What is happening in the world of therapeutic communities?

This overview of the contributions to the special edition illustrates something of how the collection of papers reflects the marginal nature of therapeutic communities, and makes parallels as to how they are forever struggling to survive, yet generate a passion of ideas and intellectual resilience that no project-managed health service can extinguish. It briefly describes the theoretical and geographical terrain covered, and signals how the cross-disciplinary incorporation of congruent ideas can be added to the traditional bedrock of therapeutic community practice. It ends by stating the context of the new, and seemingly successful, organization which assembled these contributions into its inaugural conference – and suggests that the journey could, and ultimate should, go further.     

Discomfort in the community. The place of psyche: Between zōē and bios

In this paper, the author considers the treatment of people diagnosed with a psychosis or borderline personality disorder in therapeutic communities from a psychoanalytic perspective, with a particular focus on the work of Jacques Lacan and of André Green. He discusses two key questions. First, how are these patients to recover life? – not just in the biological sense but in terms of subjectivity. Secondly, is it ever really possible to build relationships with them? In relation to this second question, the author emphasizes the importance of the training and supervision of practitioners, as well as their own analysis. Therapeutic communities, above all, he argues, can provide structure and security in a society which is increasingly fragmented and unstable.     

Determinants of ethnic identity development in adulthood: A longitudinal study

Ethnic identity is defined in terms of the interaction between exploration of and commitment to a given cultural background. The present study investigated the effect of individual background, role transitions, and the social environment on the development of ethnic identity in a sample of German adults aged 21–73 years (N = 2,940). Additionally, identity transitions and the moderating effect of disequilibrating life events on identity over time were examined (N = 827). Overall, results are consistent with findings for other identity domains: Respondents could be assigned to one of four identity stages, ranging from unexamined to achieved identity. Particularly, the individual background and the extent of community involvement affected ethnic identity formation in adulthood. Longitudinal analyses revealed that only one-third of respondents had remained in the same identity stage; most individuals had transitioned forward or backward. Changes in ethnic identity were not moderated by disequilibrating life events.     

The Incubator Treatment Development Model: The SAFETY Treatment for Suicidal/Self-Harming Youth

Youths who make suicide attempts or engage in repetitive self-harm are at risk for future suicide attempts and death by suicide or self-harm. This treatment development report focuses on the Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youth (SAFETY) treatment. SAFETY is a 12-week outpatient child and family-centered cognitive-behavioral treatment, informed by dialectical-behavior therapy, and designed to promote safety following a suicide attempt or repeated episodes of self-harm. Previous reports have described results of small open and randomized treatment development trials. Here, we describe our “incubator” treatment development model. Combining scientific rigor with attention to the community context in which treatment is delivered, the incubator model emphasizes laboratory-based treatment development trials and quantitative and qualitative data generated through partnerships with community treatment sites and youth and parent consumers of care. Aims of this approach are to: (1) integrate information from our partners throughout the treatment development process; (2) create a more feasible and easily transportable “youth” and “family” centered treatment; and (3) accelerate the pace with which laboratory-based treatment advances can be incorporated into improvements in community care. We describe our incubator treatment development model and how data generated through our treatment development process and interactions between the laboratory and community teams contributed to the development of the SAFETY treatment.     

The Shared Values of Humanity and Its Philosophical Implications: From the Perspective of Civilization

The concept of the shared values of humanity, embodying the spirit of putting people first and solving real-life problems, is of great significance for constructing a new global order and building a human community with a shared future. The shared values of humanity respect the differences in understanding and realization paths of different civilizations, and seek common grounds with an inclusive and open attitude. The core socialist values are an embodiment and an extension of the shared values of humanity. The fine traditional Chinese culture has also laid a profound cultural basis for the pursuit of the shared values of humanity, enabling us to make up a better scheme for building a human community with a shared future from the perspective of civilization.     

Sexual Assault Training in the Military: Evaluating Efforts to End the “Invisible War”

Sexual assault is an insidious problem in the United States military. In 2005 the Department of Defense (DoD) created the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, which centralizes responsibility for sexual assault training. However, this training initiative has undergone little evaluation by outside researchers. Addressing this need, we analyzed responses from over 24,000 active duty personnel who completed the 2010 DoD Workplace and Gender Relations Survey. We assessed whether sexual assault training exposure (None, Minimal, Partial, or Comprehensive) predicted accurate knowledge of sexual assault resources and protocols. Using a social-ecological framework, we investigated whether institutional and individual factors influenced Service members’ training exposure and judgment of training effectiveness. According to our results, exposure to comprehensive training predicted lower sexual assault incidence and superior knowledge. However, comprehensive training differed as a function of military branch, rank, gender, and sexual assault history. Judgments of training effectiveness also varied across these dimensions. Our results highlight the importance of considering context, gender, and victimization history when evaluating institutional efforts to end sexual violence. The DoD’s 2010 annual report on military sexual assault concluded that “most Active Duty members receive effective training on sexual assault” (p. 104). Our results cast doubt on that assertion.     

Barriers to Addressing Substance Abuse in Domestic Violence Court

Substance abuse commonly co-occurs with intimate partner violence among both perpetrators and survivors. Specialized courts that focus on intimate partner violence provide a unique opportunity to address both problems simultaneously, but research has yet to identify whether this happens. In this qualitative study of a domestic violence court in a large midwestern metropolitan area, key informants were interviewed to understand how the Court treats substance abuse. Results indicate that substance abuse typically is not identified among perpetrators or survivors going through the Court unless it is mentioned in a police report. Barriers to such identification are the organization of the Court, bounded definition of actors’ roles in the Court, limited resources, and negative attitudes towards survivors. These results suggest that specialized courts that attend to only one problem may overlook the possibility of addressing issues that commonly co-occur.     

The protective role of higher intellectual functioning on violence in the household population of Great Britain

Despite compelling evidence of the effect of intelligence on delinquency and violent crime, there is limited data on its impact on population violence. We aimed to determine the association of categories of intelligence with violent behaviors in the general population and the extent of the impact of social class on these associations. A randomly selected sample of 14,738 individuals was derived from 2 British national surveys of adults aged 16 years and older. We measured self-reported violent behavior in the past 5 years, including: repetition, injury, violence while intoxicated, familial and extra-familial victim types and intimate partner violence. We examined the moderating role of social class on all outcomes. The increased risk of violence among persons of below average IQ was explained by social class at population level. High IQ had an overall protective effect on all outcomes except violence towards family members, irrespective of socio-economic circumstances. Social class moderated the association of IQ with violence by decreasing its protective effect among those in the lowest socio-economic positions. Our findings suggest that the association of IQ and violence is not linear but protective on population level. Social class has both an explaining and a moderating role in this association.