No one here gets out alive: the Bluebeard story in therapy and in the culture

In this paper, the Bluebeard story is used to highlight mechanisms underlying an individual analytic case and some cultural phenomena from a Jungian perspective. I describe a patient whose psyche was dissociated into a tormenting monstrous figure and a regressed childish self, which Kalsched explains as activation of the archetypal defence system. As her analyst, I had to survive attacks of the patient's persecuting inner object, which she related to Bluebeard as a representation of relentless murderousness. At the cultural level, Bluebeard pertains to the concept of the totalitarian object (Sebek 1996) and to the pole of grandiosity of the Russian cultural complex.     

True versus strategic fairness in a common resource dilemma: Evidence from the dual‐process perspective

Common resource dilemmas involve collectively coordinating individual choices to promote group efficiency. Equal division represents one of the most important coordination rules. Previous research suggests that individuals follow the equality rule for different reasons. Some individuals behave cooperatively out of their concern for other's welfare, whereas some individuals cooperate strategically to enhance personal gains. Building on the dual‐process perspective, the authors aim to differentiate strategic fairness from true fairness in solving a resource dilemma. In four experiments, the effect of cognitive processing manipulations on individual harvesting behavior in a one‐shot resource dilemma was tested against participants with different social values. Results consistently showed that prosocials, who value joint outcome and equality, requested significantly less money than did proselfs, who value personal gain. More importantly, prosocials in the intuition and deliberation conditions request similar amounts, whereas proselfs in the intuition condition request more money than those in the deliberation condition. The results were further validated by a follow‐up meta‐analysis based on the four experiments. The implications of the dual‐process perspective for social coordination research are discussed.     

Disintegration of the self and the regeneration of ‘psychic skin’ in the treatment of traumatized refugees

This paper presents a tentative understanding of the characteristics of the extreme traumas, elsewhere called ‘complex PTSD’, that some refugees and asylum‐seekers bring into therapy. It suggests that these kinds of traumas suffered during adulthood may involve a disintegration of the self and a loss of ‘psychic skin’. This conceptualization is derived from the treatment of a refugee who survived multiple extreme traumas and with whom efforts were made in therapy to identify a complex methodology making use of supplementary therapeutic tools in addition to individual psychotherapy. The case demonstrates how the disintegration of self implies not only a deep somato‐psychic dissociation, but also a loss of intrapsychic and interpersonal space. In the treatment this was worked through via repetition of the victim‐aggressor dynamics at multiple levels. In the end, the therapeutic context was structured like a set of concentric layers, creating a ‘bandage’ over the patient's wounds whilst his ‘psychic skin’ was able to regenerate. The conditions triggered by extreme traumas in refugees challenge some of the cornerstones of individual psychoanalytic technique, as well as the idea that individual therapy may be thought of as existing in an environmental vacuum.     

Fundamentalism,Radicalization and Terrorism. Part 2: fundamentalism,regression and repair

Prior to the watershed events of 11 September 2001, terrorism was generally seen simply as politically motivated, criminal violence. Since then the phenomena of religious fundamentalism, political radicalization and terrorism have become fused in the public mind, partly under the influence of the political and military reaction described as the ‘War on Terror’ and its successors. While there is clearly an important overlap in the religious thinking of some fundamentalists, the radical agenda of political Islamist groups and the violent activities of those who currently use the tactics of terrorism, these are not identical phenomena, and treating everyone who falls into one of these groups as the same as all the others has exacerbated rather than improved global security. In the second of two papers based on his work with terrorist organizations and areas of the world embroiled in entrenched conflict, Lord Alderdice develops a different approach informed by psychoanalytical principles and systems and complexity theories to clarify some of the boundaries and overlapping elements of these three phenomena. This approach not only provides a more evidence-based analysis, but also permits a more reflective and constructive response to these clear and present dangers.     

