On Phallicism; Developmental Aspects,Neutralization, Sublimation and Defensive Phallicism

Many children in need of psychotherapy are latency-age boys who have little or no contact with their fathers. Their problems typically include low self-esteem, identity problems, depression, difficulties in peer relationships, and aggression. Clinical material illustrates that the consequences for the child of fatherlessness depend on many factors, among them the mother's attitude to the father and other mature males. If the mother devalues all men, her son has little space to grow into a healthy adult. The male therapist may be experienced as a threat to the mother-son union, which may render his efforts to help the boy fruitless. If, in contrast, the mother's experiences of her own father and other men are more positive, her pride in her son's masculinity may strengthen his need to find support for his male development. These observations are discussed as affecting the capacity for triadic object representations in mothers and sons.     

A Systems Approach to Sex Therapy with Gay Male Couples

SUMMARY

Sex therapy with gay male couples is difficult for many family and relationship therapists. Family therapists lack knowledge of the nature of sex therapy, gay male culture and sexuality, the dynamics of gay male couples, and the sexual issues gay male couples are likely to bring to sex therapy. Countertransference also makes sex therapy with gay male couples difficult for some family and relationship therapists. This paper addresses those issues and then explains a systems approach to sex therapy with gay male couples.     

Memory Bias for Faces that are Perceived as Hostile by Crime Victims with Acute Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

The present study tested, and found support for, the hypotheses that crime victims with acute post-traumatic stress disorder have: (i) a general memory impairment for faces; and (ii) a memory bias for faces that they perceive as hostile, even when these faces are not arranged to show any hostile face expressions. It is suggested that crime victims with acute post-traumatic stress disorder perform worse on recognition memory due to impaired concentration, and that they allocate their limited attentional resources to the detection of hostility in others in order to avoid being victimized again. This produces a memory bias for perceived hostility even in relatively innocuous everyday interactions with others, which contributes to maintaining the sense of serious current threat that characterizes post-traumatic stress disorder.     

Heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male relationships: a comparison of couples in 1975 and 2000

This study examined the differences among lesbians, gay men, and heterosexuals at two points in time (1975 and 2000) using responses of 6,864 participants from two archival data sets. Groups were compared on variables representing equality of behaviors between partners in seven realms: traditionally "feminine" housework, traditionally "masculine" housework, finances, support, communication, requesting/refusing sex, and decision-making. In addition, the current study compared monogamy agreements and monogamy behaviors reported by the two cohorts of couple types. Overall, the results indicate that on the equality variables, there have been many statistically significant behavioral shifts among the different sexual orientations across 25 years. In addition, all couple types reported substantially greater rates of monogamy in the year 2000 than in 1975. The present study has important clinical implications for therapists working with couples because it provides new baseline evidence regarding how couples now interact with one another (especially about monogamy) and how this has shifted over time. In addition, it elucidates the differences that still exist between different couple types, which could serve to inform couple therapists as they strive to become more culturally competent working with same-sex couples.     

Symptoms of depression in Swedish fathers in the postnatal period and development of a screening tool

Methods for detecting depression in fathers after the birth of their child are scarce. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), used to screen mothers for postpartum depression (PPD), lacks somatization and externalizing items. This potentially decreases its sensitivity in detecting depression in fathers, as many men actually express depression with somatization or externalizing symptoms. The present study assessed depressive symptoms in fathers of children 0–18 months old, and evaluated whether addressing both typical depression and externalizing, so‐called “depressive equivalent” symptoms, might be more suitable for such assessment. The Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II), EPDS, and Gotland Male Depression Scale (GMDS) were responded to by 447 Swedish fathers online. Among participants, 27% reported depressive symptoms above the BDI‐II cut‐off suggestive of depression. Most fathers reported both traditional and depressive equivalent symptoms and a subgroup expressed exclusively depressive equivalent symptoms. Consistently, a scale combining items from the EPDS and GMDS showed higher sensitivity than the EPDS alone in identifying fathers with elevated depressive symptoms, at equal levels of specificity. Our findings suggest that a combination of EPDS and depressive equivalent symptom items results in a more suitable instrument for screening for depression in fathers during the postnatal period.     

