A Typology of Interactional Patterns Between Youth and Their Stepfathers: Associations with Family Relationship Quality and Youth Well‐Being

Stepfamilies are an increasingly common family form, many of which are headed by a resident mother and stepfather. Stepfather–child relationships exert notable influence on stepfamily stability and individual well‐being. Although various stepfather roles have been observed, more research is warranted by which stepfather–child interactions are explored holistically and across a variety of life domains (e.g., recreational, personal, academic, and disciplinary). Thus, the primary purpose of the current study is to explore varying interactional patterns between youth and their stepfathers. A latent class analysis is conducted using a representative sample of 1,183 youth (53% female; mean age = 15.64 years, SD = 1.70 years; 62% non‐Hispanic White) residing in mother–stepfather families from Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Latent‐class enumeration processes support a four‐class solution, with latent classes representing inactive, academically oriented, casually connected, and versatile and involved patterns of youth–stepparent interaction. Notable differences and similarities are evident across patterns with respect to family relationship quality, youth well‐being, and socio‐demographic characteristics. Differences are most stark between the inactive and versatile and involved patterns. Ultimately, the results showcase notable variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns, and one size does not necessarily fit all stepfamilies. Family practitioners should be mindful of variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns and assist stepfamilies in seeking out stepparent–child dynamics that are most compatible with the needs and dynamics of the larger family system.     

Depressive Symptoms,Criticism, and Counter‐Criticism in Marital Interactions

Although people with depressive symptoms face criticism, hostility, and rejection in their close relationships, we do not know how they respond. Following interpersonal theories of depression, it might be expected that depressive symptoms would be associated with a tendency to receive and also to express criticism toward one's spouse, and that at least some of this criticism would be a contingent response to criticism received (i.e., “counter‐criticism”). However, other research has determined that depressive symptoms/behaviors suppress partner criticism, suggesting that depressed people might respond to partner criticism similarly, by subsequently expressing less criticism. In a sample of 112 married couples, partial correlations, regressions, and Actor‐Partner Interdependence Modeling indicated that lower criticism and counter‐criticism expression during a laboratory marital interaction task was associated with higher depressive symptoms, especially when such individuals were clinically depressed. Furthermore, during a separate and private Five‐Minute Speech Sample, lower criticism by partners was associated with higher depressive symptoms, especially when those who chose the interaction topic were also clinically depressed. All analyses controlled for relationship adjustment. These results suggest that spouses with higher depressive symptoms and clinical depression diagnoses may be suppressing otherwise ordinary criticism expression toward their nondepressed partners; furthermore, nondepressed partners of depressed people are especially likely to display less criticism toward their spouse in a private task.     

Mother‐Stepfather Coparenting in Stepfamilies as Predictor of Child Adjustment

Coparenting between biological parents is a strong predictor of child adjustment. To date, however, little is known about the coparenting dynamics between parent and stepparent in stepfamilies. This study aimed at exploring the links between coparenting in the mother–stepfather dyad and child behavior in stepfamilies compared with the links between mother–father coparenting and child behavior in first‐marriage families. Two modes of coparenting were assessed: overt coparenting, that is, coparental behaviors in the presence of the child, and covert coparenting, that is, the way each parent speaks of the other parent to the child. The sample (N = 80) comprised 48 stepfamilies and 32 first‐marriage families with a child between 7 and 13 years old. Overt coparenting was assessed through direct observation in the standardized situation of the PicNic Game. Covert coparenting and child behavior were assessed through mother‐reported questionnaires. Results showed (a) more covert coparenting behaviors in first‐marriage families, (b) no differences in overt coparenting, (c) more child difficulties reported in stepfamilies, (d) less optimal overt coparenting being linked with more difficulties in children in both family structures, and (e) an interaction effect between family structure and coparenting, showing that overt coparenting is linked with child behavior mainly in stepfamilies.     

