Morality and Interpretation: Commentary on Jonathan Glover's Alien Landscapes?

What is required of the interpreter of disordered minds and what can we learn from the process? Jonathan Glover's book focuses on human interpretation and its role in psychiatry. His hope is that a more careful and sensitive exploration of minds that are very different from our own, will assist us to answer a range of important questions about human agency, identity and responsibility. In this commentary I will focus on the process and purpose of interpretation and expand on some of the moral issues that arise out of the interpretive challenges posed by mental disorders.     

An examination of some common denominators in the borderline syndrome

Commonalities in borderline patients are examined in an empirical study of three such cases in long-term psychoanalytic treatment with the author. Each case shows the preoedipal feature of a need to repeat the early maternal environment sensed as both deadly and indispensable. These mutually exclusive polarities continued to be experienced as co-existent through a significant degree of primary process functioning. Separation-individuation was arrested and self-object transferences and persecutory anxiety were evidenced. Some ego growth occurred concomitant with therapy and ongoing life circumstances. More reality life forces were released as opposed to unconscious victimization in life-death trap experiences.     

Using relational reflexivity as a resource in teaching family therapy

In this paper we talk about creating coherence and transparency in the relationships between teacher, model of adult learning and subject taught. We describe how we have made connections between adult learning theory and family therapy to generate resources for action in teaching on the qualifying level course at Northumbria University. Using a recent teaching session and the voices of trainees, we illustrate these connections with an example of teaching about relational reflexivity, using methods which enabled us to generate reflexive ‘flow’ in the learning context.     

Assessment and reflexivity in family therapy training

Educational contexts can be both enriched and impoverished by our relationship with learning and our ‘identity stories’ as learners influence how we construct contexts for learning. Keenoy et al. (2007) describe identity as a ‘transient bridging concept’ between the individual and society which is constructed through ‘reflexive processes of naming, labelling, classifying and associating symbolic artefacts and social actors in a dialogical process of social definition and redefinition’. Can methods of assessment be constructed to afford reflexive, dialogical learning opportunities? This paper outlines the design and methodology of a reflexive framework for the summative assessment of abilities used on the Intermediate Level course at Northumbria University.     

Victim's Response And Alcohol-Related Factors As Determinants Of Women's Responses To Violent Pornography

Women suffer a variety of detrimental effects from exposure to violent pornography. This study examined the role of specific situational cues embedded within a violent pornographic story, as well as alcohol consumption and alcohol expectancies, to determine potential mechanisms through which these effects occur. Female social drinkers ( N = 123), recruited from the community at large, participated in a between-subjects factorial experiment varying two situational cues—victim response (pleasure vs. distress) and story character beverage consumption (alcohol vs. mineral water)—and participant beverage consumption (alcohol vs. placebo vs. tonic). Results indicate that participants' identification with the victim plays a key role in affecting their responses and that alcohol-related factors appear to exacerbate the negative impact of pornography.