Using the Family Paper Sculpture for education,therapy, and research

The Family Paper Sculpture is a semi-projective task useful in family life education, in clinical work with families, and in research involving family system variables. Families or individuals are asked to make a picture of the family using round disks for individuals, red and black strips to show similarities and differences among individuals, and boundary markers to show individuals who are separate, or pairs, or groups of individuals who belong together. Examples are given which demonstrate the value of the technique for educational, therapeutic, and research purposes.She is on leave from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, where she is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences.The research reported here was supported in part by grants from the (U.S.) National Institute of Mental Health.     

In defense of strategic therapy

The practice of strategic therapy has raised a number of critical issues and has stimulated criticism of various sorts. Among the criticisms leveled at strategic therapy are that it involves the taking of too many risks, that it is deceptive, that it is controlling and manipulative, that it is disrespectful, and that it is superficial and narrow. Each of these five major areas of concern is discussed and addressed with case examples to illustrate a rationale and justification for the use of these less conventional methods.     

The child sexual abuse victim: Assessment and treatment issues and solutions

Particular attention is given in this paper to the assessment process with child sexual abuse victims and recommendations are made regarding practical issues both in the assessment and the treatment phases of therapeutic work with child victims.     

Self-centeredness and the adult male perpetrator of child sexual abuse

Self-centeredness has been identified as a quality of the adult male perpetrator of child sexual abuse, but little or no effort has been expended toward defining the concept clearly. In this paper, the research literature on the perpetrator and psychoanalytic writings on narcissism are reviewed for the purpose of developing a comprehensive definition of self-centeredness. Literature related to the social and developmental context of child sexual abuse also is discussed. In the final section of the paper, implications for primary prevention and treatment are drawn.This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, July, 1986, in London, England. Support for the paper was provided through the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Faculty Summer Research Fellowship Program, Graduate School, University of Minnesota.     

Elder abuse by family caregivers: Processes and intervention strategies

This study of 104 family caregivers who provided care to 119 elderly kin discusses the stress and conflict that can result when the older person, the caregivers, and the family are unprepared to fulfill the caregiving tasks. Sources of stress that contribute to physical and psychological abuse of the elderly are examined. Suggestions such as setting guidelines, establishing support groups, providing respite and household care, and increasing awareness about the aging process and elder abuse are offered as mechanisms for preventing abusive interactions and increasing the quality of life for the elderly and their families.Revision of a paper presented at the 1986 Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, London, England.     

Using psychodynamic concepts in strategic family therapy: A suicidal adolescent case

This paper describes the treatment of a suicidal adolescent with strategic family therapy. The cotherapists conceptualized the case psychoanalytically and systemically. They propose that their understanding of psychodynamics enhanced their ability to tailor their interventions to the family's unique style and capacities. Rather than dismiss psychodynamic concepts as irrelevant to strategic family therapy, they maintain that an appreciation of individual members' ego strengths, defenses, affects, and unacknowledged impulses leads to the construction of more effective metaphors and a set of interventions more isomorphic to family patterns.     

Cultural tensions in strategic marital therapy

Whether the elements of a good marital relationship are universal is the question addressed in this case study of therapy with a couple who were culturally different from the therapist. The conflicts between the therapeutic strategies, which were based on a strategic therapy model, and the customs of the couple from a foreign culture, made it difficult to evaluate whether the therapist was on target with interventions. On one hand, therapists need to guard against being misled into believing that customs are cultural imperatives which never can be changed. On the other hand, they need to be aware of the impact and possible ramifications of challenging long-held, culturally-based beliefs and behaviors. The following case study details the dilemmas faced by a therapist working with an Asian-Indian couple who presented themselves as being bound by their cultural background and heritage.Grateful acknowledgement is made by the author to Etienne Phipps, PhD, whose comments give direction and substance to all my work.     

THE CONTOURS OF AN EMERGING TERRITORY:IMPRESSIONS OF TWENTY YEARS OF ZYGON:JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Abstract. Abstract. While the general territory mapped by the founders ofthe Center for Advanced Study in Religion and Science and Zygonremains the same, how one delineates the contpurs of this territorydepends partly on personal histories and on whether one is atheologian, a scientist, a scholar of religious studies, or a philoso-pher. However, the pluralism in the CASIRAS-Zygon communitycan be placed in a more comprehensive, evolutionary framework, in which the different approaches exert cultural selection pres-sures on each other. The most important selection pressure ishaving to make scholarly work usable by nonscholars seekingmeaning for their lives in a scientific age.     

The conflict cycle in the case of an adolescent in crisis

This is an extension of a previous paper describing a conflict cycle in families and therapy consisting of four steps: (1) the dispute; (2) blaming; (3) shame, guilt, or denial; and (4) reparation, reconciliation, or retaliation. The focus is on a single case of a 15-year-old male with a gender identity disorder in addition to a conduct disorder. He is an adopted child living in a small community in the southern United States. Conflict is illustrated from several perspectives in a single interview with the family and over the length of contact over a nine-month period: (1) between the adolescent and parents, (2) between the adolescent and community, (3) between the parents, and (4) between the Good Self and the Bad Self of the adolescent. The thesis is that the conflict cycle is an organizing principle helpful to therapists working with families to make assessments and plan interventions.This paper is an expanded and edited version of a presentation by the senior author in San Diego, California, on November 12, 1988, at the Western States Conference of the American Society of Adolescent Psychiatry.     

Cognitive orientation and the prediction of decisions in a medical examination context

From the theory of cognitive orientation (Kreitler and Kreitler 1976, 1982) we derived that scores of cognitive orientation would predict the decision of women to go or not to go to a medical examination for cancer. We tested three alternative methods in addition to the standard method recommended by Kreitler and Kreitler. These four methods represent different assumptions which one can derive from the theory. On the basis of 25 interviews we developed the preliminary questionnaire of beliefs associated with the examination for early detection of cancer. The data of Study 1(N = 72) were used for item analysis as well as testing retest reliability and predicting decisions. In Study 2 (N = 142) the results could be replicated. The Likert-scales for assessing the four components of cognitive orientation proved to be highly retest reliable. Predictions of decisions could be made nearly equally well by each of the four methods derived from the theory of cognitive orientation.