Researching the “therapeutic relationship” in psychoanalysis,counselling psychology and psychotherapy—a qualitative inquiry

This paper reports the methodology of a research project based on and including a review of almost 1000 texts and more than 20 years of learning and supervised practice as clinician and supervisor in the psychotherapeutic professions on the nature of the therapeutic relationship. Following a pilot study by five years, the findings were reported in a 165,000 word document which encompasses poetry, personal experience, many textual extracts of theory or therapeutic dialogue, other research reports, theoretical considerations, clinical reflections, syllabus constructions—a postmodernist assemblage which nonetheless attempts coherence, validity and reliability. The findings have also been tested in the field for example by: (a) providing the framework for at least one four-year psychotherapy training course from which the first students have recently graduated by external assessment and (b) an independent psychotherapy accreditation process by a case study submission. It is argued that clinical practice or supervision should be inseparable from research—Particularly qualitative research in psychology.     

On the {↔, ∼} -reduct of the intuitionistic consequence operation

The intuitionistic consequence operation restricted to the language with (equivalence) and (negation) as the only connectives is axiomatized by means of a finite set of sequential rules of inference.To the memory of Professor Roman Suszko     

The development of therapeutic consultations in child-focused family work

This paper outlines the theoretical influences that have led to our use of a consultation approach to work with children and families. Winnicott's notion of therapeutic consultation, the narrative approach in family therapy, the use of letters in therapeutic work and the two-plus-one model of therapeutic contact are discussed. A model of the consultation interview and process is presented together with examples of consultation letters responding to typical client expectations of the process.     

Attentional scanning and space errors

Using the method of paired comparisons, pairs of simultaneous horizontal or vertical lines, with one line above and one below or one on the left and one on the right of a fixation point, respectively, were presented tachistoscopically for length comparison. Space errors were found to have a pattern similar to that of time errors. The tendency to guess the comparative response from the absolute magnitude of stimuli is proposed as a basis for time and space errors. Manipulation of attentional scanning, which implies a more frequent usage of this guessing strategy for one of the two lines in a pair, was shown to affect space errors.     

Conditioned tilt naming: A modified absolute judgment method is used to measure the oblique effect

Two naive human observers were conditioned to report on the slant of a 3.8-cpd sinusoidal grating viewed monocularly with a light-adapted eye and presented at various orientations extending from ?45 to +135 deg. The procedures used yielded a baseline measure of performance and measures obtained during conditioning, extinction, and reconditioning of the tilt-naming response. Both subjects learned rapidly, achieving a level of performance that permits efficient measurement of meridional differences in perceived orientation Ithe oblique effect) at a large number of angles.     

‘Just leave it blank’ non-religious children and their negotiation of prayer in school

ABSTRACT

This article examines how non-religious children experience acts of collective worship and prayer in primary school settings and analyses how they negotiate religion and their non-religious identities in these events. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork examining non-religious childhoods and collective worship in three English primary schools, the authors explore how non-religious children demonstrate their agency when confronted with particular boundaries and concepts related to religion and non-religion in school contexts. Attending to the experiences, perspectives, and practices of non-religious children adds to our understanding of the varieties of non-religion, which has to date largely focused on elite, adult populations. Focusing on non-religious children’s experiences of prayer reveals how these children did not experience tensions between praying to God and their non-religious identities and articulated their own interpretations of these practices, deepening understanding of the lived realities of non-religious cultures and identities.     

Individual values and well-being: The moderating role of personality traits

This study examined the role of values, traits and their interactions for the experience of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. First wave studies on value and well-being relationships yielded inconsistent results suggesting that these relationships are moderated by other factors, possibly by personality traits. We asked a representative sample of adult Poles (N = 1161) to report on their personality traits (according to five-factor theory), values (conceptualised by Schwartz) and well-being (hedonic and eudaimonic). Results showed, that higher Extraversion, Emotional stability, Intellect, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were related to higher well-being, confirming and expanding claims from personality theory of subjective well-being: stable predispositions are related not only to subjective, but also to eudaimonic well-being. Values expressing Openness to change, Self-transcendence and Conservation were also positively correlated with well-being, while the role of Self-enhancement was unclear. This confirmed that growth needs expressed in Openness to change and Self-transcendence values promote well-being, but also that values expressing deficiency needs can be positively related to well-being, possibly in specific circumstances. Finally, the two levels of personality (traits and values) proved to have a joint relationship to well-being: higher Conscientiousness and Agreeableness enhanced positive relationships of Openness to change and Self-transcendence with some aspects of well-being.