Resource diary: A positive writing intervention for promoting well-being and preventing depression in adolescence

Depression in adolescence is a widespread problem and leads to extensive psychosocial impairments. For these reason, a resource diary has been developed as a four-week positive writing intervention. The aims of this intervention were to enhance well-being, to promote emotion regulation and resource realization, as well as to prevent symptoms of depression in adolescence. Seventy-seven students of 8th form were randomized either to a positive writing group (n = 38) or to a neutral writing group (n = 39). At the post-test, the positive writing group showed a lower dysphoric mood, fewer worries and less rumination in comparison with the neutral writing group. No effects on resource realization were detected. This study provides the first evidence of the beneficial effects of positive writing on indicators of well-being and depressive symptoms. In conclusion, the resource diary represents an economical intervention for preventing depression in adolescence.     

Examining explanatory mechanisms of positive and expressive writing: Towards a resource-oriented perspective

This study tested the hypothesis that benefits of positive and expressive writing accrue when the intervention matches or activates the participant’s personal resources. Students were randomly assigned to keep a newly developed resource diary (RD, n = 114), which asked the participants to write about positive experiences and personal resources, or an expressive writing diary (ED, n = 114), which asked the participants to engage with negative emotional experiences, at home on three consecutive days per week for four weeks. Participants keeping the RD perceived significantly more social support and reported a significantly better mood at post-test than participants keeping the ED. Compared to a control group (n = 81) treatment effects of both writing interventions were higher for participants with lower pre-test values of well-being and brooding as well as for participants who wrote in an ‘atmosphere of activated resources.’ It is suggested that research should move away from testing deficit-compensating hypotheses towards a stronger resource orientation.     

Clinical applications of Matte Blanco's thinking

Ignacio Matte Blanco (1908–1995) left very few specific indications about the applications of his theoretical notions to his interpretative style. The author shows how he uses Matte Blanco to formulate some of his own interpretations. The first part of the paper uses clinical vignettes to illustrate some of Matte‐Blanco's concepts. Their theoretical vocabulary is thus made explicit. Then two psychoanalytic sessions are discussed at greater length, together with one from a therapy, so that the use of Matte‐Blanco's notions can be seen clearly, allowing for a fresh perspective on areas of psychoanalytic theory, particularly dreams, psychopathology viewed according to the proportions of asymmetrical and symmetrical functioning in the patient's bi‐logical mental system, the multidimensionality of the unconscious, the structural unconscious, the emotion‐thought relationship, projective identification, resistance, and negative therapeutic reaction. The practical consequences of all this are elaborated, particularly the ensuing possibility of ‘thinking with the patient' in the session. This enables the patient to introject a form of mental functioning in which the asymmetrical mode is not invaded by the symmetric mode (a parallel can be seen here with the Bionian concept of dialogue between the psychotic and non‐psychotic parts of the mind).     

Reflective writing: I wouldn’t start from here – examining a professional development initiative to enhance the scholarly activity of English HE in FE lecturers

This paper explores the nature of reflective writing through the experience of the researchers in running a series of writing workshops with a group of higher education practitioners working in a UK further education college. The focus here is on reflective writing, which was chosen to start the sequence of workshops, as it was perceived as a form of writing with which the participants would be familiar, given its role in the education and development of teachers within the sector. Our assumption was that this familiarity would facilitate the writing process and participants would readily respond by engaging in reflective writing. However, in practice this proved not to be the case, despite being introduced to a variety of different forms of writing over a series of workshops, it took the participants longer than we expected to begin to write. This led us to question our assumptions about the starting point for the writing workshops and what they might achieve. The paper draws on field notes made during the writing initiative and data gathered through focus groups and interviews with the participants, as well as extracts of their writing to examine their experiences. Different conceptualisations of reflective writing are identified and their implications are explored in relation to the participants’ engagement with writing and their experience of professional development.     

Seeking Security in the Face of Fear: The Disorganized Dilemma

Attachment theory has been instrumental in identifying insecure disorganized attachment as a developmental pathway that leads to severe psychopathology in adults. Psychotherapy with these patients is challenging, offering a confusing pattern of relatedness, difficulties in mentalizing, problems expressing affect, utilizing dissociative defenses, and trying to gain an understanding of their subjectivity. This article provides a theoretical overview of disorganized attachment focusing on its etiology and how it presents throughout the life span. It reviews important therapeutic guidelines that help navigate the relationship with adults and presents a case study highlighting some clinical challenges.     

But it still goes on: Therapeutic communities today

The work of therapeutic communities (TCs) have been said to develop from a certain ‘impulse’ or ‘attitude of mind’. The origin and definitional function of these terms are briefly traced and their meaning explored. Subsequently, eight papers submitted to the Journal are reviewed in order to give a survey picture of the theoretical and practical concerns current within European TCs. This brief survey demonstrates that, while rooted in the TC tradition, a number of projects have made interesting developments in both practice and theory. These innovations and the flare which has gone into them can be taken as evidence that the TC impulse is alive and well. What TCs require now are wider and more effective means of transmission to others because at their best TCs are self-regulating systems which can potentially obviate the harm caused by the deregulating systems of traditional health and social care.     

Therapists' positive emotions in‐session: Why they happen and what they are good for

Aim: The therapist's feelings play a remarkable role in contemporary models of psychotherapy. However, these models are biased towards negative feelings. The present study explores therapists' personal experience with positive emotion in‐session. Method: A grounded theory analysis was conducted of interviews with 26 Brazilian psychotherapists. Results: Clinicians derive positive affect from the client's input in treatment, from their own input, and from the personal relationship with the client. Therapist positive emotion adds to the material that can be worked on in‐session by providing interpersonal events in the relationship with the client. It can improve therapist input in treatment by increasing in‐session awareness, resourcefulness and daring and by cuing efforts for professional development. It enhances involvement in the relationship with the client by prompting compassion and closeness in the dyad. Its effects may spill over and contribute to the therapist's personal thriving. Discussion: These results are discussed in light of what positive psychology can add to current work on therapist effects in the treatment process.