Deconstructing the unconscious saboteur: Composing a life with ambition and desire

Abstract

This paper explores the unconscious roots of women's ambition from an object relations, developmental, and hermaneutic perspective. Three high-profile women's stories illustrate the formative and deformative power of narration: those of Hilary Clinton, Tina Turner, and the heroine of Phantom of the Opera. Each narrative reveals typical deformative constrictions to the expression of female ambition, including male abrogation of female capability and the denigration of ambition as unfeminine. Through clinical vignettes, this paper explores dynamic, developmental, and cultural forces that block female ambition's full flowering. Part of the need to keep women's ambition limited stems from the unconscious needs of the masculine psyche for superiority. This is communicated to little girls through their mothers' internalized parental imagoes, including their mothers' identification with their mothers and their own oedipal struggles. Similarly, the father's unconscious anxieties in relation to his parental imagoes, particularly his preoedipal and oedipal relations with his mother, are communicated. Another constraining dynamic relates to female conflicts around separation from the mother. Composing new narratives of women's ambition with our patients can incorporate the uniquely feminine aspects of comfort with diffusion, while weaving multiple and disparate strands laced with nurturance and aggression.

Harriet Kimble Wyre. Auflösung des unbewussten Saboteurs: Aufbau eines Lebens aus Streben nach Erfolg.

Erforscht werden die unbewussten Wurzeln des Erfolgstrebens von Frauen, aus der Perspektive der Objektbeziehungen, der Entwicklungspsychologie und der Hermeneutik. Die Erfolgsgeschichten dreier hochrangiger Frauen zeigen die aufbauende und zersetzende Kraft ihrer internalisierten Lebensgeschichten: Hilary Clinton, Tina Turner, und die Heldin aus Phantom der Oper. Die Lebensgeschichten enthüllen typische deformierende Einengungen der Einschätzung von weiblichem Erfolgsstreben. Ein Aspekt davon ist die von männern oft vertretene Aberkennung von ausserordentlichen Fähigkeiten von Frauen sowie die Ansicht von Männern, Erfolgsstreben bei Frauen sei unweiblich.

Durch klinische Vignetten werden dynamische, entwicklungspsychologische und kulturelle Kräfte erforscht, die die volle Entfaltung des Erfolgstrebens von Frauen blockieren. Begrenzt werden die Wünsche der Frauen nach Erfolg zum Teil durch die unbewussten Vorstellungen der männlichen Psyche, die männliche Überlegenheit zu bewahren. Diese Haltungen werden den kleinen Mädchen durch die Mutter, gemäss deren internaliserten Elternimagos, vermittelt. Dazu gehören die Identifizierungen der Mutter mit ihrer Mutter und ihre eigenen ödipalen Auseinandersetzungen. Auf die gleiche Weise werden die unbewussten Ängste des Vaters bezüglich seiner Elternimagos vermittelt, insbesondere seine vorödipale Beziehung mir seiner Mutter. Eine weitere einengende Dynamik ergibt sich für das Mädchen aus der Ablösung von der Mutter.

Wird mit unseren Patientinnen ein neues Verständnis von Erfolgsstreben geschaffen, breitet sich eine einmalige weibliche Ausprägung von vielseitiger Befriedigung aus, getragen vom Bedürfnis zu Ernähren und die Aggressionen konstruktiv umzusetzen.

Harriet Kimble Wyre. Deconstruyendo el saboteador inconsciente: Componiendo una vida con ambición y deseo.

Este trabajo explora el origen de las raíces inconscientes de la ambición en las mujeres desde las perspectivas de las relaciones objetales, del desarrollo y la hermeneútica. Las historias de tres mujeres de alto perfil ilustran el poder formativo y deformativo del poder de la narrativa: Tina Turner, Hilary Clinton y la heroína del Fantasma de la Opera. Cada narrativa revela típicas constricciones deformativas de la expresión de la ambición femenina, incluyendo la abrogación masculina de la capacidad femenina y la denigración de la ambición como no femenina.

A través de estas viñetas, se explora las fuerzas dinámicas, de desarrollo y culturales que bloquean el completo florecimiento de la ambición en la mujer. Parte de la necesidad de mantener la ambición femenina limitada proviene de la necesidad inconsciente de superioridad de la psique masculina. Esto es comunicado a las niñas por medio de las imagos parentales interiorizadas de la madre, incluyendo la identificación de la madre con su propia madre y sus conflictos edípicos. De manera semejante las ansiedades inconscientes del padre en relación con sus imagos parentales, particularmente sus relaciones preedípicas así como edípicas con su madre son también comunicados. Otra dinámica que constriñe se refiere a los conflictos femininos alrededor de la separación de la madre. Componer nuevas narrativas acerca de la ambición en las mujeres con nuestras pacientes permite incorporar los extraordinarios aspectos femeninos de consuelo y difusión mientras teje múltiples y dispares cabos enlazados a la crianza y la agresión.     

Parenting Wisely: Parent Training via CD-ROM with an Australian Sample

The effectiveness of a parenting program was examined with an Australian sample regarding improved parent knowledge, parental sense of competence, and child behavior. One hundred and sixteen parents and their children were randomly assigned to three conditions: a two-session group based intervention, a two-session self-administered individual intervention, or to a waitlist control group. Across both treatment modalities results reveal a significant increase in parental satisfaction, efficacy, and a reduction in child problem behavior. Improvements were maintained at 3-months follow-up. Results indicate the individual self-administered format enhanced treatment gains relative to the group format.     

A Review of: “Greenwald,R. (2009). Treating Problem Behaviors: A Trauma-Informed Approach.”

This single-case-design experiment examined an intervention to decrease bed-sharing in children, ages 2 through 6. Three sessions were conducted with each parent. At the first session, parents described bed-sharing history and began collecting baseline data. At the second session, parents were instructed to employ the intervention. At the third session, parents were interviewed and offered continued support, if needed. Participants included three children who slept with their parents 4 or more nights per week. The intervention resulted in a substantial decrease in bed-sharing behavior for all participants, and parents reported being satisfied with the intervention.     

Sport-Based Group Therapy Program for Boys with ADHD or with Other Behavioral Disorders

A group of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to children with other behavior and emotional problems. All the participants participated together in 20 weekly sessions for 1 academic year. The participants were assessed with three questionnaires on three different occasions: before the beginning of the group, at the completion of the group, and 1 year after the completion of the group. The results showed that the children indicated improvement in two behavior domains while their parents indicated improvement in the children's behavior in five domains. The most striking improvement was reduction of anxiety.     

Critical Issues in Causation and Treatment of Autism: Why Fads Continue to Flourish

The increasing incidence of autism and the lack of specific answers regarding causation have given rise to unproven educational interventions and medical treatments. Parents of a newly diagnosed child can easily fall prey to interventions that promise cures. These interventions may be harmful and, thus, pose one of the critical issues in special education today. This article will discuss some of the suspect interventions that have been popularized through the media (i.e., celebrities, journalists, and professional organizations). The authors argue that using the scientific method is clearly the antidote for pseudoscience; the need for accurate research-based decision making is apparent.     

Comparison of Mothers' and Fathers' Opinions of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy

Opinions of parenting programs mostly have been obtained from mothers. Because mothers and fathers' interactions with children differ, gathering data from both parents regarding behavior modification and parenting programs is necessary. This project was part of a larger study and compared mothers and fathers' acceptability of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and its various components. Acceptability data were obtained using the Treatment Evaluation Inventory-Short Form and a modified version of this measure assessing specific PCIT components. The sample consisted of 40 community mother-father pairs of a young male child. Findings suggest gender differences in PCIT treatment acceptability and various PCIT components.