Avoiding unbearable pain

This presentation describes the way in which defence mechanisms and resistance manifested themselves in the analysis of a man with a narcissistic personality disorder. In the course of the analysis, there were changes in the forms taken by the defence and the resistance, signalling important genetic and dynamic conditions in his life. Both represented desperate attempts to avoid the unbearably painful feelings and affects which he had experienced in his childhood, and bore witness to early and primitive defence mechanisms such as denial, splitting and projective identification. The defence can also be seen as an expression of an unconscious fear of being re-traumatised. The idealisation of the analyst in the first years of the analysis can therefore be understood as a precondition for entering into this kind of process. It also represented a defence against aggressive and homosexual feelings in the transference which first became clear during the final phase of the analysis and could then be worked through. At this point, the analyst's reactions to his own unconscious countertransference were of help in understanding what was actually going on. This analysis may also suggest that defects and trauma in the earliest years may be conducive to alexithymia, deficient contact between feelings and words, linked to the risk of developing serious psychosomatic illnesses. This may be a consequence of the fact that the child's feelings and affects were neither accepted, understood nor affirmed in words, or they may even have been met with rejection or ridicule. A connection between narcissistic personality disorders and alexithymia can possibly be seen here.     

Negotiating Multiple Identities,Constructing Western‐Muslim Selves in the Netherlands and the United States

This article evaluates the psychological processes, discursive practices, and sociopolitical mechanisms underlying the identity reconstruction of Muslim immigrant women in the United States and the Netherlands. Specifically, it focuses on the ways in which Muslim immigrant women who are embedded in both Islamic and Western cultures negotiate their traditional and modern identities and self‐representations and construct a coherent self‐narrative about their bicultural existence as “Western‐Muslim.” The qualitative evidence presented here expands existing theoretical and empirical discussions on biculturalism and acculturation by demonstrating the ways in which contextual factors define the negotiation repertoire that is available to bicultural individuals. The findings of this article also call into question some of the earlier findings on cultural conflict hypothesis, because it shows that successful negotiation of bicultural identities depends not so much on whether the individual perceives these identities and cultures to be compatible with each other, but rather on the availability of a coherent self‐narrative of belonging to both cultural worlds.     

Categorization of two-dimensional and three-dimensional stimuli by 18-month-old infants

In two experiments, 18-month-old infants’ categorization of 3D replicas and 2D photographs of the same animals and vehicles were compared to explore infants’ flexibility in categorization across different object representations. Using a sequential touching procedure, infants completed one superordinate and two basic-level categorization tasks with 3D replicas, 2D cut out photographs, or 2D images on photo cubes (“2D cubes”). For superordinate sets, 3D replicas elicited longer mean run lengths than 2D cut outs, and 3D replicas elicited equivalent mean run lengths as 2D cubes. For basic-level sets, infants categorized high-contrast animal sets when presented with 3D replicas, but they failed to categorize any of the 2D photograph sets. Categorization processes appear to differ for 3D and 2D stimuli, and infants’ discovery of object properties over time while manipulating objects may facilitate categorization, as least at the superordinate level. These findings are discussed in the context of infants’ representation abilities and the integration of perception and action.     

Korean Immigrant Women's Journey from Abused Wives to Self-Reliant Women

Today's adolescent girls experience sociocultural pressures and life stressors which result in negative mental health outcomes, including binge eating. The purpose of this article is to present a model of psychotherapy for adolescent girls who engage in binge eating. The components in this model include: (a) Feminist Therapy to emphasize client empowerment and the importance of sociocultural context in understanding girls’ concerns; (b) Cognitive Behavior Therapy to help clients to eliminate dieting and to cope with pressures for attaining the beauty ideal; (c) Dialectical Behavior Therapy to assist clients in coping with emotions; and (d) Interpersonal Therapy to help clients improve relational transitions and disputes.     

Working with Feminist Foremothers to Advance Women's Issues

No abstract available for this article.     

Conceptualizations of Social Class in Afrtican American Women:

This article addresses the multiple definitions of social class in African American people and how the therapist's understanding of these definitions is important in therapeutic interventions with African American women. The article discusses: (a) the traditional ways in which social class has been defined in social science and the limits of these conceptualizations; (b) the multiple definitions of class within the African American community; and (c) treatment concerns for African American women based on class issues. Clinicians working with African American and other women who vary by class should be able to assess how class variables influence their therapeutic interventions with these women.     

“It Makes Me Worry About Her Future Pain:” A Qualitative Investigation of White Mothers of Non-White Children

In the United States, increasing numbers of White women are mothering children of color. Little is known about their psychosocial experiences of racially socializing non-White children within a culture that transmits socially constructed meanings about race. Such messages influence employment and quality and access to health care. Thirteen White mothers of non-White children (school age to adulthood) residing in the U.S. were interviewed. Their psychosocial experiences and racial socialization practices were explored. Through an analysis of transcribed interviews and interview notes, seven themes emerged: (1) Looking Like a Family and Looking Alike; (2) Mothering as Vulnerability; (3) Teen Daughters’ Perceptions of Black Men as Undesirable and Frightening; (4) Exposing Children to Culture; (5) Children and Mothers’ Experiences as “Other”; (6) Hostility from Black Women; and (7) Not Talking About Race. Study's limitations and future research are discussed.     

Cosmetic Surgery: Feminist Perspectives

Cosmetic surgery is gaining popularity not only in the U.S., but worldwide. The sheer number of procedures being performed makes it seem “normal,” and in the statistical sense it is. Feminist therapists are likely to have clients who are contemplating undergoing one or more of these procedures. Therapists ought to help their clients to understand the motivations underlying a decision to undergo surgery for the sake of improving on nature. In the final analysis, the decision belongs to the woman who may be placing her life at risk to achieve some desired end. The therapist can play a role in helping her to weigh the risks and what will be accomplished in the end.     

Feminism's Third Wave

Summary

“Third wave” feminists, raised in the wake of an established feminist movement as well as a strong anti-feminist backlash, are beginning to define their own feminist agenda. “Third wave” feminists are exploring the contradictions in their lived experience as feminists, and examining the inter section of feminism with their other identities. Young feminists' self-expression has been characterized (by feminists and non-feminists) as “self-obsessed” and “divorced from matters of public purpose” (Bellafante, 1998, p. 57 & 60). In this essay, we provide an alternative view of “third wave” expression, seeing young feminists' honesty in their struggles with various identities as a resurgence of grass roots activism; a return to “the personal.” In this essay, we call for an intergenerational dialogue between second and third wave feminists, and encourage feminist therapists to support and validate young feminists.