Police interviewing and psychological vulnerabilities: predicting the likelihood of a confession

This paper is concerned with examining the differences between people who confess and those who deny offences during a police interview. The main hypothesis under investigation is that psychologically vulnerable suspects are particularly likely to confess. This paper is also concerned with identifying variables that might be related to the confession process. One hundred and sixty suspects detained at two London police stations were assessed psychologically prior to being interviewed by the police. The results of this assessment, an analysis of the interview procedure and biographic details were subjected to a logistic regression analysis. There was no evidence to support our main hypothesis. However, suspects were more likely to confess if they reported having consumed an illicit (non-prescribed) drug in the previous 24-hour period, and less likely to confess when interviewed in the presence of a legal adviser or if they had experience of prison or custodial remand. In this study younger suspects were also more likely to confess. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Obstacles facing the psychoanalyst when interpreting narcissistic pathologies: Characteristics of the authoritarian patient

This paper explores the unconscious agreements between patient and analyst that promote some aspects of conflict to be excluded from the content of the interpretations. This generates an experience of exerting omnipotent control over the analyst, which subsequently consolidates a narcissistic phantasy. A stagnation of the analytic process is established in the course of the analysis but this remains hidden by areas of partial progress in the patient. Clinical material is provided in order to show the vicissitudes of the interrelationship between patient and analyst. It also demonstrates the working through by the analyst of a situation of both transferential and countertransferential conflict. This leads to an inhibition on the part of the analyst in his interpreting function. The use of projective identifications, which are mutually contradictory and incompatible, is also under discussion. This, as a result of being expressed simultaneously, constitutes a paradox, which may lead the analyst to confusion and an experience of paralysis. The subsequent confusional anxieties are considered. Additionally, authoritarianism is discussed, including its attendant difficulties of establishing boundaries between the self and the object. Finally, under consideration is the risk one takes in formulating authoritarian interpretations, which, in certain cases, can impose criteria on the patient.     

PATHWAYS OF PLEASURE

This article describes a mode of transference relationship in which the analysand has to contend with a psychic mobilisation that results from exchanges with the analyst-object and is related to the activation of pleasure in his/her own mental functioning. The patient's ego feels the internal and external excitations that stem from this mobilisation to be dangerous because of the anxieties about threatening intrusions that they raise. These anxieties arise along the contours of narcissistic flaws that give resonance to early traumatic experiences. The ego protects itself from the danger by organising narcissistic defences that oppose the impulses towards the analyst-object and foster a stagnation of the psychic work. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the patient's ego, not tolerating exposure to drive-related dangers, retracts into a mode of primary anality that is imprisoning and restrictive, setting up a fantasy of narcissistic nidification in which a part of the ego merges with an omnipotent primary object. The purpose of this strategy is to neutralise the excitations - as far as possible - while nevertheless maintaining the element of the drive excitation that forms the basis of the fantasy. The dynamics and the economy of the defensive organisation are examined in detail, as are the questions that these raise. A clinical case illustration is presented.     

‘Telepathic’ phenomena and separation anxiety

By discussing a treatment characterized by its difficult ending, the author strives to show the dynamic impact of separation on phenomena that can be seen as ‘telepathic’. Led to develop some inalienable attachment to her analyst in the primary transference, the analysand found herself caught up in the contradiction of her visceral dread of dependency, which compelled her to interrupt the work in progress. She then began to work out her analyst's comings and goings and to run into him in public places, as if to be assured of his immovability. This phenomenon arose with high frequency as the effect of some idealization of the maternal object aiming to deny the spatiotemporal gap. The chance that the experience of rejection via indifference may be repeated also entailed the transferential unfurling of a fantasy involving a double, undifferentiation counterbalancing the lived experience of separation. Furthermore, a ‘telepathic’ dream occurred as confirmation of this twin relationship which illustrates the analysand's refusal to renounce her narcissistic object. Projective identifications, agglutinated ego nuclei along with primitive cross‐identifications could, among other concepts, account for such phenomena which are projective in nature yet real all the same. Such mechanisms could have the power to relay thoughts the moment undifferentiated parts of the ego – if not unborn parts of the self – were activated in a potentially symbiotic zone. Marked by a feeling of dispossession, the analyst's countertransference not only seemed to underscore this hypothesis, it also gave a partial explanation for it. Until the analyst could recognize his own nostalgia for a symbiotic relationship, he had to encourage the occurrence of those unexpected meetings which stemmed from a convergence between the transference and the countertransference.     

The latency complex: the dead hand of anti‐development

It is common knowledge that the same phenomena can be viewed in a variety of ways. This paper considers the implications of a constellation observed in some adult patients who have increasingly reminded the author of some of the children of latency age with whom he has also worked. In the literature these patients may also have been thought about in terms of ‘defences of the self’ (Fordham), patients who are ‘difficult to reach’ (Joseph), ‘psychic retreats’ (Steiner), and those who make ‘attacks on linking’ (Bion). They may equally be considered in terms of schizoid, narcissistic or borderline personalities, or as showing features on the autistic spectrum, such as mindlessness and extreme obsessionality. Writers such as Helene Deutsch with her concept of an ‘as‐if personality’, Winnicott with his ‘false self’, and Rosenfeld, discussing the split‐off parts of the personality in narcissistic patients, have also offered much to think about in their consideration of some of these phenomena. This paper proposes yet another vertex – the author's own imaginative conjecture – that is by no means mutually exclusive of any of these others.     

