A Theory-Based Empirical Classification of Family Problem-Solving Behavior

A method for classifying family interaction behavior is presented that underlies several related studies of variation in families' modes of interpreting and interacting with the social environment. Evidence is presented for the existence of three dimensions of family problem-solving behavior that: (a) are consistent with theory of variation in families' orientations to the environment; (b) are useful for interpreting differences within nonclinical as well as clinical samples of families; and (c) have been shown, within current samples' ranges, to be essentially independent of surface markers of family variation and accumulated skills of family members.     

A Queer Supplement: Reading Spinoza after Grosz

This article critiques Elizabeth Grosz's understanding that queer theory is unproductive insofar as it disrupts the specific identities of gay and lesbian. Reconsidering ideas about desire, the body, and identity that Grosz takes from Gilles Deleuze's work on Friedrich Nietzsche and Baruch Spinoza, this essay argues that, despite her productive reworking of homophobia in terms of “active” and “reactive” forces, Grosz's application of Spinoza is only partial. Focusing on Spinoza's evaluation of bodies, the essay both critiques Grosz's approach to experimental desire and observes Spinozist preoccupations in order to talk about the experimental body. It concludes that if Grosz were to attend more seriously to the Spinozist imperative to analyze a body in terms of its capabilities—that is, its power to be affected—the epistemological basis of her argument would change. It would be difficult to dismiss the plurality and sensibility of a queer body or its challenge to lesbian and gay as the source of a primary identity.     

Outcomes of Systemic/Strategic Team Consultation:

This is the third in a series of reports on a small-sample study of systemic/strategic team consultations. It sheds new light on aspects of the therapeutic alliance in Milan-informed therapy. Ratings of the end-of-session interventions and ratings of the therapist's relationship skills (warmth, active structuring) significantly predicted client improvement at 1-month and 3-year followups. These results dispute the Milan team's idea that an intervention's effects are unpredictable. Also, our findings challenge the way some teams have adopted an impersonal, emotionally unresponsive style under the guise of "neutrality." In view of this and other recent studies, we conclude that systemic/strategic therapists should devote more attention to collaborative and affective qualities of the therapeutic alliance.     

Toward an Interpersonal Model of Codependence and Contradependence

Codependence is used increasingly to describe various dysfunctional relationships. This article differentiates codependent from contradependent behavior and defines both in an interpersonal context. A model is proposed to address gender issues, diagnosis, and treatment from an emotional health perspective.     

Technology and Work: Future Issues for Career Guidance

Advances in communication and microcomputer technologies are having a dramatic impact on our personal and vocational lives. This article focuses on possible consequences for career guidance professionals.     

Development of Friendship Networks as a Prevention Strategy in a University Megadorm

An environmentally oriented intervention was developed to reduce adjustment problems and feelings of loneliness and isolation among graduate student residents of a high-rise dormitory.