Humour as a tool in counselling and psychotherapy: A reversal-theory perspective

Humour has occasionally been regarded as a valuable tool in counselling and psychotherapy. The specific uses of humour and its potential as a coping tactic are rarely described. The therapeutic use of humour is accordingly examined in the light of reversal theory (Apter, 1982a). It is suggested that the use of humour needs to be related to the motivational task implicit in the therapeutic interaction.     

Cancer and the body: Reflections from a Lacanian perspective

This paper discusses psychotherapeutic work with cancer patients using a Lacanian approach to illness. In the first part of the paper, some of Lacan's notions of the body are discussed. In the second half, Lacan's understanding of the body is used to show how an appreciation of Lacan's work might enhance clinical/psychotherapeutic work with cancer patients.     

Approaching psychotherapy of the personality disorders from the Millon perspective.

Millon's integrative model for a clinical science begins with a theory that is consistent with current knowledge, establishes a taxonomy for classification, develops a coordinated assessment system, and develops and implements interventions with the guidance of the preceding elements of the model. In recent years, work on the last step of the model, clinical interventions, has accelerated rapidly, and the model now permits the therapist to directly extrapolate specific treatment goals, objective, and techniques to the practice of therapy with the individual patient. This article summarizes how treatment planning and implementation flows logically from the Millon model.     

A counseling approach to assist near-death experiencers: A response to Bette Furn's paper

Conclusion In sum, I believe a practitioner's theoretical orientation is a necessary factor for NDErs to consider when choosing a therapist. As stated, I feel that an orientation reflecting a phenomenological, client-centered approach will encourage experiencers to find the personally relevant answers they are seeking. Additionally, it is important that that approach be conceptually clear to the clinician and be congruent with his or her value system. I agree with Furn regarding the need for practitioners to be knowledgeable about NDEs and sensitive to other spiritual and paranormal phenomena. And I believe that if by chance the practitioner is also an experiencer, then the NDEr who has chosen that clinician will have indeed come across a winning combination.     

The commercialization of human body parts: a reappraisal from a Protestant perspective.

The idea of a market in human organs has traditionally met with widespread and emphatic rejection from both secular and religious fronts alike. However, as numerous human beings continue to suffer an uncertain fate on transplant waiting lists, voices are beginning to emerge that are willing at least to explore the option of human organ sales. Anyone who argues for such a option must contend, however, with what seem to be largely emotional rejections of the idea. Often it seems that rebuffs offered on a secular ground are rooted in nothing more than vague discomforts. We suspect that these discomforts are often based in religious sentiments that have wound their way into the fabric of secular America. Therefore, in order to contribute further to those voices heard in favor of human organ sales, it is worthwhile to show that from a religious perspective, it is just as possible to affirm the appropriateness of human organ sales as it is from a secular basis. Since Protestantism has historically had a powerful influence in American society it is a proper starting point for such an investigation.     

Psychotropic medication from an object relations theory perspective: an analysis of vignettes from group psychotherapy

In this article we explore the content and dynamics of patients' verbalizations within a "living with medications" group. Patients' perceptions of their psychotropic medications are interpreted and classified within the framework of object relations theory. One's perception of the role of medication in one's life can serve as a gateway to one's inner world and the way that he or she perceives authority figures, peers, and oneself. We suggest that working through patients' relationships with their medications can help them to achieve better integration of internal object relations. Discussing patients' views about medications should therefore be seen as an important part of psychotherapy with many individuals. Such a discussion may enhance and improve efficacy of both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. It is of particular importance in group therapy, within milieu environments and with individuals reluctant to explicitly discuss interpersonal matters. Vignettes from the group sessions illustrate the way in which discussing medication advances group process.     

Human figure drawing size and body image in preschool children from a self-physique perspective

To learn about the relationship between size of human figure drawings and the physiques of children, we investigated body image characteristics in childhood by using the Human Figure Drawing test. Height, weight, Kaup Index (a body mass index for children) and Human Figure Drawing traits (vertical height, horizontal width, waist size, surface area of head, surface area of the self-drawing) were measured for drawings of 122 4- to 6-yr.-old children (62 boys, 60 girls). Analysis showed that boys, who are physically larger than girls, produced self-drawings with somewhat larger surface areas. For vertical height of self-drawings of boys, 4-yr.-olds characteristically made taller self-drawings than 5-yr.-olds. While we hypothesized that taller children would make vertically taller self-drawings, we observed a negative relationship between children's physical height and the vertical height of the self-drawings. 4-yr.-old boys showed the most interest in their own physical height, making taller drawings and in doing so gave a clue to an early childhood feature of body image.     

Definition of psychotherapy from a methodologic viewpoint

Psychotherapy is the psychological treatment of disturbed person-environment relationships, associations or connections which are learned in a lifelong process of socialization. Accordingly, psychotherapy is a process of learning for the patient and a process of educating for the therapeutist, a process which is controlled by specialists in the case of children as well as adults with serious psychic disorders and which is usually a means of self-education in the case of subjects with slight psychic disorders. The primary objective of psychotherapy is to modify both the attitude and behavior in the sense of improving a subject's ability to fulfill his duties in society.     

Response to Mowrer and McCarver's paper on multicultural perspective and life satisfaction

It is argued that the article by Mowrer and McCarver (2002) misrepresents Ramirez's work by making assumptions based on an incomplete definition of multicultural identity and by inferring that multicultural psychotherapy can serve as a cure-all for psychopathology. It is shown that the authors did not test Ramirez's model, but instead merely used his conceptual framework to develop and test their own measure of multicultural perspective.