Timing of the transition to motherhood and union quality: The moderator role of union length

Researchers have examined the contribution of women’s age at first pregnancy to the prediction of union quality across the transition to motherhood, but the emerging picture is inconsistent. The authors investigated the moderator role of union length in the relationship between the 2 variables. A sample of 143 Canadian women completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale during pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum. As predicted, after partialing out the influence of other demographic variables, union length moderated the relationship between maternal age and changes in union quality across the transition, p < .001. The results showed that postponing motherhood to a later age has positive effects on women’s union quality only among those who are in long‐term relationships.     

Self-motion perception and vestibulo-ocular reflex during whole body yaw rotation in standing subjects: the role of head position and neck proprioception

Self-motion perception and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) were studied during whole body yaw rotation in the dark at different static head positions. Rotations consisted of four cycles of symmetric sinusoidal and asymmetric oscillations. Self-motion perception was evaluated by measuring the ability of subjects to manually track a static remembered target. VOR was recorded separately and the slow phase eye position (SPEP) was computed. Three different head static yaw deviations (active and passive) relative to the trunk (0°, 45° to right and 45° to left) were examined. Active head deviations had a significant effect during asymmetric oscillation: the movement perception was enhanced when the head was kept turned toward the side of body rotation and decreased in the opposite direction. Conversely, passive head deviations had no effect on movement perception. Further, vibration (100 Hz) of the neck muscles splenius capitis and sternocleidomastoideus remarkably influenced perceived rotation during asymmetric oscillation. On the other hand, SPEP of VOR was modulated by active head deviation, but was not influenced by neck muscle vibration. Through its effects on motion perception and reflex gain, head position improved gaze stability and enhanced self-motion perception in the direction of the head deviation.     

Being a psychoanalyst: An everyday audacity1

This paper is the work of fi ve psychoanalysts who came together as a group in order to refl ect on their work as analysts. How are we analysts to identify the unconscious resistances that may sometimes hold us back from offering psychoanalysis to some patients? Do these resistances sometimes hamper the inner freedom that we require in order to maintain a psychoanalytic focus once that process is under way? How do we manage from time to time to overcome these resistances or, better, make use of them in order to develop our understanding of the unconscious dynamics that create the link between analyst and patient? The authors discuss these issues with particular reference to clinical situations taken from classic psychoanalytic treatment cases during which the analyst had to fi nd within him‐ or herself the audacity to be a psychoanalyst. Each clinical situation is different: preliminary interviews, in the course of the actual treatment, issues that emerge in the training of candidates. One of the signifi cant features of this group lies in the fact that the participants are at different stages in their development as psychoanalysts (student, associate member, full member, training analyst). This means that their experiences complement one another and encourage a discussion of issues such as how psychoanalysis can be passed on, and the relationship between supervisor and supervisee.     

Soft determinism + awareness = shared responsibility Comment: More Words About Words: A Reaction to “Soft Determinism…”

This article seeks to present a viable resolution of one of the perennial ideological issues in counseling: the determinism-human freedom dilemma. That this problem is of pivotal significance to counselors is immediately evident in view of its bearing on the related professional issue of client and counselor responsibility. A conceptual model involving limited personal freedom within a framework of biological-environmental determinism is reviewed, followed by a concluding comment on the counselor's shared responsibility for the outcomes of the counseling relationship. The author rejects the notion that the counselor can function as a neutral observer in client decision-making     

Synergistic man: outcome model for counselors

In this article the author revisits human nature in order to present it as a basis for guiding the quest for a working model of “optimal man.” The author postulates that our primordial human nature encompasses the possibilities for both good behavior and evil behavior. Accordingly, the perennial challenge facing guidance workers is helping to establish conditions that will actualize positive potentials while defusing the less beneficent ones. Drawing on the insights of Ruth Benedict and Abraham Maslow in their search for an ethical gauge by which to rate personal-social health, the author proposes “synergistic man” as the desired outcome model for counselors and educators.     

Psychodynamic assessment of changes in children with autism under psychoanalytic treatment

In this article the authors report insights into autism developed through their extensive experience of psychoanalytic therapy with children with autism. The fi rst stages of body psychic development are seriously disrupted by this pathology, resulting in primitive anxieties of falling and of being liquefi ed. These anxieties are connected to the fragile development of body ego and of its related spatiotemporal organisation. The changes in children observed by the authors during the therapeutic process lead them to offer a psychodynamic assessment tool, which revolves principally around the development of body ego. After the initial state of 'severe autism', the authors describe three stages: the stage of 'recovery of the skin' (Bick); the established 'symbiotic phase', subdivided into 'vertical then horizontal splitting of the body ego'; and fi nally the stage of 'individuation'. First, the authors describe the principal psychoanalytic approaches to autism and refl ect on the links possible with nonpsychoanalytic work.