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127 records returned

Psychodynamics of eating disorder behavior in sexual abuse survivors.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The author reviews the psychodynamics of eating disorder behaviors in women with childhood sexual abuse histories, with a focus on anorexia, bingeing, purging, and overeating. The various defenses and behaviors interact with each other through numerous different feedback loops. The same behavior can have multiple defensive functions and the same defensive function can be served by different behaviors. None of the behaviors is specific to childhood sexual abuse, but the abuse history modifies the content, heightens the intensity of the feelings being defended against, and should be taken into account in the therapy. Sev...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 24, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ross CA Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

From submission to autonomy: approaching independent decision making. A single-case study in a randomized, controlled study of long-term effects of dynamic psychotherapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In the First Experimental Study of Transference Interpretations (FEST), showing the best treatment effects from dynamic psychotherapy with transference interpretations, one subgroup was female patients who had difficult relationships with others (low quality of object relations). The aim of the present study was to explore further a highly successful therapy for this subgroup with a single case study in a randomized, controlled study of long-term effects of dynamic psychotherapy with a patient who was depressed and felt exploitable. Case formulation, transcription of sessions, and repeated applications of self-reports ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 24, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ulberg R, Høglend P, Marble A, Sørbye Ø Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Is a psychodynamic perspective relevant to the clinical management of obsessive-compulsive disorder?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be a severe and disabling condition with considerable variability in clinical presentation, course, and treatment response. Based upon demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have become the treatments of choice for patients with OCD. By contrast, psychodynamic formulations and treatments are often considered irrelevant or contraindicated. In the present paper, the authors present five clinical cases of OCD where psychodynamic understanding and/or treatment was essential for optimizing outcom...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 24, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Chlebowski S, Gregory RJ Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

"I can't let anything go:" A case study with psychological testing of a patient with pathologic hoarding.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This report describes a particular individual with characteristic features of hoarding, which is explored through formal psychological testing. PMID: 19845090 [PubMed - in process] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 24, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Koretz J, Gutheil TG Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Trauma, exposure, and world reconstruction.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article presents a reconceptualization of trauma in terms of the damage it inflicts on the patient's conception of his or her world. The article includes (1) an analysis of how this view renders the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) intelligible, (2) a demonstration of how it integrates research findings on who is most vulnerable to PTSD, (3) a critique of the currently dominant "reprocessing of maladaptive memory structures" accounts of how exposure therapy works, and (4) a reanalysis of how exposure therapies achieve their salutary results. PMID: 19845091 [PubMed - in process] (Source: American Jo...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 24, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bergner RM Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The myth of perfection: perfectionism in the obsessive personality.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper discusses the structure and function of the trait of perfectionism within the obsessive personality, and how it dovetails with other features of that style. The author proposes a nuclear adaptive/defensive "myth of perfection" and delineates the phenomenology and clinical presentations of four problematic aspects of perfectionism: inhibitions, over concern with thoroughness and details, difficulty with decisions and commitments, and pickiness. The paper also discusses how several aspects of the obsessive style can present typical difficulties in doing therapy with perfectionists. PMID: 19711766 [PubMed -...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - August 30, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mallinger A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Out-of-illness experience: hypnotically induced dissociation as a therapeutic resource in treating people with obstinate mental disorders.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Psychological dissociation is commonly perceived by mental health professionals as the pathological splitting of consciences or as an impairment in adaptive integration. In hypnotherapy dissociation is considered one of the most significant features of hypnosis, constituting a major therapeutic resource. In the present article, we use hypnotically induced dissociation (HID) to treat patients with obstinate mental disorders (OMD). These disorders are characterized by persistent, problematic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that become organizing principals of identity and form enduring psychopathologies. To promote psyc...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - August 30, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Meyerson J, Konichezy A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

