Silent dialogues in the analytic relationship

Abstract

In borderline or even narcissistic patients, the relation to the objects is built on the basis of omnipotent control, so that those patients present difficulties related to mourning for the loss, as well as for the independence, of the objects. Their basic trait is a huge inability to recognize the separateness of others, together with an excessive use of primitive defense mechanisms, such as projective identification. Each experience that contains the danger of re-experiencing the primal separation poses an attack on the analytic setting, in order to avoid such a re-experiencing. Those attacks sometimes take the known form of acting out, whereas other times they are limited to a special use of speech, which lacks any communicational faculty and is used rather as a weapon. This special climate affects the analyst, causing specific countertransferential reactions. Nowadays, we tend to consider such a communication not mostly as an obstacle, but rather as an opportunity, allowing the analyst to comprehend the patient, through his countertransference, and create a meaning to replace the void those patients usually experience. The transference and countertransference enactments, their silent dialogues taking place in the analytic setting, are those which progressively give meaning in this primitive non verbal communication.     

Effects of classroom noise on students and teachers in Greece

Measurements inside 32 occupied high-school classrooms during the courses showed that the measured long-term equivalent noise levels are high. A significant percentage of students and teachers found these levels unacceptable. The observed noise levels depend on the time period of the course, the age, and the number of the students in each classroom. The large reverberation time and the high background noise are responsible for the measured high noise level.     

Location,Location, Location: Effects of Cross-Religious Primes on Prosocial Behavior

Priming with religious concepts is known to have a positive effect on prosocial behavior; however, the effects of religious primes associated with outgroups remain unknown. To explore this, we conducted a field experiment in a multicultural, multireligious setting (the island of Mauritius). Our design used naturally occurring, ecologically relevant contextual primes pertinent to everyday religious and secular life while maintaining full experimental control. We found that both ingroup and outgroup religious contexts increased generosity as measured by a donation task. In accordance with previous research, we also found an interaction between individual religiosity and the efficacy of the religious primes. We discuss these findings and their interpretation, and we suggest potential avenues for further research.     

Effect of simultaneous model observation and self-modeling of volleyball skill acquisition

This study examined the effect of feedback with simultaneous skilled model observation and self-modeling on volleyball skill acquisition. 53 pupils 12 to 15 years old formed two experimental groups and one control group who followed an intervention program with 12 practice sessions for acquisition and retention of how to receive a ball. Groups received different types of feedback before and in the middle of each practice session. Reception performance outcome (score) and technique in every group were assessed before and at the end of the intervention program and during the retention phase. A 3 (Group) x 3 (Measurement Period) multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures was applied to investigate differences. Results showed equivalent improvement in all three groups at the end of the intervention program. In conclusion, types of augmented feedback from the physical education teacher are effective in acquisition and retention of the skill for reception in volleyball.     

The Medical Vestment and Surgical Instruments of Saint Cosmas and Damian on Sinai Icons From the Seventh to the Eighteenth Century

The iconography of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian and the artistic representations of their miracles are important sources for the history of medicine. Within the sphere of physician-saints, Cosmas and Damian have the greatest number of iconographic depictions in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art. In most of their representations, they wear long robes as a sort of professional mantles and carry surgical instruments and boxes indicating their status as doctors. The progress of Byzantine surgery could be attested by these objects, some of them mentioned in collections of miracle stories and documented in medical sources.     

On the motivations for Merleau-Ponty’s ontological research

This paper attempts to clarify Merleau-Ponty’s later work by tracing a hitherto overlooked set of concerns that were of key consequence for the formulation of his ontological research. I argue that his ontology can be understood as a response to a set of problems originating in reflections on the intersubjective use of language in dialogue, undertaken in the early 1950s. His study of dialogue disclosed a structure of meaning-formation and pointed towards a theory of truth (both recurring ontological topics) that post-Phenomenology premises could not account for. A study of dialogue shows that speakers’ positions are interchangeable, that speaking subjects are active and passive in varying degrees, and that the intentional roles of subjects and objects are liable to shift or ‘transgress’ themselves. These observations anticipate the concepts of ‘reversibility’ and ‘narcissism’, his later view of activity and passivity, and his later view of intentionality, and sharpened the need to adopt an intersubjective focus in ontological research.     

