On the Future of Group Therapy Theory

The author presents a hypothetical view of group therapy theories as they may evolve over the first decades of the New Milennium. Looking at the problem of prediction from the standpoint of postmodernism and social constructivism, the importance of these perspectives as frameworks of the social sciences is emphasized. The influence of general systems theory, Foulkesian group analysis, object relations theory, self psychology, cognitive-behavioral psychology, and neuropsychiatry are briefly examined with respect to the expected evolution of increasingly sophisticated, detailed, and nuanced theories of group psychology and group psychotherapy.     

Object elicitation: A compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research

This study provides an innovative, compassionate and culturally informed method for psychotherapy research, using object elicitation with 13 participants from vulnerable groups. It examines the positive impact it has on building the research alliance, enhanced depth of sharing within qualitative research interviews and emic ways of knowing through the engagement with a culturally relevant, tangible, internalised or transitional object brought by vulnerable participants from diverse cultural contexts of origin. Results showcase how a creative and compassionate research method can promote a culturally informed research alliance with vulnerable participants, helping to build trust, rapport and relational depth; encourage elicitation of experiences; and empower emic and subjugated voices. The implications of this study make the case for the inclusion of object elicitation as a creative and compassionate method in qualitative research with traumatised and vulnerable individuals, which should be used as part of a culturally informed approach to psychotherapy research.     

精神分析客体关系革命的折衷进路:英国独立学派评述

自精神分析学诞生以来,其发展进路经历了自我革命、客体关系革命、自体革命、关系革命和神经科学革命。英国独立学派是客体关系革命的主要发起者和中间力量,它诞生于20世纪40年代英国精神分析学会内部的“论战”,并在规模以及精神分析理论和技术方面都取得重大发展。独立学派的精神分析师以开放和折衷的态度批判性地汲取各种现存的精神分析观点,形成不同于克莱因学派的客体关系思想,并表现出独立性、开放性、关系性和真实性的内涵与特征。温尼科特、费尔贝恩和巴林特是独立学派的主要代表人物,他们各自建构出独特的客体关系理论,促使精神分析范式从一元驱力模式转向二元客体关系模式,推动了客体关系理论的深入发展,奠定了后续精神分析发展的基石。     

Interactions of reading and semantics along the ventral visual processing stream

Converging evidence supports a distributed-plus-hub view of semantic processing, in which there are distributed modular semantic sub-systems (e.g., for shape, colour, and action) connected to an amodal semantic hub. Furthermore, object semantic processing of colour and shape, and lexical reading and identification, are processed mainly along the ventral stream, while action semantic processing occurs mainly along the dorsal stream. In Experiment 1, participants read a prime word that required imagining either the object or action referent, and then named a lexical word target. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT) with the same targets as in Experiment 1, in the presence of foils that were legal nonwords (NW; Experiment 2) or pseudohomophones (PH; Experiment 3). Semantic priming was similar in effect size regardless of prime type for naming, but was greater for object primes than action primes for the LDT with PH foils, suggesting a shared-stream advantage when the task demands focus on orthographic lexical processing. These experiments extend the distributed-plus-hub model, and provide a novel paradigm for further research.     

Laterality of the frontal aslant tract (FAT) explains externalizing behaviors through its association with executive function

We investigated the development of a recently identified white matter pathway, the frontal aslant tract (FAT) and its association with executive function and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 neurotypical male and female human children ranging in age from 7 months to 19 years. We found that the FAT could be tracked in 92% of those children, and that the pathway showed age‐related differences into adulthood. The change in white matter microstructure was very rapid until about 6 years, and then plateaued, only to show age‐related increases again after the age of 11 years. In a subset of those children (5–18 years; n = 70), left laterality of the microstructural properties of the FAT was associated with greater attention problems as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). However, this relationship was fully mediated by higher executive dysfunction as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). This relationship was specific to the FAT—we found no relationship between laterality of a control pathway, or of the white matter of the brain in general, and attention and executive function. These findings suggest that the degree to which the developing brain favors a right lateralized structural dominance of the FAT is directly associated with executive function and attention. This novel finding provides a new potential structural biomarker to assess attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and associated executive dysfunction during development.     

The hippocampus facilitates integration within a symbolic field

This paper attempts to elaborate a fundamental brain mechanism involved in the creation and maintenance of symbolic fields of thought. It will integrate theories of psychic spaces as explored by Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion with the neuroscientific examinations of those with bilateral hippocampal injury to show how evidence from both disciplines sheds important light on this aspect of mind. Possibly originating as a way of maintaining an oriented, first person psychic map, this capacity allows individuals a dynamic narrative access to a realm of layered elements and their connections. If the proposed hypothesis is correct, the hippocampus facilitates the integration of this symbolic field of mind, where narrative forms of thinking, creativity, memory, and dreaming are intertwined. Without the hippocampus, there is an inability to engage many typical forms of thought itself. Also, noting the ways these individuals are not impaired supports theories about other faculties of mind, providing insight into their possible roles within human thought. The evidence of different systems working in conjunction with the symbolic field provides tantalizing clues about these fundamental mechanisms of brain and mind that are normally seamlessly integrated, and hints at future areas of clinical and laboratory research, both within neuroscience and psychoanalysis.     

Drives and objects - notes on the change of drive theory

Freud’s drive theory has been questioned since the 1940s when Fairbairn created a metaphor of the mind that is not based on the tripartite model and drive theory. His work inspired others to elaborate on the significance of internal object relationships. According to the object relation theory, internal object relations are dynamic structures capable of generating meanings and action. Consequently, two distinct metapsychologies were created.The aim of this article is to show how the interaction of theories has initiated revisions of classic drive theory. Freud’s concept of drive and three synthesizing viewpoints between the two perspectives are discussed. Otto Kernberg addresses affects as a primary motivational system; the mother–infant relationship organizes affects to drives. Joseph Sandler adheres to classic drive theory but proposes that the ego’s attempt to protect the mind against psychic pain is as important as drive derivatives in motivating the mind. Laplanche proposes that the unconscious of the care-giving adult is the crucial factor for the constitution of an infant’s unconscious and drives. For Freud and Klein, drive is inherent. Contemporary writers, like Loewald and Laplanche, conceive drive as a function of the mind that is born out of the same matrix of interaction with the other elements of the mind.     

行动语义、客体背景和判断任务对客体动作承载性的影响

客体动作承载性指人们知觉客体时同时激活的针对客体的行动。当Gibson最初提出动作承载性概念时, 他认为客体的这种属性是可以自动激活的。然而近年来越来越多的证据显示, 在知觉和行动的关系中, 行动语义知识和客体所处背景对客体动作承载性具有调节作用, 表现在人们可以根据这些自上而下的信息选择针对客体的适当的行动。此外, 不同的判断任务在引发客体动作承载性效应上具有特异性, 表现在若判断任务仅需知觉客体表层属性时, 不能激活对客体的动作, 进而不能产生客体动作承载性; 若判断任务需要对客体进行深层加工时, 才会激活对客体的动作。未来研究还需要进一步探究行动语义知识和客体所处背景影响客体动作承载性发生的原因和机制, 以及不同判断任务中出现结果特异性的原因。