REFLECTIVE BORDERLINE GROUP THERAPY: THE PATIENTS' EXPERIENCE OF BEING BORDERLINE

This paper describes a novel 20-week psycho-educational group therapy for borderline patients. The therapy aims to stabilize the disorganized and chaotic presenting behaviours of the patients when they enter the borderline treatment service by providing a group psycho-educational programme based upon a psychodynamic appreciation of symptoms, causes, defences and affects. We think that borderline patients will only take in such understandings if they feel listened to and understood in a way that may not have been available to them as children. To do this, the therapists need to create a reflective space underpinned by psychodynamic thought and respecting the patient's experience of being borderline. The paper illustrates the difficulties encountered and discusses the importance of containing or modifying the counter-transference stresses felt by the therapists.

The authors also report on some recent outcome data collected from the running of the group programme over the last 4 years. Twenty borderline patients were able to complete the pre- and post-treatment self-report questionnaires. The results indicate some positive signs in extra-punitive symptom control and levels of impulsivity. Significant levels of improvement were noted in the BSI total scores (p=0.048) with particular reduction in interpersonal sensitivity (p=0.007) and the hostility (p=0.008) sub scores. Patients also reported a reduction in ‘feeling like’ scores on the Multi Impulsivity Scale – reflecting an improvement in internal affect triggers that might result in impulsive behaviours.

The authors discuss the potential value of this pragmatic model of care that is underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking, and its application to managing long waiting lists in psychotherapy services for borderline patients.     

Perceived Organisational Support as a Mediator of the Relationship of Perceived Situational Factors to Affective Organisational Commitment

This paper examines the role of perceived organisational support as a mediator of the relationship between perceived situational factors and affective organisational commitment. Perceived situational factors examined were: procedural justice, distributive justice, communication satisfaction with supervisor, and labor–management relationship climate. Analysis of data from a sample of 185 pharmaceutical sales representatives from India indicated that perceived organisational support fully mediates the relationship between each of these perceived situational variables and affective commitment to the organisation.     

Trying Hard or Hardly Trying: An Analysis of Context Effects in Choice

Several studies have shown that consumer choice is often influenced by the context or the set of alternatives under consideration. Context effects have largely been explained in terms of constructive preferences that are consistent with 2 theoretical accounts—effort minimization and perceptual contrast—that emphasize different underlying motivations. We propose that the effect of time pressure on context effects can be used as a moderating variable to determine which of the 2 motives is supported. Specifically, if context effects bias preferences due to effort minimization, time pressure should increase the magnitude of such effects. In contrast, if context effects arise due to an excessive focus on the relational characteristics of the alternatives provided, time pressure should reduce the magnitude of such effects. We examine this proposition in relation to the compromise effect and a choice between an extreme and an all‐average option. We find that the compromise effect and the preference for an all‐average alternative are both reduced under time pressure. A study using Mouselab provides additional support for the underlying decision mechanisms. We discuss the theoretical implications of this research and explore its consequences for marketers.