Doubt in the psychoanalysis of a paedophile

In this single case study, I will address the question of how incestuous sexual abuse causes doubt of three distinct types: (1) honest doubt that is essential to the pursuit of knowledge; (2) inherent doubt that can result from a trauma that leaves the victim's mind fragmented and confused; and (3) the sadistic imposition of doubt intended to deceive, disorient and attack unbearable knowledge in the victim or another person familiar with the abuse (in this case, the analyst and the victim's later victims). During the course of my psychoanalysis of a paedophile, it became clear that this third form of doubt played an integral role in the patient's sexual abuse of children, a role I will link to the nature and function of paedophilia and to the experience of working psychoanalytically with a paedophile.     

Teacher,parent and student perceptions of the motives of cyberbullies

Understanding the motivation of students who cyberbully is important for both prevention and intervention efforts for this insidious form of bullying. This qualitative exploratory study used focus groups to examine the views of teachers, parents and students as to the motivation of students who cyberbully and who bully in other traditional forms. In addition, these groups were asked to explain their understanding of what defines bullying and cyberbullying. The results suggested that not only were there differences in definitions of cyberbullying and bullying between the three groups, but also that there were differences in perceptions of what motivates some youth to cyberbully. The implications of these results are discussed for both prevention and intervention strategies.     

The body and sublimation in a violent male offender

A case study of a violent young man called Stan is presented to understand the nature and function of his violence as he negotiated his way through anxieties about heterosexuality and passivity stimulated by his adolescence. Stan’s early history and the clinical material are used to illustrate Armando Ferrari’s concept of the Concrete Original Object. As his psychotherapy progressed he utilised his talent for drawing to sublimate his violent activity into violent images, which, in turn, enabled him to reflect on his anxieties. Stan’s violence subsided and he was able to engage in a vocation and develop a long-term relationship with a woman.     

Implications of Teacher Life–Work Histories for Conceptualisations of ‘Care’: Narratives from Rural Zimbabwe

Schools are increasingly seen as key sites for support to HIV‐affected and other vulnerable children, and teachers are assigned the critical role of identifying and providing psychosocial support. Drawing on the life–work history narratives of 12 teachers in Zimbabwe, this paper explores the psychosocial processes underpinning teachers' conceptualisations of these caring roles. The influence of prolonged adversity, formative relationships, and broader patterns of social and institutional change in teacher identity formation processes speak to the complex and embodied nature of understandings of ‘care’. In such extreme settings teachers prioritise the material and disciplinary aspects of ‘care’ that they see as essential for supporting children to overcome hardship. This focus not only means that emotional support as envisaged in international policy is commonly overlooked, but also exposes a wider ideological clash about childrearing. This tension together with an overall ambivalence surrounding teacher identities puts further strain on teacher–student relationships. We propose the current trainings on providing emotional support are insufficient and that more active focus needs to be directed at support to teachers in relation with their students. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Language-specific memory for everyday arithmetic facts in Chinese-English bilinguals

The role of language in memory for arithmetic facts remains controversial. Here, we examined transfer of memory training for evidence that bilinguals may acquire language-specific memory stores for everyday arithmetic facts. Chinese-English bilingual adults (n = 32) were trained on different subsets of simple addition and multiplication problems. Each operation was trained in one language or the other. The subsequent test phase included all problems with addition and multiplication alternating across trials in two blocks, one in each language. Averaging over training language, the response time (RT) gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems were greater in the trained language than in the untrained language. Subsequent analysis showed that English training produced larger RT gains for trained problems relative to untrained problems in English at test relative to the untrained Chinese language. In contrast, there was no evidence with Chinese training that problem-specific RT gains differed between Chinese and the untrained English language. We propose that training in Chinese promoted a translation strategy for English arithmetic (particularly multiplication) that produced strong cross-language generalization of practice, whereas training in English strengthened relatively weak, English-language arithmetic memories and produced little generalization to Chinese (i.e., English training did not induce an English translation strategy for Chinese language trials). The results support the existence of language-specific strengthening of memory for everyday arithmetic facts.