The analysis of the homoerotic and the pursuit of meaning

This paper explores the dynamic tension between an evolving collective phenomenon and the nature of analytic process. Specifically, the focus will be erotic experiences which acquire a meaning through the culture at large, a meaning that may not be supportable when that material is subjected to psychological analysis. This stimulates a conflict between the symbolic attitude and the cultural perspective of the time. While the struggle between the individual and collective consciousness always emerges in analysis, the subject of same-gender sexual relations has become such a controversial and divisive issue in the current political environment that views toward homosexuality demand powerful allegiances and identification with either historic or contemporary ideas. People now identify as 'gay' and tend to see themselves as something akin to a race or perhaps alternative gender. Sexuality and relationship between same gendered people tends to be viewed through the lens of civil rights and the undeniable need for social equality. In this far-reaching and expanding collective phenomenon, psychology, in its support of human rights and accommodation to emerging trends, may be diminished in its capacity to pursue the meaning inherent in these human experiences. The position developed in this paper is that psychological experience, whether in the imaginal realm, dreams or personal consciousness, must be available for full analysis. Clinical experience and dreams are used to amplify this challenge to dynamic analytic practice.     

Combined Individual/Marital Therapy: A Conflict Resolution Framework and Ethical Considerations

This paper illustrates how couple and individual treatment formats can be intertwined. A conflict resolution theoretical framework structures treatment around three goals: (1) relieving symptoms (anger, depression, and marital distress), (2) facilitating resolution of the couple's conflicts, and (3) building communication and conflict resolution skills. The literature review focuses on why combining individual and couple therapy is often important for married clients. Two Bicycles, an illustrative case incorporating both conjoint and individual interventions, is presented and analyzed with regard to when each format seems beneficial. Ethical and practical issues raised by dual format treatment include potential harm, informed consent, dual roles, confidentiality, and time and financial costs.     

The Early Marital Roots of Conjugal Distress and Divorce

This article summarizes research that challenges conventional wisdom about the early roots of marital distress and divorce. We abstract results from a 13-year study that focused on the extent to which long-term marital satisfaction and stability could be forecast from newlywed and early marital data. We explore the usefulness of three models emergent distress, enduring dynamics, and disillusionment designed to explain why some marriages thrive and others fail. The dominant paradigm, the emergent-distress model, sees newlyweds as homogeneously blissful and posits that distress develops as disagreements and negativity escalate, ultimately leading some couples to divorce. The results we summarize run counter to this model and suggest instead that (a) newlyweds differ considerably in the intensity of both their romance and the negativity of their behavior toward one another and, for those who remain married, these early dynamics persist over time; and (b) for couples who divorce, romance seems to deteriorate differently depending on how long the marriage lasts. Soon after their wedding, "early exiters" seem to lose hope of improving an unpromising relationship; "delayed-action divorcers" begin marriage on a particularly high note, yet quickly show signs of disillusionment. These delayed-action divorcers reluctantly give up on the marriage long after the romance has faded.     

Cohabitation,marriage, and murder: Woman‐killing by male romantic partners

Using a national‐level US homicide database that includes more than 400,000 homicides committed from 1976‐1994, I calculated rates of uxoricide (the murder of a woman by her romantic partner) by type of relationship (cohabiting or marital), ages of the partners, and age difference between partners. Women in cohabiting relationships are about nine times more likely to be killed by their partner than are women in marital relationships. Within marital relationships, the risk of uxoricide decreases with a woman’s age. Within cohabiting relationships, in contrast, middle‐aged women are at greatest risk of uxoricide. Paralleling the uxoricide victimization rates, uxoricide perpetration rates are highest for young married men and for middle‐aged cohabiting men. Uxoricide risk generally increases with greater age difference between partners. These findings provide the first national‐level replication of uxoricide risk patterns reported for a national‐level Canadian sample. Discussion highlights future research directions, including identifying why women in cohabiting relationships incur greater risk of uxoricide than do women in marital relationships. Aggr. Behav. 27:284–291, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Effects of a high salt diet on blood pressure responses to acoustic stimuli in borderline hypertensive rats (BHR)

