Supervising the person of the therapist: Issues,challenges and dilemmas

A major critical issue in marriage and family therapy today is the professionalization of the discipline. Thus the focus on training individuals for a career in marriage and family therapy necessitates the revisitation of the debate over personal growth versus skill development. The trend toward training the person of the therapist, however, would suggest that the field is moving toward the integration of self awareness and skill in the therapeutic system. With the popularization of training the person of the therapist comes other issues, challenges, and dilemmas for the field, including the crucial issue of training gender and culturally sensitive therapists. The potential for creating dual relationships when training the person of the therapist is both a dilemma and a challenge.     

Sado-masochism as a defense against merging: Six case studies

This paper reports on several patients who use sado-masochism as a defense against an unconscious wish for and fear of merging. The sado-masochism can be expressed as a sexual perversion or in a difficult ungratifying interpersonal relationship. These relationships have some of the quality of addictions in that the patients have a compulsive need to continue them and find it extremely difficult to leave them. Therapy must focus on helping the patient become more separate, rather than on other problems which may also be present. Initially, the therapist needs to take an educational stance in regard to the process the patient must complete, rather than the more traditional analytic stance.     

The effects of hormones,Type A behavior pattern,and provocation on aggression in men

Thirty-eight male college students, classified as either Type A or Type B based on their Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS-T) scores, competed in a reaction time task that allowed them to administer shocks to an increasingly provocative fictitious opponent. Salivary testosterone and cortisol were measured both prior to and after the task. Aggression was defined as the level of shock the subject was willing to set for the opponent. The results of this study indicate that a relationship exists between endogenous testosterone levels in men and direct physical aggression. Some evidence for the moderating effects of hormones on the level of aggression expressed by Type As was observed. No direct relationship between Type A and aggression was found.     

CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF WORK,FAMILY AND LEISURE BY MANAGERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY*

This study analysed the way 20 managers in the information technology industry in Australia viewed their lives, and identified two dimensions of central importance cutting across the work, family and leisure spheres encompassed by them. One dimension was positively loaded towards activities which were challenging, creative and under the individual's control. These activities were enjoyable, and included examples such as consulting with clients, creating new business, and communicating and dealing with others, whether at work or at home. The opposite pole of this dimension involved activities such as completing paperwork, general administration, doing the shopping, and disciplining the children. Such activities were seen as necessary, routine or stressful, and were generally disliked. The other dimension dealt with activities which, at one pole, were emotionally involving or involved moral standards, and included examples such as attending meetings, doing things as a family, and settling disputes, either at work or at home. At the other pole were activities which were usually done alone and involved no sense of social or moral obligation. Leisure activities typically fell into this category. The results indicated that these managers generally pursued a lifestyle which was seen to be non-stressful, and one valued for the challenge, enjoyment, freedom of choice and personal control which it offered.     

Victims' perceptions of social support: what is helpful from whom?

Although research has demonstrated that social interactions influence psychological well-being, little is known about what specific actions victims of stressful life events experience as helpful or unhelpful. Wortman and Dunkel-Schetter (1979) previously suggested that victims frequently experience rejection, withdrawal, and communication problems with those close to them. To address these issues, 55 cancer patients were interviewed concerning the specific actions they found to be helpful or unhelpful from several potential support providers: spouse, other family members, friends, acquaintances, others with cancer, physicians, and nurses. The data indicated that the Wortman and Dunkel-Schetter victimization model applied better to interactions with friends and acquaintances than to interactions with close family members. In addition, support was found to be partially dependent on the source: Particular actions were perceived to be helpful from some but not other network members. Implications for theory and research on social support are discussed.     

Concurrent validity of the motor domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales

The concurrent validity of the motor domain from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales was estimated using scores from the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales as criteria. A moderately high correlation between the measures was obtained. Implications, particularly for preschool children, were discussed.     

Preference for familiar humans by rats

Many “higher” animals are commonly assumed to distinguish between individual humans. This belief is based largely on anecdotal reports; in reality, there is little empirical evidence to support human recognition in nonhuman species. We report that laboratory rats consistently chose a familiar human over an unfamiliar human following fourteen and five 10-min exposures and even following a single 10-min exposure. Furthermore, this preference was retained in the absence of additional contact for at least 5 months. These results confirm that laboratory rats can tell individual humans apart, a prerequisite for associating them with hedonic events. Such human-based conditioning, described by Pavlov and by Gantt, Newton, Royer, and Stephens (1966), may have important implications for animal research in a variety of settings.