Group affective learning in training for psychotherapy and psychoanalysis

This paper describes The Group Affective Model, a method for teaching psychoanalytic concepts and their clinical application, using multi‐channel teaching, process and review in group settings, and learning from experience in an open systems learning community for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. This innovation arose in response to criticism of existing methods in psychoanalytic education that have subordinated the primary educational task to that of the training analysis. Noticing this split between education and training analysis, between cognition and affect, and between concepts of individual and group unconscious processes, we developed the Group Affective Model for teaching and learning psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in an open psychological space in which students and faculty experience individual and group processes of digestion, assimilation, and review, which demonstrate the concepts in action and make them available for internalization selectively. We discuss our philosophy and our educational stance. We describe our institution and our participants. We give examples of teaching situations that we have studied to provide some insight about assimilation and internalization of the concepts and clinical approaches being taught. We discuss the transferability of the Group Affective Model to other teaching settings and psychoanalytic training institutions and propose it as the fourth pillar of psychoanalytic training, next to analytic treatment, clinical supervision, and didactic seminars.     

Philosophical Criteria in Whitehead and Rorty

Rorty's aversion to metaphysics is well known, so the extent of his early work on Whitehead might come as a surprise. This article examines the young Rorty's critical assessment of Whitehead to show how it demonstrates the consequences of diverging metaphilosophical orientations. It argues that Rorty's insistence on judging Whitehead's work through an exclusively epistemological frame causes him to miss its more radical existential and epistemic implications. After examining how Rorty and Whitehead operate with different cost‐benefit analyses as to the risks and benefits of speculative philosophy, it suggests that closer attention to the fuller stakes of Whitehead's project shows that his metaphysics are not opposed to the “poeticized” culture that Rorty calls for, one where the distinction between making and finding is no longer metaphysically foundational.     

‘Sleeping beauties’: succession problems of adolescence

The author explores the succession problems of adolescence. She uses the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale Sleeping Beauty to consider various characters and narratives possible in the analytic field during the succession process. Use of the characters in a fairy tale allows an analyst to play with the different roles the patient unconsciously assigns her. The author conceives of the avoidance of adolescent turbulence as a common reaction to adolescence, but one that can also become entrenched, and result in a restriction of emotional growth. The paper explores the psychic isolation of adolescence and the splitting required to manage the conflicting desires of the phase. The persistent absence of passion, including in the analytic process, constitutes a psychic retreat from developmental turbulence. The analyst of such an adolescent may need to allow them to be ‘somnolent’ for some time, but may eventually need to wake them (metaphorically) or even pierce the somnolent, avoidant state. The author uses clinical vignettes of late adolescents to demonstrate such transitions, exploring her countertransference experience as well as the reaction of adults to the succession process of adolescence.     

Atypical non-verbal sensorimotor synchronization in adults who stutter may be modulated by auditory feedback

PurposeTo investigate if non-verbal sensorimotor synchronization abilities in adult individuals who stutter (IWS) differ from non-stuttering controls (NS) under various performance conditions (tempo, auditory feedback, use of hands [single/both] and rhythm).MethodsParticipants were 11 IWS (5 males, 6 females, Mean age = 25.8, SD = 8.7) and 11 age- and gender-matched controls (Mean age = 24.4, SD = 8.4). During the experiment, participants were asked to prepare three melodies and subsequently perform them with a metronome at different rates and auditory feedback modalities (non-altered and suppressed). For each task/condition we tracked timing asynchrony related to the steady metronome beat.Results and conclusionsOverall, IWS displayed significantly higher timing asynchrony. Of all conditions, auditory-feedback distinguished IWS from NS most strongly, a subgroup of IWS significantly benefitting from the absence of auditory feedback. In addition, IWS showed a non-significant trend of higher negative mean asynchrony (NMA) and were more affected by the slower rate and increased rhythmic complexity and occasionally suggested poorer beat perception. These results suggest aberrant timing of sensorimotor network interaction associated with the origin of developmental stuttering.     

