Our Theories,Our Selves: Commentary on Paper by Ruth Gruenthal

Ruth Gruenthal invites us to explore the dynamics embedded in disengagement. She suggests that this very concept is an oxymoron; by virtue of the fact that the patient is in treatment she is, in fact, engaged. Gruenthal focuses on disengagement's self-sustaining function, noting that it represents an attempt to regulate emotional distance while still retaining a connection to the other. Recognizing how difficult work with withdrawn patients can be, Gruenthal suggests that theory can actually shift the analyst's negative countertransference response. Implicitly she challenges the relational assumption that active engagement around the analyst's subjectivity always lies at the center of therapeutic process. I offer my own take on the dynamics at the heart of Gruenthal's treatment of Helen, proposing that neither disengagement nor containment can be accounted for by the patient or analyst alone. I explore how theory helps us manage our subjectivity while also embodying it.     

“So wat do u want to wrk on 2day?”: The Ethical Implications of Online Counseling

Internet counseling is an area of rapid expansion in the field of applied psychology. Internet counseling or psychotherapy involves a variety of activities such as psychoeducation, individual therapy, and automated self-help interventions delivered via the Internet. Although other professional societies such as the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, and the National Board of Certified Counselors have tackled the issues of Internet counseling ethics head on, the American Psychological Association has been conspicuously absent from this debate. Yet online therapy clinics are operating, and intervention efficacy is being studied. This discussion provides an overview of online counseling modalities, details the ethical concerns associated with each, and offers suggestions for the ethical practice of online counseling.     

Effect of a Defining Feature on Negative Priming Across the Life Span

Negative priming paradigms examine selective attention, and may be explained by inhibitory processes (e.g. Tipper, 1985). Our study examines inhibition in children (6-11 years), younger adults (18-22 years), and older adults (60-82 years). Younger adults show inhibition to the reported feature of a stimulus (location or identity) (Milliken, Tipper, & Weaver, 1994) and to the defining feature of a stimulus (identity or colour) (Simone, Carlisle, & McCormick, 1998). Neither children (Tipper, Bourque, Anderson, & Brehaut, 1989) nor older adults (Connelly & Hasher, 1993) have consistently shown significant inhibition to the reported feature of identity, suggesting developmentally impaired inhibitory processing. Our current study demonstrates that both inhibition of a defining feature of identity and a reported feature of location are stable across the life span.     

Work-to-family enrichment: Influences of work resources,work engagement and satisfaction among employees within the South African context

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of work resources, work-to-family enrichment, engagement and job satisfaction among employees in the South African context. Data were collected from 627 participants (females=67%, Afrikaans or English speakers=81.8%). The analysis utilised multiple regression analysis to predict work resources and work-to-family enrichment dimensions from work engagement dimensions, job satisfaction and career satisfaction. In the multiple regression analyses, work-related development opportunities, work autonomy and work-family affect were significant predictors of work vigour. Furthermore, work-related development opportunities, work autonomy, work-family affect and work-family perspectives were significant predictors of work dedication, job satisfaction and career satisfaction. Results support the idea that participation in one role may enrich the quality of life in the other role and provides a more comprehensive understanding of the positive side of the work/family interface.     

Gender and Compensation: Understanding the Impact of Gender and Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Rewards

Children’s understanding of rewards for task completion was examined in the context of gender, and gender-based stereotypes. Eighty-eight children (43 girls, M_overall?=?58.39 months) completed a measure assessing gender-based occupational stereotypes. This measure, along with gender, was used to predict children’s self-reward for undergoing the testing, as well as their reward for a fictional other child having undergone the same procedure. The methodology provided a novel approach for studying reward allocation in children, as it did not require children to divide resources between themselves and another child for completing the same task. An occupation-based stereotype measure was found to predict the self-reward, as well as the reward allocated to the other child. In addition, the participant’s gender predicted self-reward, and an interaction between participant gender and gender of the experimenter contributed to predicting the other child reward. Overall, these findings suggest that gender and gender-based stereotyping have an impact on reward allocation of young children. Implications of these results in the context of reward allocation research among children and adult populations are discussed.     

Interior experience within analytic process

In this paper, I consider the feeling of interiority as it evolves within the treatment relationship. A capacity to access and sustain one's interiority reflects a sense of personal solidity within which the validity of subjective process and privacy is taken for granted. When this capacity is relatively undeveloped, individuals rely on the “other”; (including the analyst) to help them contact, elaborate, or manage their affective experience. Quite paradoxically, the analyst's active investigation of dynamic or intersubjective process may obfuscate rather than clarify this core difficulty. I suggest two alternative approaches to the treatment situation that stand in some tension and yet also complement each other. One emphasizes the “active”; investigation of dynamic and dyadic process, wherein the analyst works interpretively and/or around relational issues. The other is organized around the “interior”; dimension of the treatment experience, emphasizing the patient's need to develop or manage her affective process in the relative absence of input from the analyst. Two clinical situations are described, the first illustrating the use of silence with a patient whose difficulties involved affect articulation, and the second involving a patient whose need for affect regulation made her highly dependent on the analyst for soothing.