Psychoanalysis and national socialism

Was psychoanalysis in Germany "destroyed" or "saved" in the period 1933-1945? To this day ever new answers are given to the question, answers which depend on the time and the interests involved. This contribution seeks to reconstruct once again the steps leading to the incorporation in 1936 of the German Psychoanalytic Society (Deutsche Psychoanalytische Gesellschaft [DPG]) into the National Socialist German Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy (Deutsches Institut für psychologische Forschung und Psychotherapie). This process of incorporation, which was intended as a "rescue" and led to the self-disbandment of the DPG in 1938, took place during ongoing talks between Felix Boehm and Carl Müller-Braunschweig, officials of the DPG, on the one hand, and Ernest Jones, president of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA), on the other. The process was connected to yet another desideratum: the expulsion of Wilhelm Reich from the DPG/IPA.     

Absolutely general knowledge*

There is extensive debate among contemporary philosophers about the possibility of absolutely unrestricted quantification; thus far, the debate been almost entirely logically and metaphysically focused. We argue for a third axis of evaluation: the epistemological. We defend absolutism on epistemological grounds, by showing that one prominent and attractive alternative to absolutism—schematism—is epistemologically unacceptable. First, we spell out and motivate an epistemological desideratum for theories of generality, a desideratum which is easily satisfied by absolutists. Second, we consider five ways the schematist might satisfy this desideratum. We argue that none of the five ways is successful.     

How serious a fallacy is inconsistency?

Consistency is often pictured as an indispensable requisite for rationality. The paper argues that this is overly rigoristic. Inconsistency can be treated as a matter of isolable singularities rather than an all-destructive disaster. The paper, supports and illustrates a perspective on which consistency can be seen as a desideratum rather than a totaly non-negotiable demand. The argumentation of the paper casts consistency in the role of a cognitive ideal rather than a sine qua non condition of rational process.     

The particularity and phenomenology of perceptual experience

I argue that any account of perceptual experience should satisfy the following two desiderata. First, it should account for the particularity of perceptual experience, that is, it should account for the mind-independent object of an experience making a difference to individuating the experience. Second, it should explain the possibility that perceptual relations to distinct environments could yield subjectively indistinguishable experiences. Relational views of perceptual experience can easily satisfy the first but not the second desideratum. Representational views can easily satisfy the second but not the first desideratum. I argue that to satisfy both desiderata perceptual experience is best conceived of as fundamentally both relational and representational. I develop a view of perceptual experience that synthesizes the virtues of relationalism and representationalism, by arguing that perceptual content is constituted by potentially gappy de re modes of presentation.     

Peering into the opaque mind

Abstract

Carolyn Saarni’s pioneering research showed that young children learn how to hide their feelings—to conceal disappointment with a smile or to conceal amusement with a neutral expression. By 6 years of age, children understand the implications of such concealment. They can distinguish between: (i) an individual’s true but hidden emotion; (ii) the emotion that the individual overtly expresses; and (iii) the emotion that other people might mistakenly attribute to the individual. Effectively, young children grasp that the mind is opaque. Its contents can remain hidden from others. We examine two issues raised by this important conceptual insight. First, we ask how it emerges in young children—what experiences lead them to acknowledge the mind’s opacity? Second, in light of Saarni’s emphasis on the impact of cultural beliefs and practices, we discuss anthropological evidence that in certain cultures the mind’s opacity is regarded as a social desideratum so that enquiries into, or speculations about, a person’s private mental states are regarded as inappropriate. We consider the understanding of hidden emotion that children will acquire if they grow up in such a culture. We propose—paradoxically—that they will readily differentiate between what is actually felt and what is overtly expressed. We conclude by reviewing recent cross-cultural evidence lending initial support to that prediction.     

ENDURANTISM, DIACHRONIC VAGUENESS AND THE PROBLEM OF THE MANY

Abstract: A plausible desideratum for an account of the nature of objects, at, and across time, is that it accommodate the phenomenon of vagueness without locating vagueness in the world. A series of arguments have attempted to show that while universalist perdurantism – which combines a perdurantist account of persistence with an unrestricted mereological account of composition – meets this desideratum, endurantist accounts do not. If endurantists reject unrestricted composition then they must hold that vagueness is ontological. But if they embrace unrestricted composition they are faced with the problem of the many, and cannot plausibly accommodate vagueness. This paper disambiguates two related sub-problems of the problem of the many, and argues that universalist perdurantism is not superior to universalist endurantism with respect to either of these.     

The ontology of intentionality I: the dependence ontological account of order: mediate and immediate moments and pieces of dependent and independent objects

This is the first of three essays which use Edmund Husserl's dependence ontology to formulate a non-Diodorean and non-Kantian temporal semantics for two-valued, first-order predicate modal languages suitable for expressing ontologies of experience (like physics and cognitive science). This essay's primary desideratum is to formulate an adequate dependence-ontological account of order. To do so it uses primitive (proper) part and (weak) foundation relations to formulate seven axioms and 28 definitions as a basis for Husserl's dependence ontological theory of relating moments. The essay distinguishes between dependence v. independence, pieces v. moments, mediate v. immediate pieces and moments, maximal v. non-maximal pieces, founded v. unfounded qualities, integrative v. disintegrative dependence, and defines the concepts of the completion of an object, the adumbrational equivalence relation of objects, moments of unity which unify objects, and relating moments which relate objects. The eight theorems [CUT90]-[CUT97] show that relating moments of unity provide an adequate account of order in terms of primitive (proper) part and (weak) foundation relations.     