Detecting Outliers in Factor Analysis Using the Forward Search Algorithm

Dynamic factor analysis summarizes changes in scores on a battery of manifest variables over repeated measurements in terms of a time series in a substantially smaller number of latent factors. Algebraic formulae for standard errors of parameter estimates are more difficult to obtain than in the usual intersubject factor analysis because of the interdependence of successive observations. Bootstrap methods can fill this need, however. The standard bootstrap of individual timepoints is not appropriate because it destroys their order in time and consequently gives incorrect standard error estimates. Two bootstrap procedures that are appropriate for dynamic factor analysis are described. The moving block bootstrap breaks down the original time series into blocks and draws samples of blocks instead of individual timepoints. A parametric bootstrap is essentially a Monte Carlo study in which the population parameters are taken to be estimates obtained from the available sample. These bootstrap procedures are demonstrated using 103 days of affective mood self-ratings from a pregnant woman, 90 days of personality self-ratings from a psychology freshman, and a simulation study.     

The cognitive bases of learning to read and spell in Greek: evidence from a longitudinal study

We conducted a longitudinal study examining the role of phonemic awareness, phonological processing, and grammatical skills in the development of reading and spelling abilities in Greek. A battery of cognitive, linguistic, and literacy tasks was administered to 131 primary school children (65 7-year-olds and 66 9-year-olds) and was repeated in the following year (8- and 10-year-olds, respectively). Phoneme awareness, speech rate, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were concurrent predictors of reading rate at Time 1 (T1), and speech rate was a longitudinal predictor of reading rate at Time 2 (T2) when reading at T1 was controlled. The predictors of spelling differed from those of reading; phoneme awareness and speech rate predicted concurrent attainments at T1, and phoneme awareness was a robust longitudinal predictor. Despite the differences in the degree of transparency between the Greek and English orthographies, phoneme awareness predicts variations in learning to read and spell in both languages.     

Girls' soccer performance and motivation: games vs technique approach

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Technique and Games approaches on girls' soccer performance and motivation. The Technique approach focuses on technique instruction using drills, whereas the Games approach places emphasis on tactic instruction with modified games. 37 girls, 12 to 13 years old, were taught 15 soccer lessons by the Technique approach and 35 girls by the Games approach. At the beginning and at the end of the research soccer matches were videotaped and evaluated by Oslin, Mitchell, and Griffin's Game Performance Assessment Instrument. Girls' motivation was assessed on the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. The Games group had significantly better scores after training on tactical behaviour and intrinsic motivation than the Technique group. There were no significant differences in skill execution between groups trained under the two approaches. Considering the importance of intrinsic motivation for a lifelong, physically active lifestyle, researchers could focus study on the approaches and girls' motivation.     

Forced migration, adolescence, and identity formation

Adolescence is a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon. All the inner-subjective changes in adolescents take place within the context of a specific social environment, which offers the necessary ideological setting that adolescents must confront in the course of their identity formation. Forced migration creates conditions under which the adolescent Ego may be traumatized more easily, resulting in the development of defensive mechanisms, which may interfere with the natural process of identity formation. The aim of this paper is to investigate how a traumatic situation such as forced migration may affect the mechanisms of identity formation in adolescence. For this purpose, clinical material, consisting of two cases of psychoanalytical psychotherapy of adolescents who were forced to immigrate to Greece, is presented and discussed in a psychoanalytical theoretical framework, along with the historical-sociological background.Dimitris C. Anagnostopoulos, M.D., is a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Community Mental Health Center, Psychiatric Department, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.Maria Vlassopoulos, Ph.D., is at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Community Mental Health Center, Psychiatric Department, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.Helen Lazaratou, M.D., is at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Unit, Community Mental Health Center, Psychiatric Department, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.