Relational trauma in infancy. Psychoanalytic,attachment and neuropsychological contributions to parent–infant psychotherapy

Abstract

The paper argues that residential projects working mainly with those diagnosed schizophrenic are specialized work groups, in Bion's terms, operating upon the assumption of pairing, and illustrates this with reference to a period of organizational change at one such project. The reasons why this might be so are discussed, and are related to the central issue of hope and despair in work with those who are unlikely to recover.     

Suffering by comparison: Twitter users’ reactions to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

Social comparison theory suggests that evaluating the self in comparison with others (e.g., peers, celebrities, models) can influence body image. Experimental studies that have tested effects of viewing idealized images in the media often show that women feel worse about themselves after seeing images that illustrate the beauty ideal. Twitter presents a naturally occurring opportunity to study viewers’ reactions. An analysis was conducted of 977 tweets sent immediately before and during the 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show that reference the show. Although the majority were idiosyncratic remarks, many tweets contain evidence of upward social comparisons to the fashion models. There were tweets about body image, eating disorders, weight, desires for food or alcohol, and thoughts about self-harm. The results support social comparison theory, and suggest that vulnerable viewers could experience negative affect, or even engage in harmful behaviors, during or after viewing the show or others like it.     

Music Use in Exercise: A Questionnaire Study

Although there is much research looking at music’s effects on sport and exercise performance, little is known about exercisers’ own application of music during workouts. An online questionnaire exploring its relationship with gender, formal music training, personality and 5K performance was completed by 282 regularly exercising participants (159 women, 116 men, 6 undisclosed, M_age =37.68, SD = 10.16). Women were more likely to use music during exercise than men (p = .011), and to synchronize to the beat (p = .002), and women’s preferences were spread over a range of pop, rock, and dance music, whereas men’s were focused on rock-related styles. Being open to new experiences was associated with preferring rock, metal, and indie music (p = .042) and those who intentionally synchronised their movements were more open to new experiences than non-synchronizers (p = .003), although a minority of participants synchronised intentionally. Most gym users listened to their own music in the gym rather than music played by the facility. These findings provide new insights into exercise music use, challenging assumptions that formal music training affects how music is applied in exercise, and that synchronization to the beat is the “norm” for exercisers listening to music.     

Do historic threats to the group diminish identity fusion and its correlates?

We examined the reactions of Spanish participants to three negative historic events: a corruption scandal involving the Royal Family and two separatist efforts by a prosperous region of Spain. Although average fusion scores declined following these events, these declines were limited to sentiments toward the group category – collective ties-; they did not tarnish sentiments toward individual group members – relational ties. Moreover, strongly fused persons continued committed to remain in the group and act agentically by fighting and dying for it. Finally, rank orderings of fusion scores remained stable. These findings demonstrate that negative events weaken some aspects of alignment with the group, including collective ties and fusion, but not other aspects, such as relational ties and endorsement of pro-group behaviors.     

Observed Attachment and Self-Report Affect Within Romantic Relationships

Adult attachment provides unique insights that help researchers and clinicians understand the complexities of individuals and relationships. In romantic relationships, individual attachment can explain partners' abilities for closeness and autonomy as well as how they experience affect within the relationship. These affective experiences during couple interactions have been shown to influence both proximal and distal relationship outcomes. Thus, the authors explore the impact of partners' observed attachment behaviors—coded using the AABQ—on continuous reports of their affective experiences during both difficult and positive marital conversations. Variables examining couple affective negativity and flexibility were developed using state space grids, and data were analyzed using GridWare. Results showed that observed female attachment behaviors significantly impacted a couple's affective experiences of negativity and flexibility during conversations, while there were no significant associations between male observed attachment behaviors and the couple affective experience. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The use of selection,optimization, and compensation (SOC) in goal pursuit in the daily lives of middle-aged adults

The current study investigated the use of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in association with momentary goal conflict and facilitation in middle adulthood. In contrast to previous studies on SOC that focused on the habitual use of the SOC-strategies, the current study investigated the momentary SOC-use in the everyday lives of adults who face the developmental challenge of combining the demands of multiple life domains (e.g., work, family, leisure). In a sample of N = 89 employed middle-age adults, momentary SOC-use as well as momentary goal conflict and facilitation were assessed in a measurement burst design encompassing 20 days (M = 126 measurement points per person). Time-lagged analyses showed that momentary goal conflict was positively related to subsequent optimization and compensation, and momentary goal facilitation lead to lower subsequent loss-based selection and compensation. In contrast, SOC predicted neither subsequent goal conflict nor facilitation. Thus, the use of SOC-strategies seems to be a response to – rather than an antecedent of - currently experienced goal relations (conflict, facilitation), underscoring the importance of these strategies for managing multiple goals.     

