Play Group Therapy with Psychotic Adolescent Girls

In this paper, by using the perspective of self psychology, we hope to illustrate and explicate (through clinical examples) the positive aspects of the pairing phenomenon in group therapy with the elderly. Traditionally subgrouping or pairing has been viewed as the “Achilles' heel of group therapy,” and usually interpreted as defensive and destructive to group process. In this paper we distinguish between those instances of pairing and subgrouping that are defensive and those that are reparatory of the self system (the latter involving twinship and alter ego selfobject transferences). These reparatory transferences may play a constructive role in establishing group cohesion and allaying primitive somatic anxieties, especially in the elderly patient.     

Low-Income Families With Potential Adolescent Gang Involvement: A Structural Community Family Therapy Integration Model

The purpose of this article is to propose a community structural intervention for low-income families who present to therapy with the concern of an adolescent at risk for gang involvement. Families are affected by multiple interacting systems. In congruence with systems theory, changing a part of the system will essentially affect the interrelated parts of the system. The proposed intervention utilizes structural family therapy and community family therapy as a model to impact change at the family system, its interrelated systems, and the system at which the family is embedded.     

Adolescent Pregnancy: A Model for Intervention

This article reviews current demographic data regarding adolescent pregnancy in conjunction with current approaches to family planning and presents an interdisciplinary (counselor-physician) intervention model.     

Adolescent Female Aggression: Functions and Etiology

Despite the narrowing gap between male and female use of aggressive behavior, much of the extant aggression research has centered on males. Various internal, or psychological factors, including attachment, emotion regulation, and impulsivity, are typically examined independently from external, or social, factors, such as the quality of the family environment and exposure to community violence. Additionally, the studies rarely distinguish among forms and functions of aggression. The current study was the first to simultaneously examine these factors and their relationships to the distinct functions of aggression in a low-income urban community sample of adolescent females. Participants (N = 214) were recruited from grades 8 through 12 at a diverse all-girls public school in a city in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that greater attachment security and emotion regulation reduced the impact of a more negative family environment upon the use of reactive and proactive aggression. The results also demonstrated that impulsivity and the family environment mediated the relationships between exposure to community violence and the presence of reactive aggression. With higher levels of impulsivity, an increased use of reactive aggression was demonstrated. Lastly, in the context of greater exposure to community violence, a positive family environment decreased the use of reactive aggression. Overall, the results from this study suggested the role of these internal and external factors in the development of aggressive behavior in female adolescents. Further empirical experimental investigation may shed light on the most optimal interventions to prevent the development of aggression.     

Adolescent Female Identify Development

The purpose of this study was to (a) add to the current literature on female identity development and (b) determine whether a gender specific pattern of identity formation is evident in females during their early and middle adolescent years. The Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD) was administered by graduate students to 317 males and 332 females in sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades from schools in a small and a mid-sized mid-western city. The schools were selected because they were representative of the racial/ethnic status of the cities (African American, 12%, Asian American, 4%, European, 63%, Latino, 10%, and Native American, 6%; 5% did not state their ethnicity). The results of the two by four analyses of variance (gender by grade) indicated that females blend interpersonal and intrapersonal identity development, whereas males appear to develop only intrapersonal identity. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also included.     

Feminist Ideals for a Healthy Female Adolescent Sexuality: A Critique

This paper explores the ideals of healthy sexuality for teenage girls in the U.S. proposed by feminist theorists and researchers. Current ideals emphasize desire, pleasure, and subjectivity, and appear to be a response to three historically problematic areas for women and girls: objectification; abuse and victimization; and stereotypes of female passivity. There are, however, several problems with using these qualities as markers of healthy sexuality. This essay discusses these problems, including the rigid dichotomizing of subject and object, the idea that desire, pleasure, and subjectivity may have different historical meanings for girls from diverse backgrounds; and that using pleasure as a gauge for whether sex is “good” has moral implications that may undermine other important goals of feminism.     

Multi-Family Group Therapy: A Multidimensional Approach

The procedures, dynamics, and process of multi-family group therapy are presented with case examples from the authors' practice.     

The Black Female Adolescent: A Review of the Educational, Career and Psychological Literature

This article presents a basic overview of the literature on the educational, career, and psychological development of black female adolescents. Adolescence is defined primarily in terms of individuals'attempts to deal effectively with life developmental tasks. As such, adolescence is viewed as that broad period covering the ages of 12 to 21. Emphasis is placed, however, on the early and mid-stages of adolescent development. Comparisons and contrasts are made regarding the development of black female, black male, white male, and white female adolescents.     

青少年网络受欺负与网络欺负的关系:一个有调节的中介模型

为探讨青少年网络受欺负对网络欺负影响的心理机制,本研究基于一般压力理论与情绪调节模型构建了一个有调节的中介模型,并采用网络欺负量表、社交焦虑量表以及情绪调节量表对武汉市某中学724名初中生进行测量,结果发现：（1）网络受欺负与社交焦虑、网络欺负显著正相关,社交焦虑与网络欺负显著正相关,认知重评与社交焦虑显著负相关,表达抑制与网络欺负显著正相关;（2）网络受欺负不仅直接预测网络欺负,还通过社交焦虑间接预测网络欺负;（3）网络受欺负对网络欺负的中介作用受到情绪调节策略的调节,对低认知重评的个体或高表达抑制的个体而言,中介作用更强。研究结果不仅解释了网络欺负是如何产生的,以及在什么条件下影响更大,也为减少网络欺负的发生提供了重要依据。     

A Systemic Perspective of Group Therapy Supervision:

No abstract available for this article.     

Hatred in Group Therapy: A Rewarding Challenge

Hatred is a powerful affective experience that can be disruptive to the work of a therapy group, yet it may also enhance a member's capacity to deal with strong affects. This paper explores a particular aspect of hatred, the hate directed at one member of a cotherapy team. An effort is made to explore the experience from an intersubjective and motivational systems perspective, focusing primarily on the therapist and one patient. The impact of the cotherapy relationship is also considered, as well as the whole group's capacity to contain and work with this powerful affective response. The way that the group managed this explosive situation speaks to the power of group therapy in healing and transforming its members.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Pilot Study

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a relatively common and severe disorder that typically onsets in adolescence, but often goes unrecognized. Despite BDD’s severity and early onset, treatment outcome research on adolescent BDD is scarce. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the gold-standard psychosocial treatment for BDD in adults and has shown promise in adolescents. The current study examined the development and testing of a new CBT for adolescents with BDD. We tested feasibility, acceptability, and treatment outcome in a sample of 13 adolescents (mean age 15.23 years, range: 13–17) with primary BDD. Treatment was delivered in 12–22 weekly individual sessions. Standardized clinician ratings and self-report measures were used to assess BDD and related symptoms pre- and posttreatment and at 3- and 6-months follow-up. At posttreatment, BDD and related symptoms (e.g., insight, mood) were significantly improved. Scores on the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for BDD indicated a 50% (intent-to-treat) and 68% (completer) improvement in BDD symptoms. Seventy-five percent of adolescents who started treatment and 100% of completers were considered treatment responders. Treatment gains were maintained at follow-up. High patient satisfaction ratings and patient feedback indicated that treatment was acceptable. This represents the largest study of a psychosocial treatment for adolescent BDD.     

Family Therapy Study Group: The Mumbai Experience

Family therapy training in India is not provided in a systematic manner. Only one institution, the National Institute of Mental Health and NeuroSciences at Bangalore, offers this training, in the form of a three-month program. Consequently, a workshop on basic skills in Family Therapy was conducted in February 2003, at Mumbai, by a trained family therapist from Bangalore. The workshop resulted in founding the Family Therapy Study Group (Mumbai), a non-registered body, in March 2003 so that learning could continue to occur. The group meets once a month for two hours and has had 18 such meetings at this writing. This paper describes the objectives, activities, significant achievements, and future plans of the study group.     

A Multi‐Family Group Intervention for Adolescent Depression: The BEST MOOD Program

Depression is the most common mental disorder for young people, and it is associated with educational underachievement, self‐harm, and suicidality. Current psychological therapies for adolescent depression are usually focused only on individual‐level change and often neglect family or contextual influences. The efficacy of interventions may be enhanced with a broader therapeutic focus on family factors such as communication, conflict, support, and cohesion. This article describes a structured multi‐family group approach to the treatment of adolescent depression: Behaviour Exchange Systems Therapy for adolescent depression (BEST MOOD). BEST MOOD is a manualized intervention that is designed to address both individual and family factors in the treatment of adolescent depression. BEST MOOD adopts a family systems approach that also incorporates psychoeducation and elements of attachment theories. The program consists of eight multifamily group therapy sessions delivered over 2 hours per week, where parents attend the first four sessions and young people and siblings join from week 5. The program design is specifically aimed to engage youth who are initially resistant to treatment and to optimize youth and family mental health outcomes. This article presents an overview of the theoretical model, session content, and evaluations to date, and provides a case study to illustrate the approach.