Jungian theory of dreaming and contemporary dream research – findings from the research project ‘Structural Dream Analysis’

The research method ‘Structural Dream Analysis’ (SDA) is described which allows for systematic and objective analysis of the meaning of dreams produced by patients in Jungian psychotherapies. The method focuses especially on the relationship between the dream ego and other figures in the dream and the extent of activity of the dream ego. Five major dream patterns were identified which accounted for the majority of the dreams. The clients’ dream series were dominated by one or two repetitive patterns which were closely connected to the psychological problems of the dreamers. Additionally, typical changes in the dream series’ patterns could be identified which corresponded with therapeutic change. These findings support Jung's theory of dreams as providing a holistic image of the dreamer’s psyche, including unconscious aspects. The implications for different psychoanalytic theories of dreaming and dream interpretation are discussed as well as implications for the continuity hypothesis.     

Studying the process of psychoanalytic parent–infant psychotherapy: Embodied and discursive aspects

This paper presents findings from an intensive, mixed methods case study of one session of psychoanalytic parent–infant psychotherapy (PPIP) addressing early relational trauma, and aims to shed light on the multimodal interactive processes that take place in the moment-to-moment exchanges comprising the therapeutic encounter. Different research methods were used on video material from PPIP sessions, including microanalysis of adult–infant interactions, discourse analysis of talk, and coding systems developed to study parent–infant interaction. These different perspectives were brought together with the clinical narrative to illuminate the complex, dynamic processes of parent–infant–therapist interaction. More specifically, the detailed analysis of one interactive episode revealed brief behavioral manifestations of fearful and disoriented states of mind, reflecting dysregulated interaction between mother and infant, which also powerfully affected the therapist. The processes through which the therapist gradually resolves this rupture are also described in detail. Through this pilot study, we were able to show that it is possible to systematically study the process of PPIP. The study contributes to the growing psychotherapy research literature that takes into account both the verbal domain and implicit, interactional processes in therapeutic practice, and underscores the therapist's comprehensive engagement in the therapeutic process.     

Moving from “I” to “We”: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Couple Therapy with Liver Patients and Their Partners

Prior research indicates that couples who cope with chronic illness from a relational “we” orientation experience more positive outcomes than couples that cope individually; however, little prior research identifies clinical processes that promote reciprocity or how societal gender processes are involved. This grounded theory analysis of 25 videotaped therapy sessions with six heterosexual couples coping with chronic liver disease (LD) used a feminist-informed relational lens to focus on the clinical processes involved in shifting from an individual to a relational orientation. Findings identified three contextual barriers to attaining a “we orientation”: (a) autonomy discourse, (b) illness-related power, and (c) gendered power. Analysis detailed therapist actions that decreased the impact of barriers to reciprocity and fostered relational coping. Clinical implications attend to complex intersections among gender, caregiving, and contextual barriers to reciprocity.     

促进当事人的改变：基于治疗性最近发展区的视角

作为心理治疗的有效区域,治疗性最近发展区是指当事人当前适应问题经验的能力和通过治疗师的协助能够达成的潜在能力之间的距离。早期的同化模型理论更注重对心理治疗改变过程的描述,治疗性最近发展区理论则能够进一步解释治疗师在不同阶段的帮助策略。在研究上,治疗性最近发展区理论建立在非传统的方法论基础上,通过不断累积个案的质性研究,帮助治疗师理解和解释不同咨询效果的互动过程,并使理论得到持续发展;在临床上,治疗性最近发展区为理解心理治疗过程中倒退现象提供了新视角,并能够有效指导在治疗过程中采取挑战性还是支持性策略。未来研究可从临床上探索经验丰富的治疗师的实践智慧,也可选取较大跨度的治疗对话序列,对不同流派的特点,从不同参与者的视角出发进行研究,进而深化对心理治疗过程机制的理解。     

字体、字号和词性对汉字认知加工的影响

实验采用2×7×3的混合实验设计,研究词性、字体和字号对汉字认知加工速度的影响。结果表明,词性对高频汉字的认知加工没有显著影响;在七种字体之中,宋体、正楷和黑体的加工速度较快,而行楷、隶书、魏碑和华文彩云的加工速度较慢,字体的主效应显著;字号的主效应虽然不显著,但24号字体和48号字体的加工速度显著快于36号字体。实验结果倾向于支持汉字识别的平行加工说。     

前瞻记忆的理论模型综述

前瞻记忆是相对于回溯记忆提出的一种特殊的长时记忆,是指记住在将来某个恰当的时间执行先前意向的行为。本文介绍了近年来研究者提出的前瞻记忆认知和提取机制的理论模型,并对其做了评述。最后,本文针对目前研究中的薄弱环节尝试性地提出了今后前瞻记忆研究进一步发展的方向。