Premarital counseling: A needs assessment among engaged individuals

Although engaged individuals are the primary consumers of premarital counseling, no previous research has explored their perceptions regarding marriage preparation. This article reports what engaged individuals believe are the important areas to address when preparing couples for marriage. It also explores other attitudes and preferences that engaged individuals have toward marriage preparation.     

The logic of delusion

Piagetian concepts explaining normal mental development are applied to delusion, a major psychiatric disorder of thought which can result in bizarre conduct. Piaget constructed problems in which the errors of six to eight year old children fit the standard textbook definition of delusion surprisingly well. When we examined cases of delusional individuals, we concluded that their apparent irrational and bizarre conduct could be explained as problem-solving errors like those of Piaget's young children. In contradistinction to existing theories, we define delusion as a regression under stress to the logic of children of a particular age range, and that what appears bizarre and irrational is the result of an adult attempting to filter experience through a child's logic.Under a different title this paper was presented at the Biennial Congress of the World Federation for Mental Health in Mexico City in August, 1991.     

Treating emotionally disturbed youth: A comparison of home-based and outpatient interventions

The purpose of this study was to compare home-based and outpatient treatment for families with an emotionally disturbed child. Following treatment, both groups reported improvement in child and family functioning. Guidelines are offered to therapists working with families-at-risk of having a child removed from the home.John J. Zarski, PhD, is coordinator of the Marriage and Family Therapy Training Program and Leslie Barnes Fluharty, MS, is a doctoral student in counseling psychology at the University of Akron, Akron, OH.     

Familial dyadic patterns in defenses and object relations

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory was administered to 308 sets of marital couples, and adult sons or daughters. The inventory yields five defensive clusters as well as a composite object relations measure. Correlational analyses were aimed at determining the extent to which defensive and object relations styles generalize within the family. Results showed consistent similarities across the family in object relations styles and in acting out defenses. Dyadic analyses showed striking similarities between Husband-Wife, Father-Son, and Mother-Daughter, but not for Father-Daughter and Mother-Son dyads. Results are discussed in context of modeling, sex role, and systems theory.Data from this study were presented at the American Psychological Association annual convention, August, 1991, in San Francisco, CA.     

Stress and family health

This study investigates the difference between perceived everyday individual stress and levels of family health. Subjects completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES III), the Derogatis Stress Profile, and a personal data form. Quota sampling of 121 subjects was used to obtain 25 subjects in each of three groups: balanced, mid-range, and extreme family types. Individuals identified as members of mid-range families reported less overall stress than balanced or extreme family members. Significant differences appeared between the balanced and mid-range groups. Balanced individual family members reported slightly higher levels of stress than extreme family members.     

Attributions related to wife abuse: A comparison of the perceptions of volunteer advocate-counselors and marriage and family therapists

Attributions related to wife abuse held by advocate-counselors working in women's shelter home settings and marriage and family therapists were compared. The major finding was that the two groups were surprisingly similar in their attributions even though their theoretical backgrounds and training were considerably different. Implications for practice and training are presented.     

Developmental perspectives and family therapy: The marital life cycle

Developmental perspectives have been part of family therapy for more than two decades with a primary focus on the family life cycle and individual development. Most efforts at recognizing a marital life cycle have subsumed marital tasks under rubrics based primarily on parental roles. This paper offers a marital life cycle based on marital development with specific tasks for each of four stages-the marital breakup and remarriage phases are not included here-and provides implications for therapy.     

Training in group-analytic psychotherapy in Europe

Group-analytic psychotherapy focuses on the making and maintaining of close, emotionally fulfilling relationships. Its practitioners attempt to fuse an individual and a whole-group perspective, and seek to provide the enabling conditions for freer communication between group members. The group-analytic approach is widely used in the United Kingdom, and many experiential groups on psychotherapy training courses are conducted on group-analytic lines. The Institute of Group Psychotherapy in London recognizes eight one-year courses in England and Scotland specifically oriented to group-analytic theory and methods. These courses provide an introduction to group psychotherapy to over 300 professionals of varied backgrounds every year. There are also two courses in the United Kingdom that provide a full training in group-analysis and group-analytic psychotherapy, and 11 courses on the continent of Europe. The number of courses is growing and there is now a European Group-Analytic Training Network providing formal links between them. Results of a postal survey indicate that few (10%) attenders at a one-year course have a negative response and that many (85%) recommend the course to colleagues. The efficiency and therefore reduced cost of group teaching and the incorporation of a group experience may be contributing factors to the increasing demand for this type of training.This paper is based on a presentation at an Open Session on Training in Group Psychotherapy: The Quest for a Viable Model at the American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Meeting, Boston, February 1990. This paper represents the author's own views and is not an official statement of the Institute of Group Analysis [London]. However, members and staff of the Institute have made helpful contributions to the author in preparing it. He is especially grateful for the assistance of Mrs. Liesel Hearst (Chairperson, Overseas Training Sub-Committee, Institute of Group Analysis, London), Dr. Keith Hyde (Convenor, Manchester Course in Group Psychotherapy), Fr. Jim Christie (Convenor, Glasgow Course in Group Psychotherapy), and Dr. Vivienne Cohen (Chairperson, Training Committee, Institute of Group Analysis, London, in preparing this paper. The questionnaire study was conducted with the assistance of the Training Section of the North-Western Regional Health Authority.     

Effectiveness of short-term seminars in four different cultures

The authors examine the knowledge, attitudes, and suppositions concerning family therapy among specialists from four professionally and politically quite different cultures. The results of the survey, which was carried out among participants in workshops and specialists' training courses, have shown that: attitudes toward and the place of psychotherapy in a given culture serve as a relevant point of reference for finding out about attitudes toward family therapy; the value of the family as a sociological unit has a formative effect on views regarding family therapy; and professional and political isolation may be a hindrance to the formation of a healthy family therapy approach, but the basic attitude toward psychotherapy is not significantly influenced by ideological factors.     

Marital group metaphors: Significance in the life stages of group development

Metaphorical content is abundant in the therapeutic process and has been noted and utilized in a variety of ways and settings by clinicians in the field. This paper focuses on metaphorical content in a marital therapy group and relates group metaphors to the life stages of group development. The co-authors illustrate the use of metaphors to assess the developmental stage of the group and to assist the therapist(s) in leading the group toward further growth and development. Figures are utilized to display the occurrence of metaphors by group stage, and a case example of a frequently stated group metaphor is offered to illustrate this process.