"I am not complaining"--ambivalence construct in schizoid personality disorder.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article introduces different diagnostic and theoretical descriptions of the ambivalence construct in the schizoid personality disorder. The discussion is elaborated by means of a case example, presenting both the patient's and professionals' points of view on the treatment process. We use the concepts of treatment alliance and countertransference as explanatory models in the discussion of how the schizoid ambivalence may affect the treatment relationship. PMID: 19711768 [PubMed - in process] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - August 30, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Thylstrup B, Hesse M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Providing therapy can be therapeutic for a therapist.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this paper, the case is made that providing therapy to a client can be therapeutic for the therapist. Therapist change is not intentionally sought nor professionally delivered, but is from those client interactions experienced as healing. The possible mechanisms of change for the therapist include exposure of much about him- or herself being "on the line" in therapy, and the therapeutic relationship as a collaborative, two-way system. In the collaborative system, much might affect a therapist, including how the client understands and reacts to the therapist's disposition, motivation, self-disclosure, and skill and w...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - August 30, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rosenblatt PC Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Elvin V. Semrad (1909-1976): experiencing the heart and core of psychotherapy training.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Elvin Semrad was among the most influential and beloved teachers of psychotherapy in his generation. His legacy as a clinician, teacher, and mentor is still felt today, even among those who never knew him directly. What and how he taught remains as relevant as ever in the psychotherapeutic care of troubled individuals. His was primarily a psychiatry of affects and bodily feelings, and he focused uncannily and empathically on the patient's experience. The basis of his rich, heartfelt, wise, and inimitable approach was not just classically psychoanalytic, or existential, or ego-oriented, or self-psychological, or interpe...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - August 30, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Good MI Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Relational marital paradigm.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The relational marital paradigm presumes that those partners who trigger the strongest impulses of attraction and passionate feelings of love in each other are those who are most likely to marry. However, with time these feelings also awaken memories of the most horrible conflicts and nightmares experienced in the family of origin. The subconscious intention is that the primary drama will, this time, be resolved with more positive outcomes. Relational marital therapy, therefore, sets a new milestone in understanding. It is a different approach to therapeutic practice that is based on the therapeutic relationship/allian...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Gostecnik C, Repic T Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Ethno-cultural and linguistic transference and countertransference: from Asian perspectives.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The multicultural counseling movement emerged in response to a diversified society and an increasing need to bring the awareness of culture into clinical practice. Using postmodern theories, shifting from "discovering insights," which suggests an objective knowing, to "identifying meanings," which posits being aware of multiple subjective realities, this article delineates clinical examples of how ethno-cultural and linguistic transference and countertransference are manifested and either are neglected or used in the clinical practice from the perspectives of traditional Asian cultures. PMID: 19425331 [PubMed - ind...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Nagai C Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Predictive value of self-reported and observer-rated defense style in depression treatment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study explored the predictive value of observer-rated and self-reported defensive functioning on the outcome of psychotherapy for the treatment of depression. Defense styles were measured according to the Developmental Profile (DP) and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) in 81 moderately severely depressed patients. All patients were treated with Short-term Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy (SPSP). At baseline, women appeared to have a more mature level of overall defensive functioning. A lower level of defensive function was found in patients with recurrent depressions. We also found a rather modest relationsh...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Van Henricus L, Dekker J, Peen J, Abraham RE, Schoevers R Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

How repeated 15-minute assertiveness training sessions reduce wrist cutting in patients with borderline personality disorder.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: At the conclusion of psychotherapeutic treatment, 69% of outpatients showed a statistically significant reduction in wrist-cutting behavior. PMID: 19425333 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Hayakawa M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The role of self-complexity in reducing harmful insight among persons with schizophrenia. Theoretical and therapeutic implications.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Persons with schizophrenia who have insight of their disorders might experience depression, hopelessness, and related suicidality. Although the concept of self-complexity appears to be highly relevant as a self-regulating mechanism in the process of coping with depression and hopelessness in populations without schizophrenia, it hardly plays a role in current discussions of the determinants of harmful insight in schizophrenia. In this article the correlates of the harmful impact of insight among persons with schizophrenia and the possible buffering role of self-complexity against harmful influences of insight are discu...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Martens WH Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

