Primitive Drivers: Racial Science and Citizenship in the Motor Age

Lay participation in the deliberation of techno-scientific issues has become an important objective of policy making in many countries. Using the example of a series of Round Table discussions dealing with genome research allows us to analyse the ways in which the participants of this event construct their arguments during the discussion. Explaining the observed discursive strategies we focus on performative aspects of the deliberation process. In such a way it is taken into account how the setting of a given participatory process influences the ways in which participants are enrolled and enact their participation accordingly. In the analysed case, the setting was not taken as a given, but public participation and its discursive framework became itself subject to negotiation during the process. Hence, the discursive power of individual experiences and the legitimacy of personal interests as the argumentative basis were negotiated during the Round Table discussions. The participants only rarely grounded their statements in practical knowledge and individual experiences. Instead we saw them performing other discursive repertoires, e.g. drawing on societal benefits. Individual perspectives were often transcended and articulated in the form of super-individual arguments which endowed participants' statements with substantial discursive power and provided an alternative rationale for contributing to the deliberation without explicit reference to personal experiences. More broadly, the observed reluctance of the participants to speak-up for their personal interests can be seen as a result of a political culture that favours the advancement of de-individualised perspectives in public deliberation.     

THE ABSTRACT SUBLIME: Life as information waiting to be rewritten

We report here on a series of interaction-intensive, interdisciplinary workshops to foster collaboration among those who teach, study, and engage with the public about scientific developments and social change—the New England Workshop on Science and Social Change. We include one line of thinking that fed into the workshops and present an analysis of how they contribute to participants developing their interest and skills in collaboration. Workshop evaluations suggest that people are moved to develop themselves as collaborators when they view an experience or training as transformative. Four R's—respect, risk, revelation, and re-engagement—point to the important conditions for interactions among researchers to be experienced as transformative. Three considerations lie behind the focus on the process side of the workshops, not the specific workshop topics: (1) how best to fill in for readers what they missed out on by not being there; (2) workshops and meetings are a ubiquitous part of the culture of science and technology studies (STS) so it is valuable to examine this aspect of our own culture with a view to promoting positive changes; and (3) in some scientific fields organized multi-person collaborative processes form a highly valorized aspect of the culture of science, so reflection on experiences of participation and collaboration in STS might inform our analyses of fields that emphasize collaboration and group processes. Indeed, the authors' own involvement in the workshops extends our own STS work on actor networks and ‘heterogeneous engineering’, that is, the mobilization of a variety of resources by diverse agents spanning different realms of social action.     

Treating Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder Through Narrative Therapy and Naltrexone

Abstract

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, volatile perceptions of self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity, presenting in various contexts. Current BPD treatments are individual-centered, coping skills based, with a reduced emphasis on identifying etiology and systemic components. Narrative therapy focuses on deconstructing and reauthoring personal stories. A clinical case study shows narrative therapy to be efficacious, however, sometimes psychotherapeutic interventions alone are inadequate in managing these symptoms. Medication can serve as a useful adjunct in addressing self-injurious behaviors, suicidal ideation, and dissociation. Researchers further discuss the integration of naltrexone into treatment of BPD symptoms.     

Emotionally-focused therapy and treatment as usual comparison groups in decreasing depression: A clinical pilot study

Abstract

Decades of research have shown that depression can have deleterious effects on couple relationships. Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004 Johnson, S. M. (2004). The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy: Creating connection. East Sussex, UK: Brunner-Routledge. [Google Scholar]) is an empirically validated form of couple therapy, which has shown effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms in couples where the wife has depression. The aim of the current pilot study was to examine the extent to which EFT and the comparison treatment as usual (TAU) therapy group decrease depressive symptoms in distressed couples. Results show that both groups were effective in decreasing depressive symptoms, with EFT showing a clinically significant reduction. Clinical implications and future research are discussed.     

The social unconscious in persons,groups and societies,Vol 1: mainly theory; and Trauma and organizations

This paper considers the emotional life of the infant in the incubator and develops a new psychological theory which is called the ‘incubator psyche’. Theory building is advanced from three main discourses: (1) psychoanalysis, (2) neo-natal nursing and (3) psychology. A case study of Corey, a 7-year-old boy, who had been delivered prematurely, with a hole in his heart, and spent the first 6 weeks of post-natal life in an incubator, is presented to illustrate how aspects of an incubator psyche might be clinically manifest. The concept of an incubator psyche is advanced with reference to a particular kind of second-skin formation (Bick, 1968, The experience of the skin in early object relations, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 49, 484–486). It is proposed that the incubator psyche characterises a client's mental functioning exercised as an environmental sensibility that could be understood in terms of the total transference situation (Klein, 1952, The origins of transference, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 33, 433–438; Joseph, 1985, Transference: The total situation, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 66, 447–454). Implications for practice are considered advocating particular attention to the setting.     

Front-line services,complexity, research and policy

The evidence-based culture of modern mental health policy and service delivery is being extended through funded efforts to accelerate implementation of research findings in practice settings. In this paper, we argue that this linear model of research and policy-making is profoundly ill adapted to the nature of practice realities and real-world policy-making processes. Both need to be re-conceptualised using the theoretical and practical resources deriving from modern complexity theory. A short case study illustrates the nature of ‘complexity’, the reframing of the notion of ‘evidence’ it implies and the different relationship between research, practice and policy that flows from this more attuned model of mental health and therapeutic processes.     

Exercise and Movement as an Adjunct to Group Therapy for Women with Chronic Mental Illness

Abstract

Feminist therapists value the empowerment of clients and the appropriate sharing of the therapist's institutionalized power. As therapists who are also “mandated reporters,” we are obligated under certain circumstances to use our power to warn potential victims of harm, to prevent clients from harm to self or others, or make reports to institutions which have a great impact on clients' lives. Using four case examples, this paper will present clinical situations where the use of the therapist's power interfaces with homophobia, racism, and paternalism in the lives of low-income clients.     

Twenty-Five Years of Change in Working with Partner Abusers—Part I: Observations from the Trenches About Community and System-Level Changes

The past 2 ½ decades have witnessed explosive growth in research and practice in the area of intimate partner violence, especially regarding perpetrators. The author reflects on his observations of key community and systemic developments in the field of research and treatment with batterers. The author examines systemic changes that have facilitated growth in the field and examines related issues and controversies. The author calls for continued development of an empirical base to guide both theory development and practice standards. The author also calls for openness to change within the field so that new developments will lead to appropriate dialogue and debate, increased dissemination and translation of new research findings into formats that are useful to clinicians, and accountability and change in abusers.