Exploring the retirement from sport decision-making process based on the transtheoretical model

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to complement and extend the current knowledge of the particular stages of athletes’ career transition process through employing the transtheoretical model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1984) as a theoretical framework. More specifically, the current study aimed to explore Korean elite tennis players’ career transition process through focusing on their retirement decision-making process, including their cognitive and behavioral changes and internal and external influences for their decisions during the final stages of their sport careers and the retirement decision-making process.DesignWe employed focus groups.MethodsA total of 12 participants took part in one of three focus groups (i.e., four current players, five retired players, and three coaches) that focused on the process of athletes' retirement decision-making. All participants (seven males and five females; Mean age = 31.25, SD = 3.49 years) were either current or former Korean elite-level tennis players. The data were thematically content analyzed.ResultsThe results revealed three themes: (a) readiness for retirement, (b) psychological and emotional responses during the decision-making process, and (c) coping strategies; and showed that athletes’ decision-making at the end of their sports careers is a dynamic process, accompanied by various emotional responses requiring different coping strategies at different stages.ConclusionFindings indicated that the transtheoretical model helped to explain athletes’ decision-making in retiring from sport and suggested to the need to provide different interventions at different stages. Identifying detailed aspects of readiness for retirement and examining the effectiveness of interventions grounded in the transtheoretical model are recommended as future research directions.     

Identicom: A new marriage counseling strategy

Abstract

As a way for practitioners to integrate various models of marital therapy into their treatment,a flow chart of the process of psychotherapy with couples is presented. Basic steps and questions to be addressed are sequentially discussed. Resolution of each stage is considered important for movement to following stages. The flow chart, as a device for conceptualizing clients independent of a theoretical approach, allows for intervention strategies to be developed at each process level     

Contraction in Interrogative Belief Revision

In the paper “On the role of the research agenda in epistemic change”, Olsson and Westlund have suggested that the notion of epistemic state employed in the standard framework of belief revision (Alchourrón et al. 1985; G?rdenfors 1988) should be extended to include a representation of the agent’s research agenda (Olsson and Westlund 2006). The resulting framework will here be referred to as interrogative belief revision. In this paper, I attempt to deal with the problem of how research agendas should change in contraction, a problem largely left open by Olsson and Westlund. Two desiderata of an appropriate solution are suggested: one is a principle of continuity, stating that changes in the research agenda should somehow reflect that certain long term research interests are kept fixed. The other desideratum, which is based on part of Olsson and Westlund’s motivation for adding research agendas to the epistemic states, is that we should be able to account for how contraction may serve to open up new, fruitful hypotheses for investigation. In order to achieve these desiderata, I base my solution on a revised version of Olsson and Westlund’s notion of epistemic state.     

Aging Catholic Sisters' Adjustment to Retirement

ABSTRACT

Two contrasting strategies for the retirement of sisters are used as a paradigm to examine the retirement adjustment of aging sisters. Retirement is viewed as a developmental process as the aged sisters move through a phase of continued productivity into a phase where personal rewards of aging are valued. The team process is described that is used in the religious group to provide an intimate support group and to facilitate the transition for aging members.     

Evidence for the effectiveness of holistic process goals for learning and performance under pressure

ObjectivesResearch has suggested that holistic process goals might help avoid the effects associated with conscious processing of task relevant information by skilled but anxious athletes. This experiment compared the efficacy of holistic and part process goal strategies for novices using a learning paradigm.DesignLaboratory-based experimental design incorporating practice, retention and transfer phases.MethodTwenty-four males were randomly assigned to a part process goal, holistic process goal or control condition and performed a simulated race-driving task in practice, retention and transfer tests.ResultsAnalyses of variance revealed that performance during practice was similar in all conditions but that the holistic process goal group outperformed the part process goal group at both retention and transfer.ConclusionsCompared to part process goals, holistic process goals result in more effective motor learning and performance that appears to be more robust under pressure.     

Negotiating ending: A qualitative study of the process of ending psychotherapy

Objectives: When psychotherapy is open-ended, the question of termination is a matter for negotiation. A model based on both content and the process of ending may explain how ‘good enough’ psychotherapies can be brought to ‘good enough’ endings.

Design: Twelve processes of ending were explored through a combination of audio recordings made during therapy sessions and post-therapy interviews with clients and therapists. Therapies had been tailored to the needs of the clients and were based on a broad spectrum of theoretical affiliations.

Methods: A procedure for systematic text condensation was used on a case-by-case basis. Issues surrounding the initiation and negotiation of ending were pointed out in each case and were then compared across cases.