What's broken with cognitive behavior therapy treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and how to fix it.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the evidence-based treatment of choice for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The central technique of this approach is Exposure and Response Prevention (EX/RP). Examination of EX/RP treatment of OCD reveals severe shortcomings. The technique, while generally quite effective, cannot deal with patients who are unable to comply with EX/RP's difficult regime, resulting in a significant percentage of patients who refuse treatment and dropouts. Also, for optimal results, the therapist should be present while the patient carries out EX/RP therapy. This severely reduces the therapist's re...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bonchek A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Gender differences in self-reported defense mechanisms: a study using the new Defense Style Questionnaire-60.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Studies have shown that men and women differ in their use of defense mechanisms (e.g. Cramer, 1991; Watson and Sinha, 1998). However, how and why this difference exists is still open to debate. The present study explores the relationship between gender and defenses using the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-60; Trijsburg Bond, & Drapeau, 2003). As expected, no significant differences were found in Overall Defensive Functioning (ODF); however, men and women differed in their choice of defense style, defense level, and individual defense mechanisms. Evidence is provided to support the notion that while overall adapti...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - June 27, 2009 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Petraglia J, Thygesen KL, Lecours S, Drapeau M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Outcomes from 40 years of psychotherapy in a private practice.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Of 1,969 patients seen by a clinical psychologist during 40 years of private practice, at the time the outcome data were analysed 1,374 were either in treatment or had completed treatment and all of these cases had produced outcome data. The results show that four (4) patients (0.29%) became Much Worse, 10 (0.73%) became Worse, 412 (29.96%) showed No Change, 467 (33.96%) became Better, and 482 (35.06%) were Much Better. The mean treatment effect size (ES) was 1.87. Outcome varied significantly across diagnostic categories. Outcome also varied by age groups. Outcome for males and females did not differ, but both kinds o...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 14, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Clement PW Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

E-mail and psychiatry: some psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic perspectives.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this paper, we consider the use of e-mail in psychotherapy and its impact on the experience of therapy for both patient and clinician. We discuss in detail the potential for boundary compromise by e-mail use and consider how e-mail may undermine the therapeutic alliance and the cultivation of empathy. Case studies illustrate the possible positive aspects of e-mail and elucidate several fundamental problems with any use of e-mail in psychodynamic treatment. PMID: 18846971 [PubMed - in process] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 14, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bhuvaneswar CG, Gutheil TG Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Making sense of error: a view of the origins and treatment of perfectionism.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Research on perfectionism has generally left unanswered the questions of its developmental history and its meaning in lived experience. A clinical vignette illustrates a contemporary psychodynamic approach used to answer these questions and a therapeutic approach used to overcome perfectionism and its burdensome effects on individuals and intimate relationships. Theoretical developments in contemporary relational psychology, along with the author's clinical experience as a psychotherapist and parent educator, provide source material. Perfectionism is understood as a desire for perfection, a fear of imperfection, the eq...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 14, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Greenspon TS Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Attachment, affect regulation and mutual synchrony in adult psychotherapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper examines attachment theory in the context of the biology of affect regulation and the convergence of these in psychotherapeutic processes. Because of recent advances in understanding how the infant brain/mind/body is shaped by the infant's first social experiences, the purpose of this investigation is to extract those underlying mechanisms that expand adaptive and regulatory capacities and to review their application within the therapeutic relationship. Interdisciplinary advances are indicating that just as the infant-mother relationship is fundamentally a psychobiological dyadic system of emotional communic...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 14, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Dales S, Jerry P Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Subjective and intersubjective analyses of the therapeutic alliance in a brief relational therapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We examined the relations among the measures, as well as their predictive relation to an outcome measure. The results showed significant intercorrelations among the three alliance measures, suggesting that all captured aspects of the therapeutic alliance. In addition, all three measures were significantly predictive of outcome, with the correlation index appearing more powerful. PMID: 18846974 [PubMed - in process] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - October 14, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rozmarin E, Muran JC, Safran J, Gorman B, Nagy J, Winston A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Trace and transference: therapy in a post-structuralist era.