Various phenomena of group life are discussed from this viewpoint, notably the lability of the relationship with the leader, the externalization of various endopsychic regulations, and the conditions supporting the defensive utility of the leader for the group member. The foundation for the emergence of social roles and consensual perception of the group and its leadership becomes apparent. A strictly intrapsychic view is maintained throughout.     

La Psychanalyse D'Aujourd' hui (Psychoanalysis of Today), Vol. I Edited by S. Nacht

In-depth group interaction occurred and was utilized by the leader in crisis-waiting-list groups where there was (1) minimal preparation of members; (2) frequent turnover of membership; and (3) little attention given to composition. Patients responded to the interpretation of negative and positive transferences and the here and now approach. The author concludes that the benefits of a nondirective leadership approach with this kind of group is often underutilized.     

The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Vol. III: The Last Phase by Ernest Jones

This paper describes the ward group, a modified version of group psychotherapy, designed for use in conjunction with comprehensive long-term treatment for severely disturbed adolescents and young adults. The authors examine the structural features of the ward group and discuss the group in relation to the unit and the hospital regarding such issues as membership, confidentiality, space, time, and ward group identity. The complex issues of task boundaries, the ward group as both an administrative unit and as a therapy group, are given special attention. The ward group transmits unit and hospital values and expectations, maintains behavioral controls over patients, exercises administrative decision-making authority, operates as a reflective–explorational therapy group, and represents an important means through which patients can achieve a sense of significance within the institutional setting.     

Annual Review of Psychology,Vol. 12 Edited by P. R. Farnsworth

This article describes a group developed to address the parenting needs of women dealing with child sexual abuse and substance abuse. A solution focused 12-week group intervention is described, and the results of an evaluation are presented. Participants included 29 women who attended seven parenting groups. The results suggest that the group was perceived as beneficial by the women, who reported an increase in self-esteem, parenting satisfaction, and parenting self-esteem and an improvement in their attitudes toward their children.     

Psychoanalysis and the Social Sciences,Vol. V Edited by Warner Muensterberger and Sidney Axelrad

In long-term, open-ended psychotherapy groups in which there are inevitable, yet potentially disruptive changes in membership, therapeutic group culture can become particularly important in sustaining a group's sense of cohesion. This article focuses on how transitional phenomena, as defined by D. W. Winnicott, and representational play serve as vehicles for establishing therapeutic group culture in a preadolescent girls' group. Applications of both transitional phenomena and therapeutic group culture to group stage development, as outlined by Garland, Jones, and Kolodny (1970), will also be explored.     

Anna Freud exposes herself to criticism. "The ego and and the mechanisms of defense" under the magnifying glass]

In the early 1970's members and guests of the Hampstead Clinic, under the guidance of Joseph Sandler, discussed Anna Freud's The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence, which had been published in 1936, with its author. Elrod presents this discussion in excerpts and emphasizes the undogmatic approach to psychoanalytic theory evident in Anna Freud's and Joseph Sandler's contributions.     

Freud,Sullivan, Mitchell,Bion, and the Multiple Voices of International Psychoanalysis by Marco Conci,International Psychoanalytic Books,New York, 2019, 721 pp.

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -