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.     

The Annual Survey of Psychoanalysis,Volume III Edited by John Frosch and Nathaniel Ross,Sidney Tarachow,Jacob A. Arlow

The effects of brief group psychotherapy in relapse prevention were tested. The groups focused on the clients' capacity to formulate their own treatment goals, including controlled drinking, programmed relapse, and total abstinence. Twelve months after completion of the eight-week outpatient group treatment, thirty-five clients were followed up. There appeared to be no harmful effects as a result of the treatment. Nobody in the follow-up group had a deteriorated drinking pattern as compared to pretreatment data. The follow-up results were significantly better than before treatment and also than in a comparison group of alcohol dependent patients. It seemed as if those patients who could benefit from the treatment had a shorter duration of abuse and had a later onset of uncontrolled drinking compared to those who continued with a negative drinking pattern and the dropouts. The clients assigned the positive treatment effects to course leaders' encouragement of personal decision making, increased awareness of risk situations, and improved coping skills. The group situation in itself seemed to be of special importance for this result. The degree of structure implemented by course leaders allowed a free and respectful opennes to develop between group members.     

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 Annual Survey of Psychoanalysis,Volume I Edited by John Frosch,in collaboration with Jacob A. Arlow,Nathaniel Ross,and Sidney Tarachow

Interaction analysis has become a standard tool for process-oriented research. Although now a researcher has a choice of instruments, the majority of these are based on the same concept of communication: the sender–receiver model. Communication is treated as a discrete and encoded process that progresses uniformly in time. We critically discuss these assumptions and the limits they put on communication research. It is asserted that instruments for interaction analysis based on the sender–receiver model restrict themselves to the more superficial levels of interaction and are unable to register the more significant events. Therefore they cannot account for a very essential feature of the communication process, namely the creation of meaning. Alternative options are discussed.     

Psychoanalysis,Social Justice,and the Therapeutic Endeavor

Abstract

FREUD'S FREE CLINICS: PSYCHOANALYSIS & SOCIAL JUSTICE, 1918–1938, by Elizabeth Ann Danto. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, $29.50, 348 pp. Reviewed by William Borden     

Freud: Dictionary of Psychoanalysis Edited by N. Fodor and F. Gaynor

Acting out should be expected in the treatment of incest victims. These persons attempt to communicate through actions a plethora of confusing feelings resulting from the incest; such actions occur outside the therapy sessions and their meanings are out of the patient's awareness. Working through the underlying feelings is the necessary therapeutic task. It is unlikely that acting-out behavior will be completely eliminated, but the development of self-acceptance and a willingness to explore the meaning of the behaviors are reasonable and attainable therapeutic goals with the help of the other group members.

Three areas of acting out are elucidated: sex, power and sadism, and self-destructiveness. Clinical vignettes drawn from the authors' experience conducting group psychotherapy are used to illustrate both acting out and working through.     

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.     

Social Work,Psychoanalysis, and Smoke-Filled Rooms

Abstract

This paper describes one social worker's journey from the first days of his social work education to his current experience as a psychoanalyst, and the subsequent transformation of his professional self. The complementary nature of the relationship between social work and psychoanalysis is considered. Through a personal vignette, the author hopes to remind current social work educators about the usefulness of psychoanalytic theory and practice within the context of casework values and principles.