Untangling the associations that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry have with agency,communion, and romantic commitment

The Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC; Back et al., 2013) proposes two strategies for maintaining a grandiose self-image. These dimensions are positively correlated, but often have divergent associations with outcomes. When used simultaneously to predict outcome variables, suppression effects often occur. We examine suppression effects for narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry in four samples (total N = 2106), examining their bivariate distribution and transforming the predictors to emphasize common and unique sources of variance. High composite NARC (high narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry) was associated with more positive self-perceptions of agency, slightly more negative self-perceptions of communality, and less romantic commitment. Domination of the narcissistic admiration pathway relative to the narcissistic rivalry pathway predicted more positive self-perceptions.     

Adolescent narcissism and interpersonal trust: A cross‐lagged study

In recent years, narcissism has been attracting considerable interest by researchers because of its enigmatic constructs. To enhance our understanding of narcissists’ psychosocial functioning, considering the relationship between narcissism and interpersonal trust is crucial. This study aimed to investigate how narcissistic admiration and rivalry are associated with interpersonal trust. To gain a more nuanced understanding, a cross‐lagged design was conducted at two time points that were six months apart. In total, 357 adolescents (M_age = 16.33 years) completed the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ) and the Interpersonal Trust Scale. The results showed that narcissistic admiration positively predicted interpersonal trust while narcissistic rivalry negatively predicted interpersonal trust at the second time point. However, interpersonal trust did not predict subsequent levels of narcissistic admiration and rivalry. These findings enhanced our understanding by showing that narcissistic admiration and rivalry have different effects on interpersonal trust, and that they remain relatively stable during a six‐month period.     

Perversion on the other side of the couch

Abstract

Taking as his starting point the fact that, according to Freudian theory, perversion is inherent to the human being, the author focuses upon an aspect of perversion that has been little discussed: perversion on the other side of the couch, and thereby questions of how, in psychoanalytic theoretical and clinical practice, perverted drive motions may be presented. Such a phenomenon takes various forms: actually being enacted with patients; using psychoanalytic theory as a normative rule; the individual choice of profession and so forth. To exemplify his point of view, the author presents four different expressions of sexuality in Freudian theory: genital sexuality, perverted sexuality, the sexuality of the Ideals and narcissistic sexuality. After differentiating these four sexual expressions, the author shows how each of them may generate perversion in both clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis.

Ceccarelli P Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch

Indem er als Ausgangspunkt die Tatsache nimmt, daß entsprechend der Freudianischen Theorie Perversion dem menschlichen Sein inhärent ist, fokussiert der Autor auf einen Aspekt der Perversion, der wenig diskutiert wurde: Perversion auf der anderen Seite der Couch und damit Fragen, wie in der psychoanalytischen und klinischen Praxis pervertierte Triebbewegungen dargestellt werden können. Ein solches Phänomen zeigt sich in verschiedenartigen Formen: tatsächlich mit Patienten in Szene gesetzt; im Gebrauch psychoanalytischer Theorie als einer normativen Regel; die individuelle Wahl des Berufs und so weiter. Um seinen Standpunkt zu exempifizieren, stellt der Autor vier verschiedene Ausdrücke von Sexualität in der Freudianischen Theorie dar: genitale Sexualität; perverse Sexiualität; die Sexualität der Ideale; und narzißtische Sexualität. Nach einer Differenzierung dieser vier Ausdrücke für Sexualität zeigt der Autor, wie jeder von ihnen Perversion in klinischer und theoretischer Psychoanalyse generieren kann.

Ceccarelli P. Perversión del otro lado del diván.

Tomando como punto de partida el hecho de que de acuerdo a la teoría Freudiana la perversión es inherente al ser humano, el autor se enfoca en un aspecto de la perversión que ha sido muy poco discutido: la perversión del otro lado del diván, se pregunta cómo en la práctica psicoanalítica clínica y teórica, algunos impulsos pervertidos pueden estar presentes. Un fenómeno así puede tomar diversas formas: pasos al acto con pacientes, usar la teoría psicoanalítica como regla normativa, la elección individual de profesión y así. Para ejemplificar su punto de vista, el autor presenta cuatro diferentes expresiones de la sexualidad en la teoría freudiana: la sexualidad genital, sexualidad pervertida, la sexualidad de los Ideales, y la sexualidad narcisista. Además de diferenciar estas cuatro expresiones sexuales, el autor demuestra como cada una de estas formas puede generar perversión en el psicoanálisis clínico y teórico.     

Enhancing attributional style as a resiliency factor in depressogenic stress generation

Abstract

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests depression and cognitive vulnerabilities to depression may lead individuals to generate stressful events. However, there has been no study to date that has directly examined factors that may lead individuals to be less likely to generate stressful events. The present study examines whether an enhancing attributional style, the tendency to make global and stable inferences following occurrence of a positive event, functions as a resiliency factor in stress generation. One hundred and sixty-seven female students completed measures of depression symptoms and attributional style at baseline and occurrence of life events since baseline at a four-week follow-up. Results indicated that an enhancing attributional style predicted decreased levels of stressful events over the following four weeks, even when controlling for depression symptoms. The findings of this study suggest that there may be resiliency factors that can help protect individuals from the generation of stressful events.     

Treating the Lesbian Batterer

Summary

The phenomenon of lesbian battering challenges mainstream assumptions about battering and defies traditional ways of defining and understanding domestic violence. This article identifies and illuminates variables critical to understanding and treating lesbian batterers. In particular, intrapsychic factors in the treatment of lesbian batterers are considered via an integration of the theoretical constructs of personality development with attachment theory, state and affect regulation, shame, pathological vindictiveness, and variables specific to lesbian domestic violence. Finally, two case examples and treatment considerations are discussed.