Psychodynamic perspectives on teacher stress

Melanie Klein's concept of projective identification is now in common use by counsellors and psychotherapists. Julia Segal describes her own hypothesis about the way it works as well as her use of it in her practice, working as a counsellor for people with multiple sclerosis, members of their families and professionals working with them. When a person cannot bear to feel an emotional state they can evoke the feeling in someone else, not only a therapist or counsellor but also others within the family. Segal describes the way powerful emotions can be evoked in the counsellor; in particular the feeling that a certain idea cannot be shared with a client. She also describes working with clients who are on the receiving end of such projected feelings, sometimes evoked by illness within the family. She also points out that unresolved emotional states suffered in childhood can leave adults unable to bear certain feelings. If the feelings threaten to re-emerge in adulthood, perhaps triggered by their own children reaching a certain age, parents sometimes attempt to rid themselves of the emotional state by projective identification and in the process, evoke a version of the feelings in their own children. This may, for example, exert pressure on parents to divorce just as their own children reach the age they were when they themselves lost a parent.     

There Is But One Love We Share

SUMMARY

The spiritual void of our culture, the dependency that maintains the isolation, and gives rise to the violence that permeates from individual to personal relationships to national policy, is examined. As an antidote, the article explores development of inner lives of awareness and connectedness with all that exists that begins with each person, leads to the qualities that are the groundwork for peaceful relationships. Special emphasis is given to the moral responsibility of clinicians who hope to be serving others.     

Discovering “Family” Creatively

Abstract

Creativity is a powerful force within the family therapy field, central not only to the therapeutic process but also to counselor education. Time-honored tools, such as the genogram along with its many adaptations, remain useful in learning about family. However, as our rapidly changing culture continually redefines and stretches the concept of family, we must learn new methods to discover who “family” is from the “expert” living within that family, i.e., the client or counselor-trainee. This article introduces and describes a creative, self-initiated model, the self-created genogram, developed to amplify discovery of each person's own unique perspective and experience of family. Case examples will be provided to illustrate the model's use in both training and clinical settings.     

Adolescents' individuation,romantic involvement,and mothers' wellbeing: A comparison of three family structures

This study compared concurrent as well as longitudinal associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing, in nuclear families with both biological parents and in single-mother and stepfather families. It relied on data from the first two waves of a longitudinal study in Germany (N = 436). Maternal wellbeing was assessed from mothers' reports of their sense of family mastery and self-esteem. Adolescent development was assessed from adolescents' reports of three aspects of individuation and of their romantic involvement. For single mothers and mothers in nuclear families, the associations between maternal wellbeing and adolescents' development were inconsistent. Mothers in stepfather families with daughters profited from their daughters' growing detachment. The results suggested that the associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing are family structure specific, and observable concurrently and across a one-year time period. The discussion considers the different demands and living situations of the three family structures.     

家庭创新环境的特征及其与中学生日常创造性行为的关系：创造性人格的中介作用

以1117名中学生为被试,采用问卷法考察家庭创新环境的特点及其对日常创造性行为的影响机制。结果发现：（1）家庭创新环境体现在家庭情感氛围、父母创造性行为、父母教育理念和自主准予,可分为抑制型（17.3%）、一般型（41.9%）和创新型（40.8%）,创新型在日常创造性行为上得分显著高于抑制型;（2）家庭创新环境与创造性人格、日常创造性行为以及同伴提名得分相关显著;（3）创造性人格在家庭创新环境和同伴提名之间起完全中介作用,在家庭创新环境和日常创造性行为之间起部分中介作用。     

Family as a source of support under stress: Benefits of greater breadth of family inclusion

Family has profound meaning and represents the most important ingroup for most people, yet, we know very little about how lay perceptions of family affect well-being. In the current work, we examined how lay theories about breadth of family inclusion (i.e., including a broader variety of entities in one’s definition of family) were related to family experiences and to well-being. In Study 1, we found that lay theories about family as including a wider variety of entities (i.e., greater breadth of inclusion) predicted more positive family evaluations, more positive qualities, and greater family importance. In Study 2, we found that greater breadth of family inclusion was associated with greater resilience in the face of stress. Finally, in Study 3 we used an experimental manipulation of breadth of family inclusion, establishing that broader views of family produced greater social needs fulfillment. Implications for the role of ingroup memberships and identities in promoting well-being are discussed.     

Transactional pathways of transgender identity development in transgender and gender-nonconforming youth and caregiver perspectives from the Trans Youth Family Study

Background: A growing body of research has examined transgender identity development, but no studies have investigated developmental pathways as a transactional process between youth and caregivers, incorporating perspectives from multiple family members. The aim of this study was to conceptualize pathways of transgender identity development using narratives from both transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGN) youth and their cisgender (nontransgender) caregivers.

Methods: The sample included 16 families, with 16 TGN youth, ages 7 to 18 years, and 29 cisgender caregivers (N = 45 family members). TGN youth represented multiple gender identities, including trans boy (n = 9), trans girl (n = 5), gender-fluid boy (n = 1), and girlish boy (n = 1). Caregivers included mothers (n = 17), fathers (n = 11), and one grandmother. Participants were recruited from LGBTQ community organizations and support networks for families with transgender youth in the Midwest, Northeast, and South regions of the United States. Each family member completed a one-time, in-person semistructured qualitative interview that included questions about transgender identity development.

Results: Analyses revealed seven overarching themes of transgender identity development, which were organized into a conceptual model: Trans identity development, sociocultural influences/societal discourse, biological influences, family adjustment/impact, stigma/cisnormativity, support/resources, and gender affirmation/actualization.

Conclusions: Findings underscore the importance of assessing developmental processes among TGN youth as transactional, impacting both youth and their caregivers.     

The politics of reflexivity: Subjectivities,activism, environmental conflict and Gestalt Therapy in southern Chiapas

Through the analysis of Gestalt Therapy workshops organised by a local NGO in southern Chiapas, Mexico, I explore the ways in which psychotherapeutic practice sheds light on indigenous and peasant subjectivation processes. Based on the analysis of testimonies from 23 workshop participants and personal observation, I discuss the role of psychotherapeutic practice in facilitating individual and collective reflexivity, and in fostering political fellowship and participation in community matters. Empirical evidence points to how healing interventions like the one here analysed – especially when implemented in contexts of conflict, material and symbolic dispossession – need to explicitly include work on structural issues of power in order to move beyond decontextualised, and thus depoliticised, reflexivity. This case study aids political ecologists interested in the subjective, emotional and embodied aspects of grassroots activism to comprehend how psychotherapy contributes to the construction of a private-public continuum of emotional expression, and its implication for understanding relationships between subjectivities, emotions and generative political processes.     

Reduced ADHD symptoms in adults with ADHD after structured skills training group: results from a randomized controlled trial

Objective

Feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) -based method developed in Germany were evaluated in a Swedish outpatient psychiatric context.

Method

Fifty-one adults with ADHD on stable medical treatment or on no medication were randomized to the DBT-based skills training (n = 26) or a parallel loosely structured discussion group (n = 25). Self-rating scales were administered before randomization and after the treatment.

Results

Feasibility and participant satisfaction were good in both groups while skills training was perceived as more logical and effective for ADHD-related problems. The analyses of the individuals who completed the treatment and remained stable with regard to medication (n = 19 in skills training; n = 18 in control group) showed a significant reduction in ADHD symptoms in the skills training group, but not in the control group. No reduction of comorbidity was observed in any of the groups.

Conclusions

The treatment was feasible in an outpatient psychiatric context, well tolerated, and significantly reduced ADHD symptoms in on-treatment individuals who remained stable regarding medication status.