Results: The initiation of ending and exchanges concerned with when and how to end therapy unfolded as a concerted process because both parties seemed to be aware that the theme of ending contained a potential challenge to the alliance. Dual affect regulation, implicit communication and a future-oriented perspective were important features. Structural elements such as schedule changes and temporary breaks served several psychological functions. Therapies seemed to reach ‘good enough’ endings when the client and therapist joined in their efforts to resolve basic ambivalences embedded in the decision to terminate contact with the affirmation of a continuing emotional bond.     

The generalized Logit-Linear Item Response Model for Binary-Designed Items

This paper introduces the generalized logit-linear item response model (GLLIRM), which represents the item-solving process as a series of dichotomous operations or steps. The GLLIRM assumes that the probability function of the item response is a logistic function of a linear composite of basic parameters which describe the operations, and the coefficients depend on three design matrices X, Y and Z. The GLLIRM provides a tool for testing hypotheses on the item-solving process and generalizes existing models. An empirical application is included, in which the model is applied to evaluate sources of difficulty and pairwise item interactions in a logical analysis test. This research was supported by the Comunidad de Madrid grant CCG06-UAM/ESP-0043.     

Hardiness and mental health during naval deployment: The relation is mediated by social processes and not by self-regulatory processes

IntroductionThe aim of the present study was to investigate the mediating effects of cohesion and self-efficacy on the relation between hardiness and symptoms of anxiety and depression during naval international operations.Objective and methodIt was hypothesized that an indirect effect of both cohesion and operational self-efficacy would emerge even when controlling for pre-deployment measures of symptoms.ResultsThe results revealed a strong indirect effect of cohesion on the relationship between hardiness and scores on Hopkins Symptom Checklist – 25 items. The effect was evident for the total score and the dimensions of anxiety as well as depression. No effect was found for operational self-efficacy.ConclusionIt was concluded that the social process of cohesion outperforms the self-regulatory process of operational self-efficacy as a mediator between hardiness and mental health. Greater focus on developing crew cohesion may thus be important for maintaining mental health under stressful conditions.     

Witnessing stories: Definitional Ceremonies in Narrative Therapy with adults who stutter

BackgroundNarrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990) was developed as an approach to counselling, as a response to the power relations that influence people's lives. Its use with people who stutter has been documented. A basic tenet of narrative therapy is that the dominant problem-saturated narrative is challenged by externalizing the problem, in due course facilitating development of an alternative narrative. Within this process, the definitional ceremony involving outsider witnesses is a key procedure used to influence change.AimsThis paper describes definitional ceremonies, and their application within a narrative approach to therapy for stuttering. The analysis of a specific definitional ceremony is presented, leading to an exploration of identity as a public and social achievement.MethodsA definitional ceremony involving a woman who stutters and family members was recorded and analysed using two methods: interpretative phenomenological analysis and Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Details of the clinical application of definitional ceremonies with this client are described.Results and conclusionsResults from both methods of analysis were found to be similar. Notable results include the fact that the stuttering per se was not presented as the problem; rather, the impact of stuttering, especially the experience of bullying, was a dominant theme. This paper shows how definitional ceremonies can open opportunities for clients to present themselves in a preferred way, forming the basis for a new story and revised identity. Emerging themes can be identified for reflection and discussion with the client for therapeutic benefit.Educational objectives: (1) to describe and explain to readers the process of narrative therapy, with special attention to the use of definitional ceremonies; (2) to provide detail regarding the clinical processes involved with a specific definitional ceremony with one client; (3) to have the reader appreciate the specific importance of involving outsider witnesses in the therapy process; (4) to discuss the outcomes of the use of this particular definitional ceremony.     

The Divine,The Deviant and the Diabolical: A Journey Through An Artist's Paintings During Her Participation in a Creative Process Group: An Evolution of "Developmental Mourning"

Participation in writing and creative process offers a unique window to view the evolution of the mourning process. This study traces how a painter's work as shown to such a group reveals and interacts with her developmental progress as she goes through the mourning process in individual therapy with the author, who is also the leader of the writing and creative process group to which the artist belongs. Through these mutually beneficial exchanges, the patient is able to relinquish her constructed false self-identity for an authentic female identity, as seen in the evolution of her painting over her two-year participation in the writing and creative process group.     

George Kelly and the Concept of Construction

Abstract

A distinction is drawn between a predicational and a mediational model. Predication involves the act of affirming, denying, or qualifying broader patterns of meaning in relation to narrower or targeted patterns of meaning. Mediation occurs when something formed outside a process is taken in and comes to play a role in that process that is not intrinsic to it. Fundamental to predication is the fact that meanings under processing are oppositional. George Kelly's theoretical understanding of construction was as a predicational process. The term construction is often confounded with these two views of cognition. Kelly's interpretation of construction is contrasted with the cognitive approach of Piaget and the social constructionist views of Harre and Gergen. It is demonstrated that Kelly's clearer understanding of construction as a predicational process enables him to lend the individual a capacity for personal agency that the other theories fail to capture