Hatred in Group Therapy: A Rewarding Challenge

Hatred is a powerful affective experience that can be disruptive to the work of a therapy group, yet it may also enhance a member's capacity to deal with strong affects. This paper explores a particular aspect of hatred, the hate directed at one member of a cotherapy team. An effort is made to explore the experience from an intersubjective and motivational systems perspective, focusing primarily on the therapist and one patient. The impact of the cotherapy relationship is also considered, as well as the whole group's capacity to contain and work with this powerful affective response. The way that the group managed this explosive situation speaks to the power of group therapy in healing and transforming its members.     

The Psychodynamic Assumptions of the U.S. Constitution

The U.S. Constitution is a blueprint for the design of a government which reflects the consistent application of an understanding of the emotions and interests driving the political activity of individuals and groups. This understanding is articulated in the writings of key proponents of the Constitution, and clarified by its historical and philosophical context. Their theories are congruent with psychoanalytic perspectives on narcissism, leadership, group dynamics, and the role of transitional space in cultural life. The concept of interests, reformulated in psychoanalytic terms, is a useful addition to our understanding of political behavior.     

The Listening Partners Program: An Initiative Toward Feminist Community Psychology in Action

The Listening Partners intervention is described and analyzed as a synthesis of feminism and community psychology, within a developmental framework. Working from an empowerment perspective, this social action, peer group intervention supported a community of poor, rural, isolated, young, White mothers to gain a greater voice, claim the powers of their minds, and collaborate in developmental leadership—creating settings that promote their own development and that of their families, peers, and communities. High quality dialogue, individual and group narrative, and collaborative problem-solving were emphasized, in a feminist context affirming diversity, inclusiveness, strengths, social-contextual analyses, and social constructivist perspectives. The power of enacting a synergy of feminism and community psychology is highlighted.     

THE EFFECTS OF RECIPROCAL PEER TUTORING AND GROUP CONTINGENCIES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

We evaluated the effects of reciprocal peer tutoring combined with group reinforcement contingencies on the arithmetic performance of 12 underachieving fifth-grade students. Results indicated that the intervention increased the students' arithmetic performance to a level indistinguishable from their classmates during treatment and 12-week follow-up phases. Pre-, post-, and follow-up sociometric data indicated that the students who participated in the treatment groups increased their amount of peer affiliation with other treatment group members.     

THE USE OF PEER MONITORS TO REDUCE NEGATIVE INTERACTION DURING RECESS

The negative interactions of a mildly retarded child, Dennis, were reduced in three daily recess periods, withthe use of a point system. Adult monitors initiatedthe intervention inthe morning recess; reductions achieved during adult monitoring were maintained in that recess during two subsequent conditions: peer monitoring and self-monitoring. Dennis' negative interactions were reduced next inthe afternoon recess by peer monitors. Again, reductions were maintained during a subsequent self-monitoring condition. Finally, duringthe noon recess, Dennis was trained to serve as a peer monitor for Ed, a moderately retarded classmate. Dennis' rate of negative interactions quickly decreased following his appointment as a peer monitor. The results show that a point system, originally designed for adult monitoring, can be adapted without loss of program effectiveness for peer monitoring or self-monitoring. The results also suggest that classmates who serve as peer monitors may benefit significantly from their role. The conditions under which these therapeutic effects occur andthe role that treatment order effects may play in this process require further investigation.     

Training self-advocacy skills to adults with mild handicaps.

We developed and empirically evaluated an instructional program to teach self-advocacy skills to eight young adults with mild handicaps. Participants were taught to discriminate whether or not possible violations of legal rights occurred in socially validated scenarios and, if so, to role-play how to redress rights violations. Experimental control was demonstrated with a multiple probe design across four general legal rights categories for the discrimination component of training, and a multiple probe across groups of subjects for the redressing legal rights component of training. Participants'' behavior was probed in simulations and deceptions of legal rights violations in natural settings. There were marked increases in dependent measures after instruction. Difficulties in assessing generalization and maintenance of low-rate behaviors and suggestions for future research are presented.     

On Language Rights

In social and political philosophy, linguistic differences are usually seen as one item in the long and indefinite list of Cultural Differences; consequently, language rights are discussed and criticized together with other cultural rights. In this essay, it is argued that a right to use one's own language can be justified by appeal to the practical role of language in human life. The ability to communicate effectively is essential for human autonomy and well-being; thus there is no need to argue that linguistic groups, as groups, are entitled to special treatment, or that language rights are group rights. Because learning a new language is invariably a costly matter, by recognizing some languages as official languages the state (re)distributes burdens and benefits among its citizens. The task of language rights is to guarantee that these burdens are not distributed in a too unequal way.     

Initiating a Couples Group

Couples-group therapy is thought of as a helpful treatment for most couples, and as a primary treatment for married couples who have longstanding problems of a rigid and chronic nature. It is most useful for couples for whom blaming, power plays, and suppression of anger are prominent modes of interaction. Couples-group therapy is helpful to these couples because the group is a microcosm of society, provides a wide variety of coping styles, and offers observable alternatives to dysfunctional behaviors. A group dynamic also decreases the couple's sense of isolation. Issues relevant to starting a couples group--indications, contraindications, policies and balancing a group--are discussed. Clinical vignettes from ongoing open-ended couples groups are presented to illustrate the points made.     

The Grouping Process Across Cultural Change

Based on their extensive experience working with individuals, families, groups and organizations in Greece, the authors describe therapeutic techniques for helping individuals understand and work through the acculturation process. Tasks and procedures employed at various social levels--dyads, triads, small groups of four to six members, and large groups of 18-25--are catalysts for the exploration and clarification of the ways in which old norms and roles are being modified, weakened, or distorted by cultural change, and for the redefinition of values and expectations.