Altruism as Reparation of Mismatch or Disruption in the Self

ABSTRACT

After giving a brief summary of the scientific literature on altruism and empathy—a capacity necessary for altruism—I focus on a scientific paradigm, the face-to-face still face, and what insights it might offer psychoanalysts in their understanding of altruism. The face-to-face still face provides data about the communication of intentions and affect between infant and caregiver and demonstrates the procedure of mutual regulation, the foundation of self-regulation and empathy. Both infant and caregiver are highly motivated to repair mismatches or disruptions in the affective connection between them and this desire to repair disruptions can also be recognized in adulthood—both in relationships between individuals and within an individual in terms of disconnections with the self. The subjective experience of the altruist may derive from this domain of human experience—the repair of disruption. I thus suggest that altruism is not merely sublimation of inner conflict, but it is an adaptive, evolutionarily beneficial, attitude and behavior that is growth enhancing in that it expands the individual’s repertoire for repairing mismatches within the self.     

Trait correlates of success at work

Identifying and developing high potential individuals is fundamental to successful companies and organizations. The present study focuses on the personality traits of high potential individuals. The High Potential Traits Inventory (HPTI) was used to investigate associations between personality traits and measures of career success, in a sample of 383 employed individuals. Results indicate HPTI personality traits relate to subjective and objective measures of success with Conscientiousness being the strongest predictor. The findings of the current study are consistent with previous research on High Flyers. Implications of the current study are discussed, suggesting a clearer operationalization of success is crucial for understanding the underlying mechanisms which lead from personality to potential.     

Interaction effects among multiple job demands: an examination of healthcare workers across different contexts

Background and Objectives: Simultaneous exposure to time, cognitive, and emotional demands is a feature of the work environment for healthcare workers, yet effects of these common stressors in combination are not well established. Design: Survey data were collected from 125 hospital employees (Sample 1, Study 1), 93 ambulance service employees (Sample 2, Study 1), and 380 aged care/disability workers (Study 2). Methods: Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted. Results: In Sample 1, high cognitive demand exacerbated high emotional demand on psychological strain and job burnout, whereas the negative effect of high emotional demand was not present at low cognitive demand. In Sample 2, a similar pattern between emotional demand and time demand on stress-remedial intentions was observed. In Study 2, emotional demand?×?time demand and time demand?×?cognitive demand interactions again revealed that high levels of two demands were stress-exacerbating and low levels of one demand neutralized the other. A three-way interaction on job satisfaction showed the negative impact of emotional demand was exacerbated when both time and cognitive demands were high, creating a “triple disadvantage” of job demands. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that reducing some job demands helps attenuate the stressful effects of other job demands on different employee outcomes.     

Parental Distress Tolerance in Three Periods of Child Development: The Moderating Role of Child Temperament

Emotion regulation (ER) is essential to everyday, normative functioning. One aspect of ER is distress tolerance—the ability to persist in goal-directed activities when experiencing aversive states. Despite an assumption that ER improves with age, very little is known about ER across parenthood. Emotion regulation may be taxed by parenthood with implications for negativity in the family environment. The purpose of the current study was to describe levels of distress tolerance across periods of parenthood and to evaluate child temperament as a moderator of the relationship between child’s age and parents’ distress tolerance. A total of 602 parents (66.3% female, M _age ? =?32.31 years, SD?=?7.07) whose eldest child belonged to one of three developmental periods (i.e., infancy, n?=?187; early childhood, n?=?214; late childhood, n?=?201) completed an online survey. While we found no evidence for a main effect of child’s age on parent distress tolerance, children’s negative affectivity moderated the association between period of parenthood and parent distress tolerance. Specifically, children who were higher in negative affectivity had parents who reported less distress tolerance between the developmental periods. The implications of the current study are discussed in the context of current and future research on emotional regulation among parents.