Paranoia and narcissism in psychoanalytic theory. Contributions of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders

Many factors go into a choice of a therapeutic focus: the patient's psychopathology; the therapist's training, countertransference reactions, and ideological beliefs; and, importantly, a decision about what seems most amenable to treatment and change. As a theory, self psychology describes one aspect of the paranoid process; as such, it is an incomplete theory that complements rather than invalidates more classical theories. As a technique, however, it suggests a style and focus conducive to working with paranoid patients, one that is markedly supportive, nonconfrontational, yet also interpretive. In this context, it must be remembered how difficult it is to treat paranoid patients psychotherapeutically, much less to keep them in treatment. The strategies discussed above do not wholly replace other dynamic approaches (e.g., counterprojective techniques), nor are they universally applicable. Some patients may be more amenable than others. However, the techniques provide a very supportive framework that may help the therapist to be more available to and in contact with the paranoid patient. More broadly, this paper's application of self psychology to the theory and therapy of the paranoid disorders further illustrates the practical utility of this approach. Attention to the narcissistic developmental line, interpersonal selfobject relationships, intrapsychic conflicts and deficits, and empathic immersion in the patients's world are important adjuncts to the psychotherapy of paranoid patients. Rather than an either/or dichotomy, the principle of overdetermination suggests a both/and relationship between self psychology and traditional theory, such that the self psychological approach complements rather than contradicts the classical psychoanalytic theory. The vicissitudes of the self simply add another perspective or vantage point from which to understand and respond to the patient, one which has perhaps more applicability for preoedipally disordered patients.     

Reducing intergroup anxiety: Applying an imagined contact intervention with counselors-in-training

This study assessed the impacts of an (elaborated) imagined contact intervention (eICI) with graduate-level counseling students (N = 38) in a multicultural counseling course. Participant levels of intergroup anxiety were assessed, comparing those who completed an eICI versus those who did not. Intergroup anxiety decreased for both groups over time, albeit with a greater immediate reduction for those who received the ICI. Qualitative commentary suggests specific student learning from the activity.     

Group intervention with children of parents with aids

This paper describes a format for group intervention with children of parents with AIDS. Therapeutic factors specific to group work with these children and special issues regarding AIDS are discussed. The stages of development of such groups are outlined, with particular attention paid to themes of grief and loss. Suggestions for future work in this area are given.     

Evaluating children's mental health service systems: An analysis of critical behaviors and events

A lack of studies which evaluate system change by tracking client outcomes is noted in the children's mental health area. This deficit may be a result of the inability of researchers to define outcomes and to draw conclusions about which measures reflect the efficacy of services and service delivery systems. This paper reviews five social validation surveys which examined children's mental health outcome measures. Based on the results of the five surveys, a model of critical behaviors and events is presented. This model will assist evaluators and researchers in understanding which critical events and behaviors should be measured to assess the impact of community-based mental health services for children.     

Statistical learning of multiple speech streams: A challenge for monolingual infants

Language acquisition depends on the ability to detect and track the distributional properties of speech. Successful acquisition also necessitates detecting changes in those properties, which can occur when the learner encounters different speakers, topics, dialects, or languages. When encountering multiple speech streams with different underlying statistics but overlapping features, how do infants keep track of the properties of each speech stream separately? In four experiments, we tested whether 8‐month‐old monolingual infants (N = 144) can track the underlying statistics of two artificial speech streams that share a portion of their syllables. We first presented each stream individually. We then presented the two speech streams in sequence, without contextual cues signaling the different speech streams, and subsequently added pitch and accent cues to help learners track each stream separately. The results reveal that monolingual infants experience difficulty tracking the statistical regularities in two speech streams presented sequentially, even when provided with contextual cues intended to facilitate separation of the speech streams. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding how infants learn and separate the input when confronted with multiple statistical structures.     

Reason and the Past: The Role of Rationality in Diachronic Self-Knowledge

Knowing one’s past thoughts and attitudes is a vital sort of self-knowledge. In the absence of memorial impressions to serve as evidence, we face a pressing question of how such self-knowledge is possible. Recently, philosophers of mind have argued that self-knowledge of past attitudes supervenes on rationality. I examine two kinds of argument for this supervenience claim, one from cognitive dynamics, and one from practical rationality, and reject both. I present an alternative account, on which knowledge of past attitudes is inferential knowledge, and depends upon contingent facts of one’s rationality and consistency. Failures of self-knowledge are better explained by the inferential account.     

Adolescent Psychopathy and Personality Theory—the Interpersonal Circumplex: Expanding Evidence of a Nomological Net

The construct validity of psychopathy was examined in a sample of 114 male and female young offenders (M_age = 15.16) at a southeastern detention center. The interpersonal circumplex served as a framework of general personality from which to examine the construct of adolescent psychopathy. A supplementary analysis of the psychopathy measures and the Big 5 factors of personality was also conducted using a matrix approach. Measures included: (a) Antisocial Process Screening Device (P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, 2001); (b) Child Psychopathy Scale (D. R. Lynam, 1996); (c) Psychopathy Checklist—Youth Version (A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003); and (d) Interpersonal Adjective Scales Revised—Big 5 Version (P. Trapnell & J. S. Wiggins, 1991; J. S. Wiggins, 1995). Results showed substantial convergence among the three psychopathy measures. In addition, meaningful associations between psychopathy and constructs within the interpersonal circumplex and broader domains of the Big 5 were obtained. Two psychopathy scales correlated to a higher degree than expected with neuroticism. These findings provide evidence linking personality theory to the concept of child and adolescent psychopathy, thereby adding to its construct validity. However, they do so with the caveat that youth may also be displaying some characteristics of neuroticism, suggesting that worry and anxiety may accompany psychopathic features in earlier developmental stages. The implications of the current study are discussed.     

Perception of visual speed while moving

During self-motion, the world normally appears stationary. In part, this may be due to reductions in visual motion signals during self-motion. In 8 experiments, the authors used magnitude estimation to characterize changes in visual speed perception as a result of biomechanical self-motion alone (treadmill walking), physical translation alone (passive transport), and both biomechanical self-motion and physical translation together (walking). Their results show that each factor alone produces subtractive reductions in visual speed but that subtraction is greatest with both factors together, approximating the sum of the 2 separately. The similarity of results for biomechanical and passive self-motion support H. B. Barlow's (1990) inhibition theory of sensory correlation as a mechanism for implementing H. Wallach's (1987) compensation for self-motion.