The Primary Maternal Oedipal Situation and Female Homoerotic Desire

In this paper, I closely examine classical psychoanalytic theory on the female oedipal complex in order to shed light on same-sex object choice. Given that the mother is the first love object for the girl as well as for the boy, the girl's object relational constellation centrally involves the experience of homoeroticism as well as heteroeroticism. Yet, it remains a question as to whether a mother can see her daughter as a sexual subject; can mother–daughter homoerotic desire be experienced and validated by the mother? That a girl desires her mother is generally not seen or registered by the mother; it remains an unrecognized desire.

I suggest that the obscuring of female desire has to do centrally with the fate of eroticism in the early mother–daughter relationship. I propose relabeling the “negative oedipal complex” in girls as “the primary maternal oedipal situation.” Issues involving invisibility or stigmatization of one's erotic desire likely pose a significant challenge to the self–esteem of many lesbians. It is important in clinical work with lesbian patients to be open to a complex interweaving of developmental experiences, varying with each individual, some of which may have been damaging to, and others strengthening of, female sexuality.     

Do Parenting Variables Have Specific or Widespread Impact on Parenting Covariates? The Effects of Manipulating Self-Efficacy or Verbal Responsiveness

ABSTRACT

This research aimed at determining to what extent manipulating a specific parenting variable, self-efficacy beliefs or verbal responsiveness, causes specific change in this variable alone, or conversely to what extent it causes widespread change that affects other parenting covariates—in particular behavioral and emotional responsiveness, positive affect irritability, support, and control. Two microtrials were used to achieve this goal. The 45 parents participating were randomly assigned to an 8-week waiting list followed by an 8-week intervention condition focusing on self-efficacy manipulation, or to an 8-week intervention condition focusing on verbal responsiveness manipulation. It can be concluded from the results that the two specific parenting variables under consideration had widespread effects on the six parenting behaviors, with the exception of control in the self-efficacy beliefs condition. The results are discussed for both empirical and clinical purposes.     

Operant conditioning of autobiographical memory retrieval

Functional avoidance is considered as one of the key mechanisms underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM). According to this view OGM is regarded as a learned cognitive avoidance strategy, based on principles of operant conditioning; i.e., individuals learn to avoid the emotionally painful consequences associated with the retrieval of specific negative memories. The aim of the present study was to test one of the basic assumptions of the functional avoidance account, namely that autobiographical memory retrieval can be brought under operant control. Here 41 students were instructed to retrieve personal memories in response to 60 emotional cue words. Depending on the condition, they were punished with an aversive sound for the retrieval of specific or nonspecific memories in an operant conditioning procedure. Analyzes showed that the course of memory specificity significantly differed between conditions. After the procedure participants punished for nonspecific memories retrieved significantly more specific memories compared to participants punished for specific memories. However, whereas memory specificity significantly increased in participants punished for specific memories, it did not significantly decrease in participants punished for nonspecific memories. Thus, while our findings indicate that autobiographical memory retrieval can be brought under operant control, they do not support a functional avoidance view on OGM.     

The impact of valence framing on response expectancies of side effects and subsequent experiences: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: Pre-treatment side effect expectancies often influence subsequent experiences; however, expectancy-based reduction strategies are lacking. We explored whether framing information about adverse responses (in positive or negative formats) altered expectancies and experiences of a cold pressor task. We further investigated associations between expectancies and experiences, to inform potential interventions.

Design: Healthy volunteers (N?=?134), randomised to receive positively- or negatively-framed pre-cold pressor task information, self-rated 12 expectancies for cold pressor experiences, emotional state and coping style.

Main Outcome Measures: Self-reports of the same 12-experiences (recorded during and after the experiment) were assessed.

Results: Framing had minimal impact on expectancies and experiences; however, discomfort threshold (p?=?.08, d?=?0.22) showed a trend in the expected direction. Hierarchical regressions revealed expectancies uniquely, significantly predicted 6–23% of the variance for 11 subsequent experiences. Following a popular charity event (Ice Bucket Challenge), all participants showed higher ‘discomfort thresholds’ (p?=?.001, d?=?0.59), and those in the negative frame reported more overall ‘discomfort’ (p?=?.01, d?=?0.60) than participants in the positive condition.

