The termination phase of combined therapy

Three different kinds of termination are described and discussed. In combined therapy the group can help to resolve and clarify the meanings of moves to terminate therapy. The role of the therapist's countertransferences in this stage of the work is important to consider, and here, too, the group is an important part of the work. The author sees termination as an important part of the treatment process. In combined therapy it may be more complex but it also allows for a fuller exploration of the relevant issues.     

Inhibitory control over no-longer-relevant information: Adult age differences

Hartman and Hasher (1991) used a garden-path task in which younger and older adults generated the final word for each of a series of high-cloze sentences. Under instructions to remember the final word, the experiment included critical sentences for which the generated word was replaced by a new, to-be-remembered target. Using an implicit priming task, the first experiment replicated a basic finding: Younger adults showed priming only for the target words, whereas older adults showed priming for both the generated and target words. Two experiments explored boundary conditions. One showed that an additional sentence that interpreted the new target word enabled older adults to narrow access to only the target word. The provision of additional time following the introduction of the new target word did not. Specific information, not more time, is required for inefficient inhibitory mechanisms to clear the recent past from memory.     

Courteous service: Its assessment and modification in a human service organization

We evaluated strategies to increase behaviors associated with courteous provision of service by 3 staff members of a human service agency. Training included written instructions, practice, and performance feedback. A lottery procedure was introduced to maintain courteous service after training. The results of a multiple baseline design across the 3 participants showed marked increases in courteous behaviors following training. These effects were maintained at 3-, 5-, and 8-month follow-ups. Consumers' satisfaction with service also increased. These findings suggest that simple training and reinforcement procedures can enhance courtesy afforded those who receive service from public and nonprofit organizations.     

(My) spirituality in medical education

During these times of the situated, contingent text, it is not unusual for an author to disclose her biases and other sources of potential partiality as a researcher or theorist. That is, an author often discloses her race, class origins, or sexual orientation at the onset, announcing particularities that enable readers to adjust their reading to the subjectivities inherent to knowledge production. One glaring omission to these announcements, especially in medicine, has to do with the spiritual domain. This essay, written as a personal narrative, provides one example of how one's spirituality is connected to what and how one chooses to teach, even in the medical academy. Acknowledging those beliefs and considering how our spirituality (along with our other subjectivities that are known to us) may influence our work is an important process in developing a more reflective practice.     

The importance of stories in the act of caring

This article focuses on the essential role and function of story in the care of young children with emotional and behavioral disorders in an institutional setting. Highlighted in this article is the importance of story in the therapeutic relationship, its educational implications, and in theological reflection. A narrative approach of care becomes a way of healing both heart and mind, and is ultimately an act of love.     

Training Soviet immigrant therapists in the field of group psychotherapy

Between 1970 and 1990 about one-half million Jews immigrated to Israel, most of them from the former Soviet Union, including many mental health therapists who had trained and worked in the Soviet Union. This article addresses the special characteristics of this population, in general, and of the mental health therapists, in particular. It relates these characteristics to training for group psychotherapy. Key issues include their unique experience of the inner world as a source of danger, the specific defensive modes connected with this experience, their perception of authority as an agent of ideology, and their representation of the group as a persecutory entity and as a vehicle of indoctrination.     

Stories for therapy: The right story to the right person at the right time

In the postmodern information era with its increasing complexity and demands on my time, I find storytelling increasingly attractive. The right story told to the right person(s) at the right time in the right way can powerfully define and shape both individuals and the systems into which they organize themselves. As interventions go, I find stories to be relatively high impact, low-risk, parsimonious, and user-friendly. This paper contains some of my favorite teaching stories and describes why and how I use them as both a family therapist and teacher of family therapy.