Sibling loss, guilt and reparation: A case study

Psychoanalysis has shown that the death of a sibling is likely to have a long-standing impact on the character development of a surviving child. Among common adult manifestations are the identifi cation with the deceased sibling, repetitive self-punitive behaviors, and the development of masochistic trends. In treatment, these patients can become entrenched in a negative therapeutic reaction that compromises the outcome of their analysis. In this paper, the author discusses the analysis of a woman with a history of losses that included the loss of a sibling at an early age. A critical part of the treatment focused on helping this patient overcome a negative therapeutic reaction that emerged as she became aware of hostile and vengeful fantasies, not only as they related to her deceased brother but, more importantly, as they related to her parents.     

Race, Kinds and Ontological Commitments: Issues for Social Policy Clarification

abstract   This article attempts to illustrate the continuing need to pay attention to ontological issues connected with the conduct of empirical research and subsequent policy making. Failure to do so leads to the conflation of social constructions with ideas about the thesis of an independent reality. Such category mistakes often lead to dilemmas in which culturally sensitive constructs may, on the one hand, be worthy of study because they do tell us how socially constructed categories do predict social phenomena; but, on the other hand, such constructs may illustrate an unwillingness on the part of the research community to recognize the objective nature of such constructs. Some recommendations are suggested for addressing the social policy consequences of these dilemmas.     

“TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY”: A YULETIDE 1980 ASSESSMENT OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

The past two decades have witnessed marked improvment in the work produced by communication researchers. Today's research is marked by increasing reliance on theory, a greater emphasis on programmatic research, and attempts to fit methods to particular research objectives. These advances, along with a dramatic increase in the number of capable communication researchers, have combined to heighten the credibility of communication research among colleagues in related disciplines. Although many issues remain unsolved, progress is the key word in assessing events of the last 20 years.