‘If I knew where the enemy,or even Germany was,we could have fired in that direction’: Bion's experience of war

The role of a child psychotherapist's gender is not often considered in terms of treatment outcome. This paper discusses how aspects of being a male child psychotherapist influenced the successful treatment of a very young boy with Asperger's Syndrome. The paper highlights how the nature of his very early relationship with his mother and the absence of his father were the basis of his difficulties resulting in that diagnosis. It shows that his desire to seize the opportunity of working with a male enabled him to understand his feelings about his father, why it was so difficult to want to be with him and not his mother, and why he could not be without her.

Le rôle joué par le sexe du psychothérapeute d'enfants dans les effets du traitement est rarement pris en compte. Dans cet article, l'auteur montre qu'à un certain niveau le fait d'être un psychothérapeute homme eut une influence sur la réussite de la thérapie d'un très jeune garçon présentant un syndrome d'Asperger. Selon l'auteur, la nature de la relation précoce entre ce petit garçon et sa mère, ainsi que l'absence de son père, étaient à l'origine des difficultés qui conduisirent à ce diagnostic. Il montre que le désir de l'enfant de se saisir de l'occasion ainsi offerte de travailler avec un homme lui permit de comprendre trois éléments essentiels : ses sentiments à l'égard de son père, la raison pour laquelle il lui était tellement difficile de vouloir être avec lui plutôt que de rester avec sa mère, et ce qui faisait qu'il ne pouvait pas se passer de celle-ci.

Die Rolle des Geschlechts des Kindertherapeuten wird nicht oft bezüglich des Behandlungsergebnis in Betracht bezogen. Dieser Artikel diskutiert, wie Aspekte dessen, ein männlicher Kindertherapeut zu sein, die erfolgreiche Behandlung eines sehr kleinen Jungen mit Asperger Syndrom beeinflussten. Der Artikel unterstreicht, wie die Art seiner frühen Beziehung zu seiner Mutter und die Abwesenheit seines Vaters die Grundlage seiner Schwierigkeiten bildeten, die zu dieser Diagnose führten. Es zeigt, dass sein Wunsch, die Gelegenheit zu ergreifen, mit einem Mann zu arbeiten, ihm ermöglichte, seine Gefühle seinem Vater gegenüber zu verstehen, warum es so schwierig war, mit ihm und nicht seiner Mutter sein zu wollen und warum er nicht ohne sie sein konnnte.

Riassunto: Il ruolo che gioca il sesso dello psicoterapeuta infantile non è solitamente considerato in relazione al risultato del trattamento. In questo articolo si discute come il fatto di avere un terapeuta maschile abbia influenzato per certi aspetti il risultato positivo del trattamento di un bambino molto piccolo che soffriva della Sindrome di Asperger. L'articolo illustra come la natura della sua primissima relazione con la madre e l'assenza del padre furono alla base delle sue difficoltà che portarono alla diagnosi. L'articolo mostra come il desiderio del bambino di lavorare con un terapeuta maschile gli ha permesso di capire i suoi sentimenti verso il padre, perché era così difficile voler restare con lui e lo stesso non succedeva con sua madre, e perché non poteva restare senza di lei.     

La qualité de la relation leader/membre et les comportements innovants : le rôle modérateur de la résistance au changement

Researchers have proposed that high quality of supervisor–employee relationships (Basu & Green, 1997; Scott & Bruce, 1994; Sanders, Moorkamp, Torka, Groeneveld & Groeneveld, 2010) fosters innovative behaviour. Moreover, researchers have acknowledged that this relationship is not clear (Rosing, Frese & Bausch, 2011; Volmer, Spurk & Niessen, 2012). The present study aims at testing the moderating role of resistance to change in the LMX-innovative behaviour relationship. Results of a study based on 160 participants from an organization provide empirical support to this hypothesis.     

Prevalence and correlates of ICD-11 adjustment disorder: Findings from the Zurich Adjustment Disorder Study

Background/Objective: The 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) will provide a new definition of adjustment disorder (AjD). The aim of the present study is to report on prevalence and correlates of ICD-11 AjD in a high-risk sample. Method: Three hundred thirty persons who had lost their job involuntarily were sampled by local job centres. The Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview was administered with a new AjD module. Associations between AjD and correlates were investigated with logistic regression analyses. Results: 27.3% of the participants reported the AjD core symptom pattern. 13.8% men and 17.2% women met diagnostic guidelines of ICD-11 AjD. Prevalence increased with age and exposure to multiple stressors. The AjD core symptom pattern was associated with various sociodemographic correlates (e. g., lower financial household budget), whereas the full ICD-11 diagnosis including the exclusion algorithm was not. Regarding work-related factors, AjD occurred with a lower probability if the last job position had higher responsibilities and more general confidence for the future. Conclusions: ICD-11 AjD has a high prevalence among persons who lost their jobs involuntarily. Healthcare professionals should be aware of this problem. Research to investigate the ICD-11 AjD concept in the general populations and other subpopulations is needed.     

A case-controlled field study evaluating ICD-11 proposals for relational problems and intimate partner violence

Background/Objective: Intimate partner relationship problems and intimate partner abuse and neglect — referred to in this paper as “relational problems and maltreatment” — have substantial and well-documented impact on both physical and mental health. However, classification guidelines, such as those found in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), are vague and unlikely to support consistent application. Revised guidelines proposed for ICD-11 are much more operationalized. We used standardized clinical vignette conditions with an international panel of clinicians to test if ICD-11 changes resulted in improved classification accuracy. Method: English-speaking mental health professionals (N = 738) from 65 nations applied ICD-10 or ICD-11 (proposed) guidelines with experimentally manipulated case presentations of presence or absence of (a) individual mental health diagnoses and (b) relational problems or maltreatment. Results: ICD-11, compared with ICD-10, guidelines resulted in significantly better classification accuracy, although only in the presence of co-morbid mental health problems. Clinician factors (e. g., gender, language, world region) largely did not impact classification performance. Conclusions: Despite being considerably more explicated, raters’ performance with ICD-11 guidelines reveals training issues that should be addressed prior to the release of ICD-11 in 2018 (e. g., overriding the guidelines with pre-existing archetypes for relationship problems and physical and psychological abuse).