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As leader of the deconstruction movement, Jacques Derrida has had a profound effect on modern thinking. In this article, the author applies Derridean concepts to psychotherapy. Using the concepts of trace and differance, identity and therapeutic relationships are described. Transference and countertransference are regarded as traces, resulting in a breakdown of the therapist/patient dichotomy. Using the Derridean notion of "play" and "dissemination" opens psychotherapeutic options that allow the patient to explore how meaning is derived in his/her life. Questions of how feelings and behaviors are constructed are also e...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Appleby BS Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Guilt and its multidimensionality: empirical approaches using Klein's view.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
After examining the definitions of persecutory and penitential types of guilt, based on Melanie Klein's view, we developed a single-item measure of these types and examined reliability and validity of the measure in three studies. Concurrent validity of the measure was shown among a university student population using the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 as an external validator. The questionnaire was not influenced by a socially desirable response style. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by studying different external variables: the two types of guilt feelings are moderately correlated with each other, but penitenti...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Hasui C, Igarashi H, Nagata T, Kitamura T Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Psychotherapy 2.0: MySpace blogging as self-therapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A survey conducted by America Online (AOL) in 2005 reported the startling finding that almost 50% of those posting entries on internet logs (weblogs or blogs), use them as a form of self-therapy. This finding went relatively unnoticed by psychotherapists and other mental health professionals. Given the rather significant global population of bloggers (those who post internet journal entries) and readers, and the seemingly intractable problem of mental illness worldwide (according to the World Health Organisation, the global burden of mental illness accounts for more than the burden of all cancers put together), the pos...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tan L Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Evaluating negative process: a comparison of working alliance, interpersonal behavior, and narrative coherency among three psychotherapy outcome conditions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The aim of this study was to investigate the interrelationships of three measures of the therapeutic relationship and their validity in predicting treatment outcome, including the early identification of two treatment-failure conditions. Forty-eight patient-therapist dyads, in 30-session therapies for personality-disordered patients, were classified as premature dropout (DO), poor outcome (PO), or good outcome (GO) cases. Poor and Good Outcomes were determined by a reliable change score. Dropout cases were terminated during the first third of treatment, and patients cited dissatisfaction with the therapy or therapist. ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Samstag LW, Muran JC, Wachtel PL, Slade A, Safran JD, Winston A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Mild Epicureanism: notes toward the definition of a therapeutic attitude.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Psychotherapists generally feel uncomfortable addressing patients' beliefs, particularly religious beliefs, because of the desire to respect client subjectivity and to avoid the abuse of therapeutic authority. This paper's first contention is that at some junctures, investigation of the client's belief structure can be an important catalyst for change, as exemplified by an extended case example. This stance assumes that much of the individual and collective damage rigid belief systems inflict derives from their function as a defense against death awareness, as described by terror management theory. The paper develops t...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 9, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Strenger C Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Embodying the mind: movement as a container for destructive aggression.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Violent, nonmentalizing individuals who act out aggression do not usually respond to verbal therapeutic approaches alone. We suggest the movement in physically oriented therapies, such as yoga and martial arts, combined with psychodynamic psychotherapy are critical in reaching these individuals. We also suggest embodiment as a direct link to the kinesthetic core of easily disturbed attachment experiences. This process embodying the mind requires a safe, containing context found in the therapist. Clinical vignettes show how this might be done in both individual and social contexts. These vignettes also show a way to thi...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 5, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Twemlow SW, Sacco FC, Fonagy P Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Does attachment theory offer new resources to the treatment of schizoaffective patients?