Freud, Dora, and the maid: a study of countertransference

Early advances in psychoanalytic knowledge, profound though they were, were incomplete structures to be built upon, modified, and partially discarded. In addition to errors due to insufficient knowledge, Freud's difficulties with Dora stemmed from countertransference. Dora's transference included an identification with a governess/maid. Important oedipal role played by a nursemaid in Freud's life made him vulnerable to being left by Dora. The maid, Monika, "the prime originator" of Freud's neurosis, seduced him, chastised him, and taught him of hell. In his self-analysis she was associated with Freud's mother who left him when she gave birth to his sister. When he was two and a half years old, Monika was discharged and jailed for stealing. I suggest that Freud's attraction to Dora revealed itself in his libidinal imagery of the treatment and his premature sexual interpretations, the effects of which he misjudged. Defending against his attraction, he pushed her away from him, did not act to keep her in analysis or allow her to reenter analysis later. In addition, since Dora had left him as he must have felt his childhood nursemaid had, he reacted as if she were that maid. Hurt, saddened, and angered, he used reversal and deserted her, thus damping his feelings.     

Phronesis in clinical ethics

This essay argues that while we have examined clinical ethics quite extensively in the literature, too little attention has been paid to the complex question of how clinical ethics is learned. Competing approaches to ethics pedagogy have relied on outmoded understandings of the way moral learning takes place in ethics. It is argued that the better approach, framed in the work of Aristotle, is the idea of phronesis, which depends on a long-term mentorship in clinical medicine for either medical students or clinical ethics students. Such an approach is articulated and defended.     

Pastoral conversation: A social construction view

The purpose of this article is to exhibit a clinical application of a social construction view of psychotherapy in the work of Goolishian and Anderson along with implications for pastoral conversation and for a postmodern pastoral theology.Glenn E. Boyd, M.A., M.Div., LPC, LMFT, is a pastoral counselor on the staff of Interface-Samaritan Counseling Center in Houston, TX. Additional information may be requested by writing him at 4803 San Felipe, Houston, TX 77056.     

Personality and modulation of the startle reflex by emotionally-toned filmclips

Several researchers have found that pleasant foreground stimuli attenuate the eyeblink component of the startle reflex while unpleasant foreground stimuli potentiate it. The effects of personality factors on such modulation of the eyeblink response, as measured by electromyographic (EMG) activity in reaction to loud acoustic startle probes, were examined in subjects viewing emotionally-toned (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral) filmclips. During the main part of the experiment, introverts had higher baseline EMG activity and lower response probability than extraverts; no differences were observed at the beginning of the experiment, during an acclimatization session. Reflex modulation, as measured by response latency, was influenced by the Psychoticism (P) factor of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire: subjects high on P showed longer latencies to eyeblink onset when probed during viewing of pleasant filmclips than subjects low on this dimension; no significant differences were observed between subjects low and high on P for neutral and unpleasant filmclips. No influence of personality factors was found on affective modulation as measured by response amplitude/magnitude. The results are discussed in relation to Gray's and Eysenck's theories of personality.     

Guilt and self-sacrifice: The plight of the better-off sibling

In this article, the experience of guilt and its behavioral sequelae, self-sacrifice, in the lives of certain therapy clients is explored. Subjects are adults who perceived as children that they were more gified in some area critical to their parents' values than was a sibling. These clients were successful children, but have come to therapy unsuccessful in some crucial area of their adult lives. Their sibling relationship was of primary importance to them. The relationship was very relevant to the lack of adult success they had experienced. Theory is developed to explain this phenomenon, and illustrative case examples are presented and suggestions are made for treatment.     

The real as illusion: deconstructing power in family therapy

This paper examines the current issue of power and intervention in family therapy from the perspective of Jacques Derrida's philosophy. In a deconstructive reading which presents power as both real and socially constructed, it negotiates the border between such dualities as knowing/ not-knowing, intervention/non-intervention, and power/non-power. The paper tracks Goolishian and Anderson's approach to therapy as deconstructive in practice, but not in theory, and discusses a double view of power in relation to both Bateson and Foucault. It suggests that power is both endemic to the context of family therapy and an illusion of epistemology. The paper concludes with a discussion of the wider question of ethics in relation to technology.     

Habituation of cognitive and physiological arousal and social anxiety

This study examined differences in habituation between high and low socially anxious Ss. Participants gave three impromptu speeches, each separated by a brief rest interval. Skin conductance and heart rate were monitored during the speeches. Following each speech participants completed self-ratings of nervousness, heart rate, and palmar sweat activity as well as a modified Social Interaction Self Statement Test. Low anxious controls showed significant reduction of negative expectations and self-reported nervousness, heart rate, and sweat activity across the three trials. Actual heart rate of low-anxious subjects also decreased significantly across trials. In contrast, high anxious subjects did not evidence significant decreases in any of the above measures of anxiety and stress across the three trials. Skin conductance measures increased across trials for both groups, but increased more for the high anxious group than low-anxious controls. Results indicate that high anxiety participants are slow to decrease cognitive and autonomic responsiveness to stressful social situations.