Sandplay therapy with couples within the framework of analytical psychology

Sandplay therapy with couples is discussed within an analytical framework. Guidelines are proposed as a means of developing this relatively new area within sandplay therapy, and as a platform to open a wider discussion to bring together sandplay therapy and couple therapy. Examples of sand trays created during couple therapy are also presented to illustrate the transformations during the therapeutic process.     

Standing in the gap: ref lections on translating the Jung‐Neumann correspondence

This paper considers the experience of translating the correspondence between C.G. Jung and Erich Neumann as part of the Philemon series. The translator explores the similarities between analytical work and the task of translation by means of the concepts of the dialectical third and the interactional field. The history and politics of the translation of analytic writing and their consequences for the lingua franca of analysis are discussed. Key themes within the correspondence are outlined, including Jung and Neumann's pre‐war exploration of Judaism and the unconscious, the post‐war difficulties around the publication of Neumann's Depth Psychology and a New Ethic set against the early years of the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, and the development of the correspondents’ relationship over time.     

Factorial structure of the perceived stress scale and implications for scoring

IntroductionThe 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is a brief, widely-used measure of perceived stressful experiences that evaluates the degree to which people perceive their lives as unpredictable, uncontrollable or overloaded.ObjectiveThe present study examined the factor structure of the Greek version of the PSS-10.MethodUsing a representative sample of 320 adults from Cyprus, alternative confirmatory factor analytic models were compared to specifically assess bidimensional versus unidimensional specifications for the scale.ResultsA bifactor model with a general factor which loads on all items and a specific one which loads on positively-worded items that capture the notion of self-efficacy to deal with stressful situations, was found to fit well to the data, while providing evidence of a robust latent factor of general distress. Reliability and construct validity evidence with multiple criterion variables were also examined.ConclusionsAlthough a simple unidimensional specification has not been empirically supported in previous research, bifactor modeling exemplifies the extent of multidimensionality and implies that a single score may be reliably used for practical purposes.     

Further evidence of the invalidity of the magnitude estimation method

IntroductionThe magnitude estimation method is widely applied in diverse areas of psychology. However, Weiss (1972) found that this method may produce judgments that inaccurately represent subjective magnitudes: constructing the stimuli according to a factorial design allowed the bias caused by magnitude estimation to be exposed as a spurious divergence of factorial curves.ObjectiveThe present study experimentally compared magnitude estimation with graphic rating and ratio estimation. The comparison of magnitude estimation with graphic rating retested Weiss's finding. The comparison of magnitude estimation with ratio estimation explored the hypothesis that magnitude estimation may cause a divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of magnitude estimation to multiply and divide numbers—both ratio estimation and magnitude estimation required participants to judge ratios, but only magnitude estimation required mental multiplication and division.MethodUsing a 3 × 4 factorial experimental design, an achromatic disk was presented concentrically with a larger achromatic square. The brightness of the disk varied with the luminance of the disk and, due to simultaneous contrast, with the luminance of the square. Three different groups of participants judged the brightness of the disk: one group by graphic rating, another by ratio estimation, and the third by magnitude estimation.ResultsIn accord with Weiss's results, graphic rating yielded roughly parallel factorial curves whereas magnitude estimation yielded diverging factorial curves. Ratio estimation also yielded roughly parallel factorial curves, supporting the hypothesis that the magnitude estimation task itself may cause divergence of factorial curves due to the requirement of this method to mentally multiply and divide numbers.ConclusionCaution should be taken in using magnitude estimation, especially in factorial experiments, because this method is likely to cause the researcher to make incorrect inferences about the functional relations between the variables involved in mental information integration. Ratio estimation yields a pattern of factorial curves essentially equivalent to that obtained by graphic rating.     

A personal commentary on J.W. Perry,M.D., and introduction to ‘Reconstitutive process in the psychopathology of the Self’

John Weir Perry’s influence on the understanding of the psychotic process through his research in San Francisco between 1950 and 1981 was groundbreaking, because it both verified and expanded upon C.G. Jung’s research at the Burghölzli Hospital in Switzerland in the early 1900’s. The author explores both the brilliance of Perry’s contribution as a psychiatrist and Jungian analyst and also shows the flawed human, who, with his rare sensitivity to the psychotic process, devoted his life work to the schizophrenic population and their often ill-fated search for meaning. She tells how his creative engagement with the analytic processes of Self discovery eventually led to analytic boundary violations, which ultimately resulted in his indefinite suspension from membership in his local Jungian community. Further, this paper describes her reflections on the innovative work that influenced both the treatment of this population, as well as educating candidates in analytical training to be receptive to and cognizant of psychotic affects and imagery. The archetypal field of the psychotic process, its influence on the development of analytical psychology relative to the psychotic process, and one man’s impact on the analytic community are considered.     

Sitting through the emptiness

This article explores clinical encounters with experiences of the ‘empty ego’ which arise from early relational trauma. The ego’s emptiness is held in repetitious complexes and arises out of affectively charged experiences between self and other which remain split-off from awareness. This kind of consciousness is viewed as dualistic, separating non-dual subjectivity from its dualistic objects of consciousness. In contrast, what I am calling healing void states of non-dualistic consciousness, when admitted to awareness, allow the individual to dis-identify from the traumatizing representations of self and other through an experience of non-duality. In contrast to an objectified, dualistic emptiness of the ego, healing void states come about in moments of non-dual, unified consciousness. These states occur in the ego-Self relationship by linking the ego’s dualistic awareness in chronic subject/object splits to ones of non-dual pure consciousness. The healing void state is always incipiently present and potentially able to bridge the ego-Self connection in bogged-down treatment. The paper explores potential integrations with non-dual models of consciousness such as Vedantic and Kashmir Shaivism, among other mystical traditions. A combined Vedantic-Jungian understanding can provide a transcendent bridge that integrates Eastern concepts of non-duality in treating emptiness.     

The technologically-mediated self: reflections on the container and field of telecommunications

This paper contains reflections on the use of the imagination in technologically-mediated therapy and analysis. As part of the individuation process the psyche is seen as needing to adapt to new technological ways of communicating. The notion of a technologically-mediated self is posited describing a self which can only be apprehended through, and by, the use of telecommunications. This self is seen as identical to the in-person self, a subset, or superset of it. There is a revisioning of our notions of the container and the field in this work performed through technological-mediation. The need to engage the imagination in approaching this kind of work is emphasized in order to create an imaginal play-space in which the body will be deeply affected. Some thoughts on how the process of individuation might look through such analytic work is presented.