Conclusion: Expectancies uniquely influenced subsequent cold pressor experiences. Framing had minimal impact in this ‘analogue’ medical setting, only influencing ‘discomfort threshold’. ‘Discomfort threshold’ and overall ‘discomfort’ were also impacted by a social media challenge, highlighting a potential area for intervention.     

‘Make sure you keep our house safe!’ Thematic analysis of a children's psychotherapy group

This paper describes a systematic thematic analysis of one particular latency-aged children's group and includes a discussion about potentially helpful outcomes measures. The impetus for our small, practice-based qualitative research project came from the two papers by Reid (1999) and Canham (2002) about children's psychotherapy groups, particularly Canham's (2002) paper, ‘Group and gang states of mind’. Canham and Reid used Bion's theories of group functioning as the basis of their technique with children's groups. We felt that it would be an interesting follow-on from Reid and Canham's findings to explore in some detail the specific therapeutic factors involved in a shift from paranoid–schizoid to depressive functioning in group therapy. We hoped that this might give us some helpful clinical indications as to the circumstances in which group rather than individual psychotherapy and parallel parent work should be considered as the treatment of choice. The paper concentrates exclusively on group work with latency-aged children, therefore referring mainly to the limited number of papers published about psychoanalytic group therapy with this age group.     

Classroom Peer Relationships and Behavioral Engagement in Elementary School: The Role of Social Network Equity

Applying social capital and systems theories of social processes, we examine the role of the classroom peer context in the behavioral engagement of low-income students (N = 80) in urban elementary school classrooms (N = 22). Systematic child observations were conducted to assess behavioral engagement among second to fifth graders in the fall and spring of the same school year. Classroom observations, teacher and child questionnaires, and social network data were collected in the fall. Confirming prior research, results from multilevel models indicate that students with more behavioral difficulties or less academic motivation in the fall were less behaviorally engaged in the spring. Extending prior research, classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties—social network equity—had more behaviorally engaged students in the spring, especially in classrooms with higher levels of observed organization (i.e., effective management of behavior, time, and attention). Moreover, social network equity attenuated the negative relation between student behavioral difficulties and behavioral engagement, suggesting that students with behavioral difficulties were less disengaged in classrooms with more equitably distributed and interconnected social ties. Findings illuminate the need to consider classroom peer contexts in future research and intervention focused on the behavioral engagement of students in urban elementary schools.     

Medial temporal lobe memory in childhood: developmental transitions

The medial temporal lobes (MTL) support declarative memory and mature structurally and functionally during the postnatal years in humans. Although recent work has addressed the development of declarative memory in early childhood, less is known about continued development beyond this period of time. The purpose of this investigation was to explore MTL‐dependent memory across middle childhood. Children (6 –10 years old) and adults completed two computerized tasks, place learning (PL) and transitive inference (TI), that each examined relational memory, as well as the flexible use of relational learning. Findings suggest that the development of relational memory precedes the development of the ability to use relational knowledge flexibly in novel situations. Implications for the development of underlying brain areas and ideas for future neuroimaging investigations are discussed.     

Giving birth in exile: motherhood as reterritorialization

This paper explores the effects of exile on the subjectivity of pregnant migrant women through the lens of the processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization. Having escaped the gaze of the parental superego, the subject’s encounter with sexuality becomes possible. However, in addition to the emancipatory aspects of migration, we observe particular somatic-psychical effects on reproductive ability. These “exile” pregnancies are generally experienced as difficult and painful, laying bare a symptomatology that is as much psychical as somatic, and which highlights the cost of a desire for independence. In this context, where perinatal risks must be evaluated and treated through an interdisciplinary approach, a clinical accompaniment proves to be indispensable for the maternity to progress smoothly on foreign soil.     

Analytic Voyages: Surprises at Sea Reply to Commentaries

I elaborate, at the level of unconscious fantasy, the oedipal recognition of “threeness” as a traumatic disruption that can have the quality of a sudden shock and that can be experienced as an assault on (dyadic) “reality.” I then take up the question of the individuality of choice, given the impact of the cultural surround. A relationship is identified between female attire and the regulation of sexual excitement. The focus on maternal sexual subjectivity is extended to include consideration of women as subjects of beauty. I contend that female beauty, including the erotic, is a communication not solely to men but between women, within any given woman, and, at core, between mother and infant.