Complex Collective Trauma Following a Terror Attack in a Small Community: A Systemic Analysis of Community Voices and Psychosocial Interventions

In this ethnographic study, data were collected four months, one year, and three years following a terror attack on civilians in a small Israeli community. The data included protocols of meetings of the intervention team, informal and formal interviews, and follow-up telephone interviews with local leaders and psychosocial professionals who worked with individuals, families, and groups in the community. Content analysis of field notes and interviews led to the elaboration of the theoretical construct “complex collective trauma.” The analysis of the community voices and psychosocial interventions indicated the importance of action-oriented, meaning-making community projects and memorials, screening and government-funded short-term trauma therapy, mapping interlocking circles of vulnerability, and an integrated clinical-community model coordinated long-term (one year) by an outside professional.     

内隐与外显学习的交互关系——基于复杂系统控制的实验研究

作为两种截然不同的学习方式,内隐与外显学习的区别性研究引起了诸多关注,而两者的关联及协同作用研究较少.本研究使用复杂系统控制范式来考察内隐与外显学习的相瓦关系.实验发现:内隐与外显学习可以共同存在、协同作用;任务复杂程度的增加对内隐和外显学习都有损害作用;随着任务难度的增加,内隐学习的贡献率上升;内隐与外显学习在练习过程中都存在高原现象;随着练习的增加,中等难度任务中内隐学习与外显学习表现出分离趋势.     

The Little Mermaid: Hans Christian Andersen's Feminine Identification

While verbally transmitted fairy tales express universal human concerns, the literary fairy tale, the written creation of an individual author, permits a psychodynamic understanding of the writer. The little mermaid's willingness to undergo the pain and mutilation involved in the loss of both her tail and was voice in order to become a mortal and marry a prince has been regarded as illustrating problems in female sexual development. However, a review of Hans Christian Andersen's biographical data indicates that the story also represents his unconscious homosexual conflicts and supports Freud's concept of the role of castration anxiety in the negative Oedipus complex.     

Being white,being Jungian: implications of Jung’s encounter with the ‘non-European’ other1

This personal account charts the changing relationship to a Jungian identity arising from the interrelated processes of understanding the roots of the colonial and racial ideologies that underpin Jung’s thinking, and a developing awareness of what it means to be a white person in a system of racism that maintains white supremacy. This is illustrated with reference to the image of a black man appearing in the dream of the white author and with use of post-Jungian thinking to critique the notion of an objective, non-racial psyche.     

Thinking about decisions: An integrative approach of person and task factors

Decisions vary. They may vary in both content and complexity. People also vary. An important way that people vary is how much they think. Some prior research investigating thinking and decision making largely conflicts with most traditional decision theories. For example, if considering an array of products to choose from, thinking more about the alternative's attributes should lead to a better decision. However, some research indicates that thinking more may also lead to focusing on irrelevant aspects of the decision and a less optimal outcome. We propose that this conflict in the literature exists because of a failure to consider the interaction between the individual and the decision task. To test this, we used separate methodologies that enhance or attenuate a person's thinking. In Study 1, we selected people who were especially high or low in need for cognition and had them complete a robust decision-making inventory, which included both complex and simple tasks. In Study 2, we manipulated participant's level of glucose, which acts as the brain's fuel to enhance or attenuate thinking ability. Both studies provide insight for understanding our central tenant that more thought leads to better decisions in complex tasks but does not influence simple decisions. These findings show how the individual's thinking can interact with the constructive elements of the task to shape decision choice.     

Oedipus and the Oedipus complex: A revision

The authors consider whether those aspects of the Oedipus myths that have been ignored by Freud could improve our knowledge of how the Oedipus complex develops. They conclude that the myths can provide an answer to Freud's question posed on the 25 February 1914 (Nunberg and Federn, 1975, p. 234) concerning “the extent to which the Oedipus complex is a reflection of the sexual behavior of the parents” with Fenichel's (1931, p. 421) view that the “child's Oedipus complex reflects that of his parents”.