Societal creativity: Problems with pathology

Abstract

This commentary on Simonton's “Political Pathology and Societal Creativity” argues that although the article offers a comprehensive and illuminating account of possible connections between societal creativity and political phenomena, viewing such connections in terms of a relationship between creativity and political pathology is problematic. The notion of political pathology presupposes some notion of political health, yet no standard of political health is offered by Simonton, nor are we given any criteria for determining whether certain social phenomena are pathological. Ultimately the notion of what constitutes a healthy society rests upon views about the nature of society which depend on a political philosophy. The danger in talk of political pathology lies in defining political health in terms of a particular political ideology, thereby making a value judgment regarding political ideals hidden in the guise of a strictly empirical claim.     

Self-Care as Key to Others' Care: The Perspectives of Globally Situated Experienced Senior-Level Sport Psychology Practitioners

Engaging in self-care has been proposed as a means of counteracting work–life stress that can negatively impact efforts by sport psychology practitioners (SPPs) to effectively and ethically care for their clients. Utilizing Hill's Consensual Qualitative Research methodological approach, researchers examined the perceptions, experiences, and meanings that 20 internationally located, experienced, senior-level SPPs attributed to their self-care. The researchers identified 3 main domains: (a) defining self-care for SPPs, (b) describing the self-care challenges SPPs faced, and (c) identifying the strategies used to overcome those challenges. The experienced and senior-level practitioners participating in this study recognized a need to sustain a relatively balanced approach in their professional and personal lives. They presented a perspective of self-care as necessary to effectively support and provide care for clients. The SPPs identified self-care as an important contributor to their sport psychology professional quality of life. Study findings have implications for the well-being of both novice and more experienced SPPs.     

Care and Justice Moral Orientation: A Scale for Its Assessment

A quantitative measure of adult moral orientation, based on the theoretical frameworks of Kohlberg and Gilligan, was developed to measure preference for "justice" or "care"-oriented moral thinking. The Moral Orientation Scale Using Childhood Dilemmas (MOS), a short, objective measure, presents adults with a series of dilemmas frequently faced by children, each followed by two care-oriented and two justice-oriented responses to the dilemma. The procedures for developing and scoring the measure are discussed, and validity and reliability data are presented. Used with both male and female social work and law students, as expected, the MOS shows males to be more justice-oriented in their moral reasoning than females who are shown to be more care-oriented. Moreover, in further agreement with Gilligan's theory that gender and experience, taken together, are related to moral reasoning style, male lawyers and female social workers are shown to have the strongest preferences.     

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Quantitative Mental Health Literature in Occupational Therapy

ABSTRACT

A bibliometric analysis was performed to examine the impact and use of the peer-reviewed occupational therapy intervention effectiveness literature addressing adults with mental illness, 2000–2016. Of 2,597 articles, 68 were quantitative studies assessing an intervention for adults with mental illness. These studies had a collective citation count of 1,455 and were published in 29 journals in 14 countries. The majority (n?=?36; 52.94%) were randomized controlled and two-group controlled studies. The most commonly assessed interventions were life skills and community reintegration (n?=?20, 29.41%) and supported employment (n?=?16, 23.52%). Sixty-five (95.58%) studies found statistically significant results on the primary or secondary outcomes.     

The areas of change questionnaire: A cross-cultural comparison of israeli and american distressed and nondistressed couples

Abstract

This study examines Israeli couples' presenting complaints about their relationship, their perceptions of one another's complaints and perceptual accuracy between actual and perceived complaints, using the Areas of Change Questionnaire (ACQ). Samples were obtained of both distressed and nondistressed couples. Each sample met stringent criteria for categorization as distressed and nondistressed. Normative data for both samples are examined and areas of similarities and differences are discussed. The instrument is found to discriminate distressed and nondistressed Israeli couples. Results are compared with a previous study of American distressed and nondistressed couples. The American finding that women desire more change in marriage is not replicated in the Israeli sample, nor the American finding that distress and stage in the life cycle are related. However, there is an indication in both samples that men, compared to women, perceive more requests for change. Men in both cultures also feel more change is asked of them than they themselves ask in return.     

Countertransference and containment in a patient with a psychotic mother

The importance of countertransference reactions in the treatment of a borderline patient with a psychotic suicidal mother is discussed. In such a case containment can be seriously disrupted by the violence of the patient's projections into the therapist. Where a psychotic internal object has been brought for treatment it is particularly important that the therapist be able to identify not only with the sane and mad parts of the patient but with the destructiveness and cruelty of the patient and her primary object. The difficulties of tolerating these relentless projections of madness and despair are increased by the multiple and confusing aims of the patient's excessive use of projective identification. The invasive and hostile aspects of this are often heavily disguised beneath idealization of the self and object as well as of madness itself. For the patient, attempts to interpret the idealization are moreover felt as an assault on the lost loved object, and the therapy then unconsciously becomes a persecutory experience for the patient. The therapist can thus be drawn into feeling the full force of the anger and hatred towards the real disappointing object and the sense of hopelessness about the reparative task. Although such feelings need to be tolerated, eventually some distance from the often-unpleasant fluctuations in the countertransference must develop if a useful degree of containment is to be achieved.     

The Disappearing (or Ghost) Mother Transference: In Search of the Available Mother Within

As analysts, we speak of maternal transference as if it were a unitary phenomenon. We are trained to expect intense, powerful transference reactions. Yet there is a group of female patients who have a specific type of transference that lacks intensity. These patients often present by not presenting. I term this phenomenon the disappearing (or ghost) mother transference. This transference is quiet and does not create much stress. Using a case example, I will define this particular type of object relationship and discuss an alternative technique in treating these patients. It is my premise that these women must discover for themselves, at their own time and in their own way, the caring, living, available mother in the analyst.     

Expect the Unexpected? Variations in Question Type Elicit Cues to Deception in Joint Interviewer Contexts

We examined the effect of (i) a second interviewer's demeanour and (ii) asking expected and unexpected questions on cues to deception. We predicted that liars compared with truth tellers would provide more detail to expected questions and less detail to unexpected questions, particularly when the second interviewer is supportive. Liars prepare answers for expected questions, and a supportive interviewer will encourage them to provide more detail. By definition, liars have not prepared answers for unexpected questions, and their answers to such questions will be less detailed. Participants (N = 168) appeared before two interviewers: The first asked all the questions, and the second remained silent. The second interviewer exhibited either a supportive or a neutral demeanour. As predicted, liars provided more detail to expected questions and less detail to unexpected questions, particularly when the second interviewer was supportive. In conclusion, a supportive second interviewer elicits cues to deceit. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Target Detection,Identification, and Marksmanship During Battlefield Noise in a Synthetic Environment

This study was conducted to determine the impact of noise on target detection, identification, and marksmanship (TDI&M) and to examine the effectiveness of a monetary reward to improve performance. Twenty active duty male soldiers participated in a non-reward and reward trial, each comprising three time blocks of two alternating 20-minute sessions, one with 87-dBA battlefield noise and the other relatively quiet. Each session involved 15 minutes of TDI&M testing followed by 5 minutes of rest. Neither noise, time on task, nor reward caused any noteworthy changes in TDI&M performance, except for foe target engagement time (ET). It appears that subjects purposely increased ET over the duration of the task to improve their hit accuracy but did not succeed in doing so. The monetary incentive to improve performance was also ineffective, because the subjects applied a similar “best” effort during the no-reward trial prior to this manipulation.