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper focused on considering schizoaffective disorder in the light of Attachment Theory: a case of intensive psychotherapy with a patient with a schizoaffective disorder was presented. In this case, Attachment Theory provided a useful framework for understanding the patient as well for her treatment. The core of the treatment was to build a strong therapeutic alliance in which compliance with medication and elaboration of psychological processes could be achieved. This paper could contribute to opening the discussion about the relationship between schizoaffective disorder and Attachment Theory. PMID: 18461842 ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 5, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Schmitt F, Lahti I, Piha J Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Presentations of self and the status dynamics of psychotherapy and supervision.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article explores basic issues in the status dynamics of psychotherapy and supervision. Self-presentation and status markers create a dynamic that affects the participants in psychotherapy and in its supervision. "Political correctness" at times, makes it difficult for trainees to discuss their feelings and observations about status differences with their supervisors. One of the roles of supervision is the rite of passage, involving moving the trainee from the world of nonpsychologist to membership in the community of psychologists. During supervision, the supervisor's self-disclosure of relevant autobiographical detai...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 5, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Schwartz W Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Therapists' responses to training in brief supportive psychotherapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes training clinicians in a form of brief supportive psychotherapy (BSP) for a multisite depression study, and reports on a survey of therapist attitudes toward BSP. We hypothesized that while most therapists would report acclimating to BSP, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-trained therapists would report greater frustration with BSP. Sixteen (89%) of 18 therapists completed a brief questionnaire. Therapists reported gaining comfort with supportive concepts and interventions. Therapists with cognitive behavior therapy orientations did not report significantly greater frustration with intervention rest...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 5, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Markowitz JC, Manber R, Rosen P Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Psychotherapy clients as human phenomena.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this article, clients of psychotherapy are viewed as human phenomena. Viewing them as such reestablishes the true subject matter of psychotherapy. The psychotherapy project includes understanding as opposed to explanation, as one of its essential components. As psychotherapists engage in understanding their clients, they find themselves focusing on subjectivity and interiority, both their clients' and their own. Viewing psychotherapy clients as human phenomena to be understood, in contrast to viewing them as cases to be explained, shifts the therapist's focus to a more complex and interpersonally engaged process, wh...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - July 5, 2008 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Etzi JL Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The institution of marriage: terminable or interminable?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The institution of marriage has received renewed interest and even appreciation in the context of the controversy regarding same-sex marriage. Paradoxically, though, as marriage has become more valued, it has become, in the minds of some, just another life-style choice. This paper presents an overview of marriage and explores the complexities of the institution from historical, anthropological, legal, and sociological perspectives. Marriage has many practical implications, including psychological and physical benefits for men and for women, and particularly for children and adolescents, as well as direct benefits to so...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Karasu SR Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The role of clinical inference in psychoanalytic case formulation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article examines the role of clinical inference in the construction of psychoanalytic case formulations. The principles of analogy, especially in the context of contiguity, the repetition and convergence of themes, the theoretical predilections of the observer, and the assumptions one makes about the operation of the mind are among the major factors that influence the nature of the clinical inferences generated by psychodynamically oriented clinicians. Several clinical examples are presented to highlight the operation of these factors and how they can lead to alternate theoretical formulations. PMID: 17503675 [Pub...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Wolitzky DL Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Shame and guilt: self-reflexive affects from the perspective of relationship and reciprocity.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The understanding of shame and guilt proposed here draws upon the concept of reciprocity to extend approaches based on object relations and structural theory. Shame is understood as an interface affect manifested in the context of external interaction. It constitutes the relational structure of self-consciousness by the internalization of a reciprocal relationship between subject and object. By contrast, guilt is an affective manifestation caused by the differentiation of the subject from a fusion of self and the other. First, it precipitates a disruption between subject and object. Second, it is used to restore onenes...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Seidler GH Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The practice of cognitive-behavior therapy in Roozbeh Hospital: some cultural and clinical implications of psychological treatment in Iran.