Dissociative identity disorder and ambivalence

While many theorists have argued that dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a case of multiple selves or persons in a single body, I maintain that DID instead should be understood as involving a single self who suffers from significant disruptions to self-consciousness. Evidence of overlapping abilities and memories, as well as the very logic of dissociation, supports the claim that DID results from internal conflict endured by a single self. Along these lines, I will maintain that alter-formation should be understood as the result of extreme emotional ambivalence. While it is true that subjects with DID exhibit volitional conflict, as Frankfurt [1988. The Importance of What We Care About. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999. Necessity, Volition, and Love. New York: Cambridge University Press] maintains, I argue that these incompatible volitions have a deeper source: conflicting desires and affective stances concerning basic emotional needs that are not easily abandoned. A single subject turns to different alter-personalities as a way to cope with pervasive inner conflict while at the same time hiding contradictory impulses from herself.     

The uses of humor in life,neurosis and in psychotherapy: Part 2

Abstract

The first part of the paper focused on the dynamics of wit in life, literature, and psychoanalysis; the second part of this paper is devoted to the use of humor in therapy. The central concept is Freud's psychoanalytic method, as distinguished from Freud's various theories of disorder, or neurosis, with a further elaboration of Freud's inherently interpersonal conception of the analytic process, already present in the cathartic phase of the therapeutic technique. The cathartic, or discharge, function of humor is connected to reciprocal free association (a term coined by the author) to define the mutual and reciprocal free association in analysand and analyst, playing an essential role in the genesis of insight and interpretation. Humor has its role in loosening repression, facilitating the emergence of unconscious emotions and ideas, bringing to light character defenses, and thus driving the process of analysis.     

Growth in emotional intelligence. Psychotherapy with a learning disabled girl

This paper describes the once-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a girl, called Ellie, aged eight at the start of her treatment. Ellie had a learning disability and displayed difficult behaviour at school and at home. In her therapy, Ellie grew in emotional intelligence, more in touch with and able to express her feelings. Her behaviour improved and so did her capacity to learn. In the therapy there were certain limitations to progress and this is discussed in terms of how Ellie's disability affected the basic achievements of emotional development, including a mind with a solid ‘reality ego’, able to contain anxiety, and able to maintain depressive functioning. The importance of parallel parent work, to share observations and understanding of the child's functioning is discussed. Difficulties for both child and parents in dealing with the pain of difference and how this limits emotional intelligence are discussed. The author hopes that this paper will encourage the offering of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to children and young people with learning disabilities, who are significantly more likely to suffer from mental health problems than their peers.     

Relationship Patterns and Role of Religion in Elderly Couples with Chronic Illness

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to explore the various relationship patterns and the role religion plays as a coping resource for elderly couples in which at least one spouse has a chronic illness. Elderly couples were interviewed and also completed marital satisfaction and couple communication inventories. Five different relationship patterns emerged from the data: active couples, short-term caregivinjg couples, long-term caregiving couples, survival couples, and live-in caregiver couples. Various aspects of religion emerged as an important coping resource among the different relationship patterns. Ideas and questions for research and practice, generated by the study, are presented.     

Characteristics of inner reading voices

This study examined the phenomenological characteristics of inner speech during silent reading (inner reading voices or IRVs), a type of inner speech that may be particularly amenable to empirical study. A survey was conducted in the general population to assess IRV frequency, location, number, identity, and controllability, and auditory qualities of IRVs. Of 570 survey respondents, 80.7% reported sometimes or always hearing an inner voice during silent reading, and the remaining 19.3% reported always understanding words being read without hearing an inner voice. Results indicated that IRVs are a routine experience for many, with 34.2% of respondents with IRVs hearing an IRV every time something was read, and 45% reporting an IRV often. Most respondents reported IRVs with specific auditory qualities such as gender, accent, pitch, loudness, and emotional tone. IRVs were reported in participants' own voices, as well as in the voices of other people. Some respondents reported being unable to control any aspect of their IRVs, while others could control one or several aspects. These results indicate that there is considerable individual variation in inner speech during silent reading.     

试论张伯端道教思想的易学渊源

紫阳真人张伯端以<周易>阐述的宇宙观为本,结合自己的修炼实践,以易学象数学理论为依据,说明内丹之周天火候和成丹过程的阴阳变易之理,从而形成了深具易学渊源、崇尚性命双修的道教内丹理论.     

Intervening Processes Between Youths’ Exposure to Community Violence and Internalizing Symptoms Over Time: The Roles of Social Support and Coping

The roles of social support and coping as intervening processes between exposure to community violence and internalizing symptoms were examined longitudinally among a community sample of 667 middle school students in the inner city. After controlling for potential confounders (e.g., social desirability, victimization and witnessing of family violence, guardian's psychological symptomatology), internalizing symptoms at Year 2 were predicted by hypothesized changes over 1 year, such that increased community violence exposure, decreased guardian and peer support, and increased use of defensive and confrontational behavioral coping were related to more internalizing symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD, although some of these relations varied by gender. The relations between internalizing symptoms at Year 3 and increased changes in exposure to community violence over 2 years were moderated by social support and/or coping, such that decreased guardian support and increased use of defensive and confrontational coping were generally associated with more symptoms for boys exposed to community violence. Girls who witnessed increased community violence and who increased their use of defensive or confrontational coping experienced more internalizing symptoms. The findings underscore the importance of developmental and contextual considerations in the design and implementation of interventions.     

Is thinking an action?

I argue that entertaining a proposition is not an action. Such events do not have intentional explanations and cannot be evaluated as rational or not. In these respects they contrast with assertions and compare well with perceptual events. One can control what one thinks by doing something, most familiarly by reciting a sentence. But even then the event of entertaining the proposition is not an action, though it is an event one has caused to happen, much as one might cause oneself to see a book by looking at it. I also discuss how this may support the view that thinking about the world is a source of information about it.     

The Stability of Parenting: A Longitudinal Analysis of Inner-City African-American Mothers

We examined the stability of authoritative parenting behaviors in a sample of 124 low-income, inner-city, African-American families. Parental monitoring and warmth were assessed longitudinally across four years. Test-retest correlation coefficients indicated the relative stability of both parental monitoring and warmth over the four-year assessment period was high, particularly for girls. In contrast, analyses of variance did not provide evidence for absolute stability as both parental monitoring and warmth declined across assessments, regardless of gender of child. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the historical context of monitoring is important to consider as earlier parental monitoring behaviors accounted for unique variance in later parental monitoring behaviors, beyond that accounted for by the most recent assessment. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.