Idealization and psychoanalytic learning

Idealization is an intrinsic part of psychological maturation, but it is also a potential barrier to psychoanalytic learning, and must to some degree be outgrown if an analyst is to develop a natural authority and individual style. Unrecognized idealizations stifle analysts' engagement in the transferences of their patients, and so compromise the ability to freely experience and analyze them. Attention to real life and the lessons it teaches counterbalances the tendency to idealize and encourages lifelong psychoanalytic growth.     

The Columbia Supervision Project: data from the dyad

Anonymous questionnaires were sent to all candidates and supervisors at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (hereafter "Columbia"). Questions focused on the four domains most emphasized in the literature on supervision: logistical issues; the "teach or treat" question; the evaluatory function of the supervisor; and the affective experience of supervision. By coding the questionnaires, anonymity of respondents was maintained while allowing for a matched pair of analyses of supervisors and supervisees. Return rate was over 85 percent. In general, rates of satisfaction with supervision were high, and candidates and supervisors agreed on such issues as the "teach or treat" question, as well as the technical and theoretical frame of reference of the supervisor. However, there were striking disagreements between candidates and supervisors as to the role of the supervisor, what candidates find useful in supervision, the evaluatory function, and the relation between supervision and progression to graduation. Although 50 percent of candidates reported anxiety about receiving credit for cases, this was not routinely discussed in supervision, and the supervisory relationship itself was not discussed in over 50 percent of dyads. Despite high overall satisfaction ratings, 25 percent of candidates said they wished they had a different supervisor for the case, and 75 percent believed that a candidate who asked to switch supervisors would be labeled problematic. In contrast, over 75 percent of supervisors reported that switching supervisors carries no stigma. In a follow-up study conducted one year later, many candidates reported that they feared reprisals for switching, and some reported that their training analysts advised against "rocking the boat." Candidates felt that participating in the study emboldened them to think more openly about supervision and in some cases to make changes.     

The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy: Men Who Perceive Women's Nurturance and Sexuality as Mutually Exclusive Endorse Patriarchy and Show Lower Relationship Satisfaction

The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy (MWD) denotes polarized perceptions of women in general as either “good,” chaste, and pure Madonnas or as “bad,” promiscuous, and seductive whores. Whereas prior theories focused on unresolved sexual complexes or evolved psychological tendencies, feminist theory suggests the MWD stems from a desire to reinforce patriarchy. Surveying 108 heterosexual Israeli men revealed a positive association between MWD endorsement and patriarchy-enhancing ideology as assessed by Social Dominance Orientation (preference for hierarchical social structures), Gender-Specific System Justification (desire to maintain the existing gender system), and sexist attitudes (Benevolent and Hostile Sexism, Sexual Objectification of Women, and Sexual Double Standards). In addition, MWD endorsement negatively predicted men’s romantic relationship satisfaction. These findings support the feminist notion that patriarchal arrangements have negative implications for the well-being of men as well as women. Specifically, the MWD not only links to attitudes that restrict women’s autonomy, but also impairs men’s most intimate relationships with women. Increased awareness of motives underlying the MWD and its psychological costs can help practice professionals (e.g., couple therapists), as well as the general public, to foster more satisfying heterosexual relationships.     

Practical Modes of Presentation

The Intellectualist thesis that know‐how is a kind of propositional knowledge faces a simple problem: For any proposition p, it seems that one could know p without knowing how to do the activity in question. For example, it seems that one could know that w is a way to swim even if one didn't know how to swim oneself. In this paper I argue that this “sufficiency problem” cannot be adequately addressed by appealing to practical modes of presentation.     

Pictorial perspective: perception of size, linear, and texture perspective in children and adults

Perception of size, linear, and texture perspective was investigated in third-grade and sixth-grade children and in college adults in three separate studies. A matching task required the observer to choose from a set of four alternative real scenes the correct match for the test stimulus, which was either a picture or a real scene. Correct performance required that the subject utilize perspective information for both size and distance distance relations. Erroneous choices available to the subject indicated errors in size judgement, in distance judgment, or in both simultaneously. View was either restricted at the correct station point or was free, with head motion. There were no significant effects of grade level. For all three groups, mean percent correct was nearly 100% with the real-scene test stimuli, and significantly below the chance level with the picture test stimuli. Errors in size judgment occurred most frequently, indicating that the geometrically correct rate of perspective convergence was too rapid to be seen by the subjects as perceptually acceptable. With size-perspective information alone, the number of size plus distance errors also increased significantly. There was no significant effect of viewing condition.     

Co-Rumination Exacerbates Stress Generation among Adolescents with Depressive Symptoms

Through stress generation, individuals’ own thoughts and behaviors can actually lead to increases in their experience of stress. Unfortunately, stress generation is especially common among individuals who are already suffering from elevated depressive symptoms. However, despite the acknowledgement that some individuals with depressive symptoms generate greater stress than others, few studies have identified specific factors that could exacerbate stress generation among individuals with depressive symptoms. The present study examines co-rumination as a factor that might exacerbate stress generation among adolescents with depressive symptoms using a short-term longitudinal design. Considering these processes among adolescents was critical given that many youth experience increases in depressive symptoms at this developmental stage and that co-rumination also becomes more common at adolescence. Participants were 628 adolescents (326 girls; 302 boys) who reported on their depressive symptoms, experiences of stress, and co-rumination with a best friend. Interpersonal stressors (peer and family stress) and non-interpersonal stressors (school and sports stress) were assessed. Consistent with past research, adolescents with depressive symptoms experienced greater interpersonal and non-interpersonal stress over time. Importantly, co-rumination interacted with both depressive symptoms and gender in predicting increases in peer stress. Depressive symptoms predicted the generation of peer stress only for girls who reported high levels of co-rumination with friends. Implications for protecting youth with depressive symptoms against stress generation are discussed.