The Added Value of Studying Embodied Responses in Couple Therapy Research: A Case Study

This article reports on the added value of embodied responses identified through sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity in couple therapy research. It focuses on moments of change and the timing of therapeutic interventions or therapeutic moves in a couple therapy session. The data for this single‐case study comprise couple therapy process videotapes recorded in a multi‐camera setting, and measurements of participants’ SNS activity. The voluntary participants were a marital couple in their late thirties and two middle‐aged male psychotherapists. The division into topic segments showed how the key issue of seeking help, which was found to comprise three separate components, was repeatedly dealt with in the session. SNS activity showed different degrees of synchronization between the couple, between the therapists, and between the couple and therapists during the dialogue pertaining to these three components. The issue of timing emerged as a complex, even ambivalent, phenomenon. Arousal in the therapists was in line with their therapeutic activity, whereas in the clients it was more anticipatory. The approach used here rendered visible some of the intensity that therapeutic dialogue can generate when dealing with issues of relationship change in the couple context and showed how this intensity can be dialogically regulated in the therapeutic system.     

Treating Multidimensional Presenting Problems with a Mutually Integrative Approach Using the Genogram

The present article introduces a case study and describes a mutually integrative approach to treating a complex presenting problem. This article examines the specific issues surrounding integration when a supervisor and supervisee hold different theoretical perspectives. On occasion, such a relationship demands that the supervisee adhere to the model being taught by the supervisor. Examining integration in this format presents many advantages for both treatment and training. The key to the mutual integration is that two schools of psychotherapy can be combined in a way that creates a synergy; in that, together they are more powerful than either may be in isolation. A genogram with symbols from each model is incorporated to focus the treatment and create a format for the mutual integration.     

Cultural identity in Siberia and in analytical practice

This paper discusses the main features of Siberian identity formed throughout the historical development of Siberia under the influence of social, economic, geographical, climatic, and other factors. Siberian cultural identity is closely connected with the mythology and ancient religion of the indigenous peoples of Siberia – shamanism, whose rituals, images, symbols, and motifs are often manifested in the clients’ dreams. Following an in‐depth study of Siberian history and culture, I formulate a complex of homelessness rooted in a deep collective trauma that left its imprint on people’s psyche. Three clinical cases presented in the paper reveal a deep relationship between cultural complexes and collective traumas on the one hand, and individual complexes and traumas, on the other. My psychotherapeutic practice shows that a client’s awareness of their history and culture brings them closer to the meaning and source of their suffering, which, in turn, helps them find their own way of individuation, rather than relive the transgenerational trauma of their ancestors.     

Comments on the 2018 IAAP Conference on Archetype Theory: defending a non‐reductive biological approach

During the course of the 2018 IAAP conference, a criticism of Jung’s idea of the archetype as inherited predisposition was raised that involved examining a number of dreams and visions and assessing them through developments in genetics and neuroscience. From this comparison it was argued that archetypes cannot be inherited and could more reasonably be argued to derive from early experiences. In this essay, the author responds by showing how this conclusion is flawed due to being based on reductive errors. An alternative, non‐reductive but inherited and biological position on the archetype is defended.     

Beyond the logic of Lemma: the oneness of life and its environment,the oneness of within and without

In this paper the ‘analyst as a citizen in the world’ is understood as the analyst interconnecting and harmonising with his or her environment, including not only society, but also nature and the universe. In this sense, Buddhism teaches the Oneness of Life and its Environment, and links are made between Mahayana Buddhism and Jung's understanding of the Self and individuation. The Logic of Lemma in the Flower Ornament Sutra indicates that all phenomena in the world can merge with each other without losing individuality; ten stages are described from the Lotus Sutra and links are made with the development in respect to the ego; Kenji Miyazawa and his work are given as examples to illustrate this. Causality and synchronicity are explored in terms of the interaction between the individual and the environment, and three examples are given where sometimes individual, egoic, causality is more of a feature and sometimes synchronicity has a greater prominence. The paper ends with an examination of tree drawings, made over a period of 50 years by junior high school students, which indicates the way that these individuals have portrayed themselves and their relation to their environment.