Narratives of therapeutic art-making in the context of marital breakdown: older women reflect on a significant mid-life experience

This paper explores the narratives of three women aged 65–72 years. They reflected on an episode of therapeutic art-making in midlife, which addressed depression associated with marital crisis and breakdown. The narrative analysis focused upon on the ways in which participants narrated the events leading up to their participation in therapeutic art-making; the aspects of therapeutic art-making that continued to be given significance; the characters given primacy in the stories they told about their journey through therapy and marital breakdown; meanings, symbolic and otherwise, that participants ascribed to their artwork made during this turning point in their lives; and aspects of the narratives that conveyed present-day identities and artistic endeavors. The narratives revealed the complexity of the journey through marital breakdown and depression into health, and showed that therapeutic art-making could best be understood, not as a stand-alone experience, but as given meaning within the context of wider personal and social resources. Participants looked back on therapeutic art-making that occurred two decades earlier and still described this as a significant turning point in their personal development. Art as an adjunct to counselling/therapy was not only symbolically self-expressive but provided opportunity for decision-making, agency and a reformulated self-image.     

Adolescent Girls,Women and Sexuality:

No abstract available for this article.     

The song of the siren: Some thoughts on idealization and creativity in Martinů's Julietta

The authors draw on ideas posited by Segal in her seminal paper 'A psychoanalytic approach to aesthetics' to explore idealization and the creative endeavour as it is imaginatively portrayed in the Poutney/Lazaridis production of Martin3's Julietta, performed by Opera North (2003). The opera is set in a dreamlike world in which confusion proliferates, and Julietta is portrayed as a modern-day siren, luring Mischa, the main character, on to the rocks of psychic withdrawal. It depicts an inner drama where music, narrative and spectacle work together to evoke the main character's struggle which touches on universal themes–the ongoing nature of infantile longings, the pain of loneliness and separation and the fear of madness. Through careful reading of the opera and consideration of Martin3's life, the authors refl ect on the factors that may have shaped Martin3's relationship to this work, including his feelings towards his homeland, his mid-life crisis and the social and political turmoil of Europe at the time. The authors conclude by refl ecting on the aesthetic experience of the opera and the way in which the music transforms the drama and seeks to extend our understanding of psychic truth.     

Stress,achievement, marriage and social support: Effects on the psychological well-being of physicians entering midlife/mid-career

Abstract

The major aim of this study was to examine the relative contribution of stress, professional achievement, personality, quality of marriage and family life, social support satisfaction, work satisfaction, average hours worked and family responsibilities to the psychological well-being (life satisfaction and psychological symptoms) of medical practitioners entering mid-life/mid-career. Fifty-nine female and 57 male physicians completed interviews, questionnaires, and daily stress records. The results confirm the central role that stress plays in the well-being of physicians. Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions showed other major variables examined did not explain additional variance in psychological symptoms, but did in some instances (professional achievement, quality of marriage, social support satisfaction for work issues) contribute to life satisfaction. A path model indicating a direct and independent effect of professional achievement on life satisfaction and a specific causal sequence of stress, quality of marriage and social support satisfaction for work issues is suggested.     

Facing Up to Aging: Mid-Life Women's Attitudes toward Cosmetic Procedures

Despite the fact that mid-life and older women are a major consumer group for cosmetic procedures (e.g., botox, face lifts), few studies have been done on their attitudes toward these procedures and their willingness to undergo them. The purpose of the present study was to gather information about the popularity of these procedures among a group of 57 mid-life American women, examine whether some personality and attitudinal measures might predict attitudes toward these procedures, and consider the ramifications of the data for the treatment of women in feminist therapy. About one third (38.5%) of our sample had had one or more cosmetic procedures, and 81% said that they would have a procedure if cost were not an issue. Positive attitudes toward cosmetic surgery and preoccupation with being over-weight best predicted women's interest in cosmetic procedures. The popularity of these procedures is discussed in light of the double standard of aging and age discrimination, weight as a “normative discontent,” and the ubiquity of advertisements for, and normalization of, these procedures in the popular media.