Toward Development of a Projective Set

An exploration of the possibility of developing a projective set in a client that will allow for lowering of his defenses and thus possibly eliciting “richer projective materials.” A “anxious tension” set was produced in one group of Ss by means of an intelligence type test and “playful tension” was produced in another group by means of a fantasy task. A projective technique (Part A of the Rosenzweig F-Battery) was then given to both groups. The results indicate that this projective technique was taken at a more implicit (or deeper) level following the “playful tension” than following the “anxious tension.” Implications for the pre-test environment of projective techniques are given.     

Sex of Free Choice Figure Drawings by Homosexual and Heterosexual Subjects

This article reports the findings from studies investigating the relationship between: (a) sex of free choice figure drawings and sexual inversion and (b) sex of free choice figure drawings and gender identity. Both relationships were found to be statistically nonsignificant.     

The Effect of Self-Imposed Brevity on the Structure of Dyadic Communication

Differences between concise and natural communications in problem solving were investigated by comparing the communications generated by pairs of S s asked to use as few words as possible with the communications by pairs of S s of whom no such request was made. Sixteen male pairs and 16 female pairs, all undergraduate students, were tested. Two modes of communication were used: voice and teletypewriter. An analysis of message function revealed that when S s tried to be brief, they used a larger percentage of messages concerned with the exchange of information and lower percentages of messages that dealt with the rate of communication, judgments, and feedback than under the natural condition. An analysis of parts of speech revealed that those S s who restricted their communications used higher percentages of nouns and adjectives and lower percentages of pronouns, verbs, prepositions, interjections, and articles than did S s who did not restrict their communications. Most of these findings held for both modes of communication.     

Predictors of early person reference development: Maternal language input,attachment and neurodevelopmental markers

In a longitudinal natural language development study in Germany, the acquisition of verbal symbols for present persons, absent persons, inanimate things and the mother–toddler dyad was investigated. Following the notion that verbal referent use is more developed in ostensive contexts, symbolic play situations were coded for verbal person reference by means of noun and pronoun use. Depending on attachment classifications at twelve months of age, effects of attachment classification and maternal language input were studied up to 36 months in four time points. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, except for mother absence, maternal verbal referent input rates at 17 and 36 months were stronger predictors for all referent types than any of the attachment organizations, or any other social or biological predictor variable. Attachment effects accounted for up to 9.8% of unique variance proportions in the person reference variables. Perinatal and familial measures predicted person references dependent on reference type. The results of this investigation indicate that mother-reference, self-reference and thing-reference develop in similar quantities measured from the 17-month time point, but are dependent of attachment quality.     

Occupationally Embedded Exercise Versus Rote Exercise and Psychosocial Response in College-Aged Females

Community integration through occupational engagement is an integral tenet of occupational therapy. However, little is known about how pets may assist this process. This study explores community integration through pet ownership as a meaningful, lifelong, occupation for one person with bipolar illness receiving Assertive Community Treatment. Using a case study approach, eight qualitative interviews, as well as observation and analysis of pet photos, were conducted with the mental health consumer and also with members of her social network. Data were analyzed inductively according to the constant comparative approach. The findings reveal that pet ownership assisted the person to counterbalance and move beyond stigma through pets as enablers of: “continuity,” “belonging,” “action and self-construction,” “acceptance,” and “participation.” This process was influenced by the “severity of illness,” “view of community,” and “supports and resources.” The results contribute to our understanding of pet ownership as a means to community integration. The study indicates that to enable persons with a mental illness to engage in pet ownership, occupational scientists need to examine and understand this occupation in the broader context of recovery, health, and well-being. A perspective of pet ownership as meaningful occupation challenges occupational therapists to develop strategies to actively engage clients and their pets in their community.     

Disavowal and assessment for psychotherapy

The concept of disavowal is described and its part in the pathology of a certain group of patients is discussed. Particular emphasis is placed upon the difficulties posed by the pervasive use of this defence mechanism during the assessment of such patients. Clinical vignettes from assessment interviews are presented. The longer-term psychotherapeutic management of these patients is discussed and this is illustrated by clinical material.     

The Gnostic Syndrome: Anorexia nervosa

‘The Gnostic Syndrome’ discusses anorexia nervosa in terms of its poetics and in the context of a developmental object-relations theory. One case is used to illustrate the problems of therapy and the antecedents of the anorexia in childhood and adolescence. The paper forms an investigation into pre-moral states and the interaction of anorexia with character structure.     

Promoting psychoanalytic understanding in the core professions: The case against establishing a new profession of adult psychotherapist

Currently there is much enthusiastic talk about the possibility of establishing a new National Health Service profession of Adult Psychotherapist. This paper questions the assumption that such a development would be rational and advantageous. Four main points are discussed here: there are problems arising from training in a uni-dimensional context when returning to work in amulti-dimensional context; there are dangers in taking a method-oriented stance rather than one which is service-oriented; there is something peculiar about the notion of a profession based on a single method or mode of treatment; one of the most important contributions of psychoanalysis to the core professions is the creation of an analytic space for thinking.