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Contemporary cognitive-behavior therapy underscores the importance of the culture-specific variables in the treatment of psychological problems. The flexibility and strengths of cognitive-behavior therapy provide us with an excellent opportunity to build a cultural model of cognitive-behavior therapy based on the clinical, as well as theoretical, knowledge of the practitioners and researchers working in different cultural settings. As a first step, we need to share our experiences with the other colleagues working in different cultures. PMID: 17503677 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ghassemzadeh H Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Self-harm in South Asian women: a literature review informed approach to assessment and formulation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The rates of self-harm among South Asian women in the United Kingdom are much higher than among their White counterparts. However, the explanation for this is far from clear, and there is a need for more culturally informed assessments for this group. Using literature review we identified cultural factors associated with self-harm in South Asian women. These findings were used to guide the clinical assessment of an Asian woman who had self-harmed using a personal narrative approach. Three independent clinicians analysed the narrative and identified important themes that gave an insight into the problems associated with...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ahmed K, Mohan RA, Bhugra D Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Expression and treatment of depression among Haitian immigrant women in the United States: clinical observations.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Existing research demonstrates that culture has a profound impact on the expression and manifestation of mental illness, especially on depressive disorders among ethnically diverse populations. Currently, little research has focused on the Haitian population, despite the growing number of Haitians living in the United States. This paper discusses clinical observations of the expression of depression among Haitian immigrant women living in the United States. Specifically, this paper examines three distinctive types of depression (pain in the body, relief through God, and fighting a winless battle), explains their sympto...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Nicolas G, Desilva AM, Subrebost KL, Breland-Noble A, Gonzalez-Eastep D, Manning N, Prosper V, Prater K Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Levels and patterns of the therapeutic alliance in brief psychotherapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We examined the relevance of the level and pattern of the therapeutic alliance in 44 cases of three different, manualized 30-session treatments using patient ratings of the Working Alliance Inventory after each session. It was hypothesized that both high-alliance level and either a linear increase in alliance rating or a series of brief rupture-and-repair episodes would be found in successful treatments. We also hypothesized that a more global high-low-high pattern predicted in the literature would not be present. Consistent with the literature, higher alliance levels were found to be related to improved outcome. As predic...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Stevens CL, Muran JC, Safran JD, Gorman BS, Winston A Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Borderline attributions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Borderline personality disorder is characterized as an identity disturbance or pathology of the self-structure. The author employs concepts from deconstruction philosophy and object relations theory to explore how persons with borderline personality disorder attempt to generate meaning, eliminate ambiguity, and maintain idealizations by assigning polarized attributions of value, agency, and motivation to their experiences. The author proposes that these binary attributions interact to form multiple, discrete self-structures or states of being. Each state is characterized by stereotyped expectations for self and other a...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Gregory RJ Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Therapeutic storytelling revisited.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article (a) relates the many beneficial features that employing stories in psychotherapy can have, (b) offers guidelines for presenting, clarifying, and applying them to patients' unique situations, and (c) presents a sample of therapeutic stories that may be used with a variety of patients. The work is intended to build upon, and is heavily indebted to, the work of many previous authors in the tradition of therapeutic storytelling. PMID: 17760319 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bergner RM Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The psychotherapy of schizophrenia through the lens of phenomenology: intersubjectivity and the search for the recovery of first- and second-person awareness.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Phenomenological analyses suggest that persons with schizophrenia have profound difficulties with meaningfully engaging the world and situating a sense of self intersubjectively, which leads to the experience of self as absent. In this paper we explore the implications of this view for understanding the workings and potential of individual psychotherapy. Following an examination of individual psychotherapy transcripts for over 60 persons with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders we offer four principles for psychotherapy and provide clinical vignettes to exemplify these points. We suggest that the psychotherapy of persons ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Stanghellini G, Lysaker PH Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Recovering from an extramarital relationship from a non-systemic approach.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
