Rosalia H.: with Freud in a prelude to psychoanalysis

Abstract

The case of Fräulein Rosalia H. is discussed quite briefly by Freud in one of his contributions to Studies on hysteria. This case of ‘retention hysteria’ was included in another much longer case study, and it is designed to illustrate how a ‘mnemic symbol’, which operates to condense a group of memories, may be formed during the course of an analysis. A new symptom thus appears which may throw more light on the circumstances which gave rise to the presenting symptom. Despite the richness of this case, Freud does not refer to it again in his writing and there has been very little discussion of it in psychoanalytic commentaries. This paper explores how the case serves as a transition point from pre-psychoanalytic conceptions of symptomatology and clinical practice, and how it can be read as a prelude to psychoanalysis proper.     

On a communitarian approach to bioethics

A communitarian approach to bioethics adds a core value to a field that is often more concerned with considerations of individual autonomy. Some interpretations of liberalism put the needs of the patient over those of the community; authoritarian communitarianism privileges the needs of society over those of the patient. Responsive communitarianism’s main starting point is that we face two conflicting core values, autonomy and the common good, and that neither should be a priori privileged, and that we have principles and procedures that can be used to work out this conflict but not to eliminate it. This discussion uses the debate in the US over funding for entitlements as a case study to apply the values of communitarian bioethics.     

Multiple roles and successes in public bioethics: a response to the public forum critique of bioethics commissions

National bioethics commissions have been critiqued for a variety of structural, procedural, and political aspects of their work. A more recent critique published by Dzur and Levin uses political philosophy to constructively critique the work of national bioethics commissions as public deliberative forums. However, this public forum critique of bioethics commissions ignores empirical research in political science and normative claims that suggest that advisory commissions can and should have diverse of functions beyond that of being public forums. The present paper argues that the public forum critique too narrowly considers the roles that bioethics commissions can play in public bioethics and ignores the moral obligation of commissions to fulfill their mandates. Evaluations of commissions must consider that these institutions can serve in capacities other than those of a public deliberative forum and use additional measures to evaluate the multiple roles and successes of bioethics commissions in public policy.     

Enter the prenuptial: A prelude to marriage or remarriage

Although prenuptial agreements have existed in the United States for many decades, they did not catapult into the public foreground during the courtship/engagement/just before marriage or remarriage stage of the life cycle until the 1980s. In the past decade, this particular kind of document has received a great deal of attention in the media, in lawyers' offices, and in courtrooms. This article explores the raison d'ěre of antenuptials and their psychological, familial, and legal ramifications. Some guidelines are offered to defuse the high anxiety they arouse in some individuals as well as to provide signals as to when the contents of the prenuptial herald “danger” ahead. The potential positive aspects of both psychosocial prenuptial accords and legal prenuptial agreements are explored as is the role of the psychologist as therapist or “mediator” when a prenuptial is in the offing.     

Family systems model in organizational consultation: vignettes of consultation to a day-care center.

"Bowen Theory," 1adapted to organizational dynamics, is presented as a framework for understanding the dysfunctional behavior of individuals in the context of a particular organization.     

Negotiating international bioethics: a response to Tom Beauchamp and Ruth Macklin

Can the bioethical theories that have served American bioethics so well, serve international bioethics as well? In two papers in the previous issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, I contend that the form of principlist fundamentalism endorsed by American bioethicists like Tom Beauchamp and Ruth Macklin will not play on an international stage. Deploying techniques of postmodern scholarship, I argue that principlist fundamentalism justifies neither the condemnation of the Nazi doctors at Nuremberg, nor, as the Report of the Advisory Committee on the Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) demonstrates, condemnation of Cold War radiation researchers. Principlist fundamentalism thus appears to be philosophy bankrupt. In this issue of the Journal, Beauchamp and Macklin reject this claim, arguing that I have misread the ACHRE report and misunderstood Nazism. They also argue that the form of post-postmodern negotiated human rights theory that I proffer is adequate only insofar as it is itself really fundamentalist; insofar as I take postmodernism seriously, however, I mire international bioethics in relativism. In this response, I reaffirm my anti-fundamentalism, provide further evidence in support of my reading of the ACHRE report, and defend my post-postmodern version of rights theory. I also develop criteria for a minimally adequate theoretical framework for international bioethics.     

Proactive, early screening to detect behaviorally at-risk students: Issues, approaches, emerging innovations, and professional practices

This article provides a review of current practices and tools used in the proactive screening of behaviorally at-risk students within the context of schooling. While there are many obstacles to the early detection of vulnerable students, some recent developments have helped make educators more receptive to early identification and prevention approaches. In addition to describing current best practices, this article reviews promising innovations in screening and early identification that the authors believe are worth considering and whose structural characteristics, required accommodations, and critical features may make them more acceptable to educational users. Implications for the training of school psychologists in the screening and early identification of high-risk students are reviewed and recommendations offered for future research.     

Towards a Christian bioethics.

Rather than revealing itself as a single, unified, ecumenical faith, Christianity is sundered with Christians united neither in one communion nor in one baptism. Christian Bioethics seeks to examine the traditional content-full moral commitments which the Christian faiths bring to life, sexuality, suffering, illness and death within the contexts of medicine and health care. Seeking to understand the differences which separate the bioethics of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and the Orthodox, Christian Bioethics explores the manners in which the faiths diverge. The failure of the Enlightenment project to disclose a content-full communality that would bind mankind has left much to be reconsidered by Christians who face new ethical dilemmas in the novel guise of advances in health care technologies.