Alliance rupture and repair processes in borderline personality disorder: A case study using dialogical sequence analysis

Objective: This study examined alliance rupture and repair processes in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and how the content of sessions interacts with the quality of the alliance.

Design: A mixed methods single case study design was employed incorporating quantitative and qualitative measures of process and outcome.

Methods: This case study examined a 22-year-old female with BPD who received 16 sessions of Cognitive Analytic Therapy. Measures of alliance, symptoms and global functioning were taken across multiple time-points. Selected sessions were analysed using dialogical sequence analysis (DSA), a theory-driven method of psychotherapy research that analyses utterances according to their author, addressee and referential object.

Results: Quantitative data indicated symptom reduction without functional improvement. DSA demonstrated that the first exchanges in therapy were reflective of key relational themes. The case suggests that, rather than simply negotiating tasks and goals, repairing ruptures involves systematically linking the manifest topic to the client’s core problems.

Conclusions: This case study points to the mediating role that the content of sessions has on alliance quality. Results underline the importance of the therapist stance, the need for a shared formulation to make sense of relational processes and the use of responsively timed interventions to decrease desperation and improve self-reflection.     

The effect of variations of emotional expressions on mnemonic discrimination and traditional recognition memory

Face recognition occurs when a face is recognised despite changes between learning and test exposures. Yet there has been relatively little research on how variations in emotional expressions influence people’s ability to recognise these changes. We evaluated the ability to discriminate old and similar expressions of emotions (i.e. mnemonic discrimination) of the same face, as well as the discrimination ability between old and dissimilar (new) expressions of the same face, reflecting traditional discrimination. An emotional mnemonic discrimination task with morphed faces that were similar but not identical to the original face was used. Results showed greater mnemonic discrimination for learned neutral expressions that at test became slightly more fearful rather than happy. For traditional discrimination, there was greater accuracy for learned happy faces becoming fearful, rather than those changing from fearful-to-happy. These findings indicate that emotional expressions may have asymmetrical influences on mnemonic and traditional discrimination of the same face.     

Suffering for others as religious meaning-making: varieties,prerequisites, and functions in the coping process of a sample of practising Christians living with cancer

The coping method suffering for others as religious meaning-making (SORM) is analysed regarding its varieties, prerequisites, and functions in a group (n?=?10) of practising Christians living with cancer. In-depth interviews are featured in this qualitative, longitudinal study of the interdependence of religiosity and coping. A common feature of the analysed narratives is the idea that the informant's suffering would have – or at least had the potential to have – a positive effect on other individuals. This idea is identified as the “coping tool” of the coping method. Three different variants of SORM are identified, with a variety of prerequisites. The function in all cases is to conserve the significant object sense of meaning and, in some cases: survival. A case study is presented that shows how the coping method can be maintained over time by changing the coping tools of the method when they lose their efficacy in the coping process.     

Emotional Well-Being Related to Time Pressure,Impediment to Goal Progress,and Stress-Related Symptoms

We propose that emotional well-being in everyday life is partially related to the balance of positive and negative affect associated with everyday routine activities. Factors that interfere with positive affect associated with such activities would therefore have negative impacts on emotional well-being. Supporting that time pressure is one such factor, we find in Study 1 for a representative sample of Swedish employees (n = 1507) answering a survey questionnaire that emotional well-being has a negative relationship to time pressure. In Study 2 we test the hypothesis that the negative effect of time pressure on emotional well-being is jointly mediated by impediment to goal progress and time stress. In another survey questionnaire a sample of Swedish employees (n = 240) answered retrospective questions about emotional well-being at work and off work, experienced impediment to goal progress, experienced time pressure, and stress-related symptoms. Statistical mediation analyses supported the proposed hypothesis.     

Social proximity in early mother–infant interactions: implications for gender differences?

In an exploratory study, we investigated degrees of social proximity between mothers and their 9-month-old children. Twenty-four Swedish mother–infant dyads (12 boys and 12 girls) were observed during a brief free play episode. Social proximity was measured through nine items focusing on both communication and social interaction. Overall, we found that mother–daughter dyads displayed significantly higher degrees of social proximity than mother–son dyads. More specifically, mothers with daughters displayed more physical and visual contact, and were also rated as more sensitive than mothers with sons. It was also found that girls were judged as being more compliant than boys. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Mission of a Monastery in Present-day Finland

In the following I shall try to explain a phenomenon which seems paradoxical: an Orthodox monastery with its ancient tradition is gaining popularity as a “spiritual alternative” in a 90 per cent Protestant cultural environment. After a brief historical account I shall describe my own encounter with the monastery. Although personal, the story is not unique, and through it I shall try to discuss some reasons for the popularity of the monastery as well as the missionary tasks that seem important in the prevailing cultural conditions.     

The impact of arbitrarily applicable relational responding on evaluative learning about hypothetical money and shock outcomes

Evaluative learning comprises changes in preferences after co-occurrences between conditioned stimuli (CSs) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) of affective value. Co-occurrences may involve relational responding. Two experiments examined the impact of arbitrary relational responding on evaluative preferences for hypothetical money and shock outcomes. In Experiment 1, participants were trained to make arbitrary relational responses by placing CSs of the same size but different colours into boxes and were then instructed that these CSs represented different intensities of hypothetical USs (money or shock). Liking ratings of the CSs were altered in accordance with the underlying bigger/smaller than relations. A reversal of preference was also observed: the CS associated with the smallest hypothetical shock was rated more positively than the CS associated with the smallest amount of hypothetical money. In Experiment 2, procedures from Relational Frame Theory (RFT) established a relational network of more than/less than relations consisting of five CSs (A-B-C-D-E). Overall, evaluative preferences were altered, but not reversed, depending on (a) how stimuli had been related to one another during the learning phase and (b) whether those stimuli referred to money or shocks. The contribution of RFT to evaluative learning research is discussed.