According to some systemic thinkers, extramarital affairs are a joint venture between spouses. In an attempt to revitalize an emotionally depleted marriage, partners choose to triangulate a third party, and thus generate a crisis in the marriage. From a systemic point of view, cheating spouses represent the fear of engulfment while cheated partners represent the fear of abandonment, both fears being associated with the process of individuation. From the systems theory point of view, both partners are responsible for creating this scenario, in which there are no victims. This paper will explore the possibility that an e...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Oppenheimer M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Reflective listening in counseling: effects of training time and evaluator social skills.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Psychology students received a 14-, 28-, or 42-hour training course in reflective listening. Before and after training, the students participated in role-played counseling conversations with confederates, who rated them. The conversations were captured on audio- or videotape, categorized, and rated by external evaluators. Results suggested that the students used reflective listening equally after different lengths of training. However, longer training resulted in the confederates disclosing more emotion, the psychology students remembering the information relayed better, and the evaluators perceiving the therapeutic re...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rautalinko E, Lisper HO, Ekehammar B Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Horror films: tales to master terror or shapers of trauma?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The authors review the literature of cinematic-related psychiatric case reports and report the case of a 22-year-old woman who presented with intrusive thoughts of demonic possession and flashbacks of the film The Exorcist. Cinematic neurosis may be considered a form of psychological crisis shaped by exposure to a film narrative that is emotionally and culturally significant to the individual. The structure of horror films are examined from the perspectives of trauma theory, narrative theory, and borderline personality organization theories, using the film The Exorcist as an example. Within this framework, the horror f...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ballon B, Leszcz M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Introduction to a mythical family: how to do experiential psychotherapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Experiential psychotherapy is generally accepted as one of the major families of psychotherapy. One of the main purposes of this introduction to the theme issue is to invite leading proponents and exponents to provide their own answers to the question of how to do experiential psychotherapy, with the emphasis on what would be helpful to students, trainees, and practitioners somewhat familiar with the approach. A second main purpose is to make a case that the very idea of an "experiential family" is a myth. There is no such thing as an "experiential family" of psychotherapies. There are not distinctively common family c...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Mahrer AR Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

The essence of process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Process-Experiential/Emotion-Focused Therapy (PE-EFT) is an empirically-supported, neo-humanistic approach that integrates and updates person-centered, Gestalt, and existential therapies. In this article, we first present what we see as PE-EFT's five essential features, namely neo-humanistic values, process-experiential emotion theory, person-centered but process-guiding relational stance, therapist exploratory response style, and marker-guided task strategy. Next, we summarize six treatment principles that guide therapists in carrying out this therapy: achieving empathic attunement, fostering an empathic, caring thera...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Elliott R, Greenberg LS Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Making space for the inner guide.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The therapeutic relationship is described as a curative factor in its own right as well as facilitative for other tasks. Experiential tasks that facilitate working on the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and existential domains are distinguished. Focusing is an intrapsychic task of paying attention to one's bodily felt experience. Clearing space helps clients finding a right distance for exploring their experience when they are too close or too distanced from their emotions. Interpersonal work takes the lead when maladaptive interactional patterns are hindering the relational life of the client. Metacommunicative feedback ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Leijssen M Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Focusing-oriented experiential psychotherapy: how to do it.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Experiential Psychotherapy originated in Gendlin's Philosopy of the Implicit. Some of its main concepts are bodily felt sense, fresh emergence of words from the felt sense, and carrying forward the implicit with small steps of change. Presented in this paper are many specific examples of what a therapist may say to the client to encourage the bodily felt sense. Dealing with three obstacles to forming a felt sense, intellectual speculation, drowning in emotions, and self-attacking are discussed. The philosophical concepts in the focusing-oriented school of therapy enable therapists to relate any psychological theory to ...
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Hendricks MN Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals

Pre-therapy: the application of contact reflections.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Contact Reflections are the primary method of Pre-Therapy. There are five formalized techniques: situational, facial, word-for-word, body, and reiterative. Together they form a web of psychological contact enabling the development of therapeutic relationships. A case history of treatment with a client with retardation and psychosis is presented with a discussion of the therapist's innovative technique. PMID: 17985531 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy)
Source: American Journal of Psychotherapy - January 1, 2007 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Prouty G Tags: Am J Psychother Source Type: journals