The borderline hypertensive rat (BHR) responds to environmental and dietary stressors with elevated blood pressure. The first two months of a high salt diet appear to be the time of greatest sensitivity to salt effects on the blood pressure of BHR. The current study was conducted to examine whether exposure to salt diets varying in duration for up to two months differentially affects baseline blood pressures (systolic, SBP, and diastolic, DBP) and blood pressure responses to novel acoustic stimuli in BHR and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Male BHR and WKY were fed a control (1%) salt diet or a high (8%) salt diet for 1, 1.5, 2.5, or 8.5 weeks. SBP and DBP responses to an acoustic stimulus (85 dB, 3 kHz) were measured upon completion of the diets at 12 weeks of age. Ten acoustic trials (one stimulus/minute) were presented and blood pressure responses were recorded in 2-second blocks spanning the 10 seconds prior to and following stimulus presentation. BHR had higher resting SBP and DBP than WKY, and 8.5 weeks of 8 percent salt increased SBP markedly in BHR. SBP and DBP labilities in the initial trial were greater in BHR than WKY with high salt diet durations of 2.5 and 8.5 weeks producing greater lability in later trials. Few differences were noted in pressor responses, but BHR had more dramatic depressor responses than WKY in early trials, and BHR pressures had a more dramatic return to baseline. It appears that genetic history and salt diet can affect blood pressure lability and recovery in response to novel stimuli in genetically susceptible animals.     

遗传和环境对婚姻的影响

遗传和环境是影响人的两个根本因素,人的心理和行为是在二者及其共同作用的基础上逐渐发展的。婚姻是大多数人一生中最重要的事件之一,同样也受到遗传和环境的制约。文章从择偶、婚姻质量、离婚等婚姻生活的不同方面着手,回顾和评价了进化心理学、社会与文化心理学和行为遗传学对婚姻中遗传和环境影响因素的研究     

Under the Spell of the Ring

Among orthodox reformed Christians in the Netherlands fierce debates have occurred on moral aspects of Christian life. This essay discusses three major controversial moral issues that are related to conceptions of sex, gender, and sexuality: divorce/remarriage, women’s ordination, and homosexuality. By analysing several contributions to debates on these issues, it proposes and explores a hypothesis that concerns the role of a particular understanding of marriage as characterized by a hermeneutical construct: a communal, deeply rooted and subconscious normative principle that drives our interpretations of texts and practices. This essay illustrates the problems of both the dominance of marriage within Christian communities and lived faith, as well as the modern, romantic aspects of this particular understanding of marriage.     

For Better or for Worse? Gender Ideology,Religious Commitment,and Relationship Quality

Few studies have considered how religion moderates the ways gender ideology influences heterosexual relationship outcomes. Drawing on a national random sample of American adults who report being married or living as married, we focus on the extent to which religious commitment moderates the link between gender ideology and reported relationship satisfaction, and whether this moderating effect varies across gender. We find that gender traditionalism is negatively associated with relationship satisfaction; however, interaction effects reveal that religious commitment moderates the effects of gender ideology such that the negative effects of gender traditionalism on relationship satisfaction only apply to people who are less religious. Gender traditionalism, by contrast, is not negatively related to relationship satisfaction for the highly religious. Splitting the sample by gender reveals that this moderating relationship is significant for women only. Thus, while gender traditionalism is negatively related to relationship satisfaction in the main, this effect is contingent on both gender and religious commitment. Religious commitment appears to mitigate negative effects of gender traditionalism on relationship outcomes, particularly for American women.     

A Systemic Analysis of the Dynamics and Organization of Urban Street Gangs

Street gangs function as ongoing, open social systems in relation to their surrounding sociocultural context. Fundamentally, gangs are comparable to some family systems. In fact, most gangs do consider themselves to be “families.” The same concepts used to describe family systems may also be applied to street gangs. Street gangs usually exhibit a highly complex organization, structure, process, and functionality. All of these aspects intertwine within and around the gang to form a web of interconnectedness and continuity. To better understand street gangs and provide effective intervention plans, they must be viewed from this systematic and holistic perspective.