Acting,feeling and thinking: psychoanalytic psychotherapy with Tracey

This paper consists of a case study and commentary which formed a part of the inaugural lecture in a series entitled ‘Working with Psychosomatic Issues’*. The audience consisted of psychoanalytic, body psychotherapy and integrative practitioners. The presentation was divided into three parts, (1) an outline of philosophical themes that inform perspectives on health, illness and psychosomatic phenomena, (2) the case study reproduced below and (3) a summary of Winnicott's work (1960, 1966, 1988) on ‘the indwelling of the psyche in the soma’. The case study describes work with a young woman who harms herself through self-hitting and, in addition, expresses other physical manifestations of psychological distress. The core approach of the practitioner is psychoanalytic. The work is informed also by postmodern sensibilities and phenomenological themes.     

Touch,enjoyment and health: in adult life

This is the second of two linked papers. Like the first, it offers a perspective on interconnections between touch, enjoyment and health, on this occasion in adult life rather than in infancy. The theoretical underpinning for the work resides in Winnicott's account of the establishment, resilience and susceptibility to damage of a sense of ‘the psyche indwelling in the soma’ (Winnicott 1960a: 45). Drawing on case study material, the author considers some of the ways in which touch deprivation in adult life might find expression and illustrates how such deprivation might be worked with verbally in the psychotherapy setting.     

In sickness and in health?: Psychoanalysis and psychosomatics

Abstract

This article revolves around the question of physicality and its relationship to emotional health. Several different perspectives on the mind-body relationship, from within popular culture, philosophy and psychoanalytic literature, are compared and contrasted. The author then suggests ways in which psychodynamic insights might more effectively be brought to bear upon benign and beneficial aspects of bodily expression and offers illustrative clinical material.     

The Linkage of Visual Motion Signals

Recovering a reliable 3D percept from the retinal sampling of dynamic images requires the linkage of motion signals across space and time. In this paper, we review recent experimental results that enhance our understanding of the perceptual processes of motion integration, segmentation, and selection that are necessary to solve this inverse optics problem. Simple paradigms involving the presentation of moving contours are used to assess our ability to link sparse motion information. Our results indicate that human motion perception strongly depends on both primitive stimulus characteristics, such as contrast, eccentricity, and duration, as well as higher level characteristics such as feature classification and spatial configurations. Further, the perceived direction of a moving object depends little upon its familiarity. Finally, pursuit eye movements of compositional stimuli are highly correlated with perceived motion coherence. This ensemble of results is analysed within the context of current theories of motion perception.     

Counsellors' perspectives on self-harm and the role of the therapeutic relationship for working with clients who self-harm

Aims: To gain insight into counsellors' experiences of and ideas about self-harm, and to develop understanding of relational depth when working with clients who self-harm. Method: A qualitative exploration of counsellors' perspectives on working with people who self-harm. The research proposal gained approval from the University Ethics Committee. Data were collected from a sample of counsellors who have experience of working with people who self-harm (n = 8) using tape-recorded interviews. Grounded Theory was used for analysis. Findings: Two major categories emerged from the findings: (i) the activity of self-harm; (ii) the therapeutic relationship with people who self-harm. These categories and sub-categories were integrated to form the core category. Implications: Counsellors have a valuable role to play in the lives of people who self-harm, by embodying confidentiality and so facilitating a sense of trust, by opening minds through acceptance, and by expanding knowledge through participation in research. Conclusions: In order to effectively accompany clients from a life of self-harm to a life of self-healing, counsellors must be aware of and responsive to the many concepts underpinning the emergent categories of the research.     

Career,migration and the life CV: A relational cultural analysis

In response to the precarious and disadvantaged position of forced migrants in the United States and the UK, marked by unemployment, under employment and loss of career capital, this paper draws upon a relational cultural paradigm and a life design career model in order to understand migrant work life, shape the career intervention process and examine the implications for vocational practice. An innovative career intervention is introduced and discussed, the life CV, which has been used with refugees and asylum seekers in the UK within the context of relational paradigms that reflect the intertwined nature of people's relational and working lives. The paper argues that by engaging in the activities and meaning making associated with the creation of a life CV, different life perspectives and designs become possible and individuals are enabled to consider new ways of knowing themselves and presenting themselves to potential employers.     

The Underrepresentation of Women in Prestigious Ethics Journals

The main goal of this study is to determine whether women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics. Our study proceeds in three steps. Step one: we estimate the percentage of women who specialize in ethics. Step two: we estimate the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. Step three: we examine whether there is any difference between the percentage of women who specialize in ethics and the percentage of articles in prestigious ethics journals that are authored by women. We conclude that women are underrepresented in prestigious ethics journals relative to their representation in the field of ethics.     

Eudaimonic conceptions of well-being, meaning in life, and self-reported well-being: Initial test of a mediational model

The current study examined relationships between eudaimonic dimensions of individual conceptions of well-being (e.g., self-development, contribution), meaning in life, and self-reported well-being, and whether meaning in life mediates associations between eudaimonic conception dimensions and well-being. A sample of 275 adult volunteers completed several instruments assessing the above constructs. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that eudaimonic conception dimensions were positively associated with both meaning in life and well-being. Further, the relationship between eudaimonic conception dimensions and self-reported well-being was found to be partially mediated by meaning in life. The findings of the current study thus suggest that the experience of meaning in life is one route through which eudaimonic conception of well-being dimensions are associated with self-reported well-being.     

The effects of health frame and target relevance in appearance social comparisons

Social comparison powerfully influences on appearance self‐evaluations, but previous research has not examined the combined impact of target frame and relevance on appearance comparison outcomes. The present study examined the effect of target relevance and health frame in body‐ideal images on self‐evaluations in a mixed‐gender university‐based sample from the United States (N = 176; 58% female). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in which they viewed a body‐ideal image of a same‐sex target that varied in target relevance (peer or model) and health frame (extreme behaviors described as being healthy or unhealthy). We did not find evidence that comparisons with models or peers are different in their effects. And, consistent with hypotheses, the health frame of a comparison target’s eating and exercise behaviors influenced how participants perceived themselves and their health. Participants were more likely to take health advice from the target described as healthy, and felt better about their own health when comparing to healthy targets. We also found gender differences such that men were more satisfied with their physical health but women were more satisfied with their appearance. Overall, this research supports the importance of addressing peer comparisons and health literacy in body image interventions, which has long‐term implications for the prevention of eating and exercise pathology.     

Developing a Short Affect Intensity Scale

The purpose of this study was to construct a brief version of the 40-item Affect Intensity Measure. Since the assumed one-dimensionality of the scale has been criticized lately, special attention was paid to the factor structure of the full and the brief scales. The scales were tested in three different samples: 510 Belgian citizens representative of the Belgian population, and 204 and 166 students of the University of Antwerp. The Short Affect Intensity Scale has 20 items. Mean scores on the original Affect Intensity Measure were 3.68, 3.67, and 3.67 for the three samples, respectively, while for the Short Affect Intensity Scale the following respective mean scores were registered: 3.76, 3.78, and 3.75. Correlations between the original and brief scales were .94, .93, and .93 for the three samples, respectively. Three factors underlie the Short Affect Intensity Scale: Positive Intensity, Negative Affectivity, and Serenity. Furthermore, the scores for the Short Affect Intensity Scale suggest it is reliable and valid.