Some comments on the role of cotherapists in group psychotherapy with borderline patients

This paper points out examples of patients in a psychotherapy group who meet DSM-III criteria for the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and who are treated by cotherapists utilizing object relations theory. Interpretations of phenomena shown by borderline patients—splitting, projective identification and denial—are illustrated. How cotherapy lends itself to the recognition and management of the problems these patients bring to group psychotherapy is illustrated.Hope Aspell assisted in the editing of this paper.     

The role of the church in the community based care of the chronically mentally disabled: Reclaiming an historic ministry

The perplexing circumstance of the chronically mentally disabled in the community poses both a challenging ministry and significant learning opportunity for the church. Historically the church once served as a primary resource in their community life. When care shifted to the hospital in the nineteenth century, chaplains then ministered on behalf of the church. The institutional setting later spawned the clinical training and pastoral care movement, the mental patient an essential teacher and beneficiary. With the locus of care having recently returned to the community, the church can now provide social, pastoral and spiritual resources, collaborate in deinstitutionalization with the mental health delivery system, and return to a ministry of learning with the less resourceful.The Reverend Anderson serves as Chaplain Supervisor, Connecticut Mental Health Center, Box 1842, New Haven, Connecticut 06508, and as a Lecturer in Pastoral Theology at Yale Divinity School. The author wishes to thank Dr. Donald H. Williams and Fr. Henri Nouwen for their advice and encouragement during the preparation of this article.     

Recognition of affixed words and the word frequency effect

Three experiments are reported in which the word frequency effect is used as a diagnostic for determining whether affixed words coming from the same stem are stored together or separately in the lexicon. Prefixed words are examined in the first experiment, inflected words in the second and third. In the first two experiments, two types of word are compared where the words in each condition are matched on surface or presented frequency but are varied on the frequency of their stems or base frequency. It is found that lexical decision times are influenced by base frequency, thus indicating that words related by affixation are stored together in the lexicon. The third experiment, however, demonstrates that when base frequency is held constant and surface frequency is varied, lexical decision times are influenced by surface frequency. The results are accounted for by a model of word recognition whereby frequency has its effect at two different stages of the recognition process.     

How do group meetings make a community Therapeutic?

Summary Following an abrupt shift from a therapeutic community with emphasis on group meetings to a hierarchical medical model on a mental hospital floor, disturbed patients required extensive individual nursing care. This increased work load for the nursing staff resulted in admissions having to be limited to the rare cases who needed little or no nursing care. As patients were discharged, the vacancy rate went up to approximately 20% for a week and remained high for another two weeks. Nursing staff-patient relations deteriorated.Subsequently, it was possible to resume the emphasis on the groups of a therapeutic community and to observe the contrast. The experience showed how groups can effect and support a therapeutic community. It clarified some of the mechanisms by which groups positively affected disturbed patients. Some mechanisms by which the staff, community, and group meetings favorably influenced the nursing staff-patient relationship and intrastaff communications became clear also.     

Empathy and socialization in first and repeat juvenile offenders and normals

The present study examined empathy and socialization in delinquent and non-delinquent juveniles. From 32 first offenders, 16 repeat offenders, and 19 normals who were administered Hogan's empathy scale and the socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory, groups of 16 subjects matched on age and race were compared. Results indicated that the three groups did not differ on empathy but that each of the three groups differed on socialization. Results are discussed in terms of potentially identifying recidivists and the efficacy of therapist-trained empathy.     

Sex-role identity and male and female homosexuality

The incidences of sex-role outcome within homosexual and heterosexual male and female young adult samples were compared using a fourfold typology (both masculine and feminine, masculine, feminine, neither masculine nor feminine). Sex-role identity disparities between the female groups were more clear-cut; the most striking difference was the high incidence of masculinity (60%) within the homosexual female group. No significant differences for males were found, although a trend was noted toward higher incidence of femininity and lower incidence of masculinity in homosexuals. The second purpose of the study was to search for possible developmental antecedents to heterosexual deficit in unselected college samples. The same key pattern of psychometric indices was identified for males and females. Low heterosexuality and the closest approximation to the modal sex-role identity among homosexuals of their sex were found in females primarily identified with masculine fathers and low in role consistency and in males primarily identified with feminine mothers and low in role consistency.     

Latent roots of random data correlation matrices with squared multiple correlations on the diagonal: A monte carlo study

In order to make the parallel analysis criterion for determining the number of factors easy to use, regression equations for predicting the logarithms of the latent roots of random correlation matrices, with squared multiple correlations on the diagonal, are presented. The correlation matrices were derived from distributions of normally distributed random numbers. The independent variables are log (N–1) and log {[n(n–1)/2]–[(i–1)n]}, whereN is the number of observations;n, the number of variables; andi, the ordinal position of the eigenvalue. The results were excellent, with multiple correlation coefficients ranging from .9948 to .9992.This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-67-A-0305-0012, Lloyd G. Humphreys, principal investigator, and by the Department of Computer Science of which Richard G. Montanelli, Jr., is a member.     

Deceit as a function of sex of subject and target person

Thirty male and female undergraduates were run in same- and opposite-sex pairs to determine if the extent of experimentally sanctioned deceit would be influenced by sex pairings and potential for harm to another's self-esteem. Ss, who all believed they were playing the role of a teacher in a learning experiment, were instructed to provide false feedback (lie) at least three times during 30 trials to a learner, the other S. Consistent with hypotheses derived from a consideration of the potential harm to another's self-esteem and a suggested norm of white lying, perceived relative importance of male and female sex roles, and greater female concern for the social welfare of others, it was found that white lies occurred significantly more often than lies, that males were significantly more likely to give false feedback than females, that females were the target of false feedback significantly more often than males, and that the interaction between sex of S and sex of target person was also significant in that males lied to females more than any other sex pairing.This research was partially supported by the New Mexico Highlands University Institute of Scientific Research. A brief version of this report was presented at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association meeting, Denver, May, 1974.