Heterosexual adolescents’ and young adults’ beliefs and attitudes about homosexuality and gay and lesbian peers

Reports on the school climate for gay and lesbian students in the United States suggest that negative attitudes toward gay and lesbian individuals are quite common in adolescence. Very little research, however, has investigated adolescents’ sexual prejudice from a developmental perspective. In this study, 10th- (N = 119) and 12th- (N = 145) grade adolescents and college-aged young adults (N = 86) completed a questionnaire assessing their beliefs and attitudes about homosexuality, their comfort with gay and lesbian students, and their judgments and reasoning regarding the treatment of gay or lesbian peers in school. Results indicate that middle adolescents (14–16) are more likely than older adolescents (16–18) and young adults (19–26) to exhibit sexual prejudice related to social interaction with gay and lesbian peers. Interestingly, however, age-related differences in beliefs about whether homosexuality was right or wrong were not found. These findings provide evidence for age-related differences in some aspects of sexual prejudice but not others and underscore the importance of using multiple measures in assessing the development of this type of prejudice.     

Attitudes of University Students toward Lesbians and Gay Men in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of university students in Turkey toward lesbians and gay men. Findings indicate that relatively negative attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are prevalent, but attitudes toward lesbians seem to be more positive than attitudes toward gay men. Gender differences directly affect attitudes, and religiosity also has great impact on the attitudes of the students toward lesbians and gay men. An active sex life and liberal attitudes toward premarital relations correlate with more positive attitudes toward homosexual persons. Finally, the data indicate that interpersonal contact with gay men and lesbians is associated with positive attitudes toward homosexuals.     

The authorship of Uri Zohar: the ethics and aesthetics of the Archimedean lever

This article discusses Zohar’s subversive reflexive aesthetics, termed the “Archimedean-lever ethics,” comprised of three stages: the world rendered from one perspective; the same world rendered from a different perspective, challenging or destroying the first; and awareness of the shift of perspectives. It argues that Zohar’s creative energy, imbued with male sexuality, derives from this collision, and examines its ethical aspect in relation to Zionist values during the 1950s and 1960s. Zionism and Israel should always consider more than one perspective, being able not only to build but also to destroy (convictions, territories) in order to bring change, with destruction thus becoming a particular form of creation. However, in Zohar’s films made during the 1970s, the male sexual energy becomes an endless sexual appetite, expressed mostly through coveting gazes, which is no more than a cover up for male impotency, tantamount to Israel’s endless appetite for land.     

The Garden of the Heart and Soul: the image,the way,and the meaning

This paper begins with an explanation of the four Chinese characters that represent the project of the Garden of the Heart and Soul. This project was founded to help the psychological development of orphans, as well as to provide psychological relief for the victims of ecological disasters such as earthquakes through the use of Jungian psychology, sandplay therapy, and the psychology of the Heart. Eleven years after its founding, there are 83 work‐stations on mainland China. The authors discuss how the Chinese characters influenced the way they set up their project and the values that guide them. In addition to helping the individuation of the people they work with, their work provides a container for the collective psyche and a connection with the cultural archetypal roots.     

The Narrative Architecture of Political Forgiveness

Although there is widespread agreement with the argument that Hannah Arendt made more than half a century ago, that forgiveness is “one of the human faculties that make social change possible” (Misztal, 2011, p. 201), beyond this, there is little consensus of what it means. Applying a narrative structure to this discussion, there is a lack of clarity around questions of who, what, where, when, and why to forgive. This article will explore the politics of forgiveness in East Germany, where these issues have been hotly contested for more than 25 years. The data examined in this article suggest that the fraught process of forgiveness embodies not consensus but contest, as people disagree on key questions such as who has the right to forgive whom, for what, how long the window for the opportunity of forgiveness stays open, and even why these questions matter, not only for individuals but for the whole of society.