Family Secrets Research Articles

Experiential-role approach in psychotherapy

The article presents the author's approach to the practice of psychological help, which we call experiential-role psychotherapy. It comes into being as a synthesis of methods of psychodrama, transactional analysis, the theory of systemic family psychology and psychotherapy, and a problem approach to the practice of psychological help based on author’s practical achievements and theoretical models. The essence of the method is the organization of emotional experience and practical experience in a state of role impersonation. The method makes it possible to work with a wide variety of problem topics, situations, relationships. Among them, three directions can be distinguished that determine the specificity of psychotherapeutic interventions. The first direction covers interventions in a state of non-hypnotic age-related regression, using transactional models of redecision and reparenting. Such work allows solving many psychotherapeutic tasks: changing ineffective and destructive scripted beliefs, improving self-relationship, harmonizing relationships with others. The second direction includes interventions focused on experience of physical sensations; their goal is a redecision at the level of the bodily script. This work is aimed at problems related to bodility, including psychosomatic reactions, dysfunctions of individual organs and systems of the body, and even with psychosomatic diseases in the early stages of development. The third direction is interventions within the framework of the family system; here there is a redecision in the state of historical regression at the level of the family-generic script. The work uses the model of the family-ancestral unconscious and is aimed at solving a number of systemic problems related to problematic or traumatic family information, excluded figures, family secrets, etc. Special attention is paid to working with the consequences of collective traumas experienced by a person's relatives and ancestors. In addition to traditional role figures, the work uses specific “age-related”, “bodily” and “historical” roles, that opens up the possibility of successful psychotherapy in working with many problems.

Breda's Island by Jessie Ann Foley

Reviewed by: Breda's Island by Jessie Ann Foley Elizabeth Bush Foley, Jessie Ann Breda's Island. Quill Tree/HarperCollins, 2022 [256p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063207721 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063207752 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-8 After Breda Moriarity's latest episode of petty theft, her mother Maura ships her off for the summer to Granda's farm on Ireland's Dingle Peninsula—an unexpected choice, given that a pregnant teenaged Maura fled to Chicago years ago to escape Granda's anger and disappointment. Granda's not especially warm to Breda, either, but the farm is beautiful, and Breda surprises herself as well as her grandfather with her affinity to and skill with the livestock. Granda also reveals an unexpected role in the small community as a seanchaí, the valued transmitter of traditional lore who can hold a pub—and a granddaughter—beguiled. However, his declaration that any relationship with the local Fahey family is forbidden runs afoul of Breda's need to make some friends, and when she joins that clan for Gaelic football matches, the Faheys shed light on closely guarded Moriarity family secrets. The plot outline may be a familiar one, but the specific revelations contextualize middle schooler Breda's immediate trials within her family's history, particularly Maura's struggle [End Page 351] to make an American life as an undocumented small business owner and Granda's distressing, emotionally-crippling childhood. There's more than a touch of the seanchaí in Foley's own silky prose, and readers who witness the Moriarity family's rapprochement will recognize that it may not promise a fairy tale ending, but it does deliver the right ending. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Między azylem a więzieniem. Metafora domu w powieściach Dom z witrażem Żanny Słoniowskiej i Dim dla doma Viktorii Ameliny

In this article we analyse the topos of the home in two novels set in Lviv: “Home for Dom” by Viktoria Amelina and “The house with the Stained-glass Window” by Zhanna Sloniovska. In both of them, the eponymous ‘home/house’ contains family secrets which are meant to be representatives of the Eastern European fate. The metaphor of a home has several meanings in both novels: it refers to an apartment, a home-city (Lviv) and a homeland. On both dimensions, the home has not been presented as stable and unchanging space. It is rather a symbol of transience than permanence. In both novels, the family stories reflect the problems of identity and memory of the inhabitants of modern Ukraine.

Délire de filiation en temps de guerre et hallucinations de voix anglophones chez un patient schizophrène. La subjectivation d’un héritage familial en creux

AimsThis article describes the clinical treatment of a schizophrenic patient presenting a delusion of filiation, connected to the era of the Second World War, with auditory hallucinations in English (his maternal language being French): that is to say a very uncommon phenomenon. We hypothesized a “genealogical haunting” (as theorized by Maria Torok and Nicolas Abraham). MethodA schizophrenic patient was hospitalized with a case of delusion and a very strong pathological reluctance. He told us progressively about a very rich delusion of filiation whose particularity was the appearance of auditory hallucinations in English, during the first breakdown. We tried to analyze this phenomenon as a genealogical haunting, and to define its origin, while the patient himself was concerned with the link between his origins and his schizophrenic illness. While his delusion persisted, he called upon his interest in genealogy and processes of figuration (metaphoric and objects-messengers, dreams, mythology). ResultsAs clinical interviews familiarized us with the patient's family history, we were able to better understand his hallucinations in English, thanks to the reconstruction of the familial past, and the search for the nucleus of the delusion, thus improving introjection and the symbolization of a traumatic past. This was associated with a lasting improvement in the patient's symptoms, increased psychic freedom, and the opening up of new possibilities in his life. DiscussionLocating the origin of a crypt in a past generation is obviously a delicate task, especially when the crypt appears in the words of a patient suffering from profound delusion. Nevertheless, the proposition of psychotherapy to a patient whose delusions concern a family secret (to what extent the patient's beliefs are truly delusional is difficult to determine, in the absence of hard evidence about his family history) can allow for the elaboration and the symbolization that are necessary in calming – or, in the best case – minimizing the delusion. ConclusionThe transgenerational approach to the effects of genealogical haunting can enlarge our knowledge about the most enigmatic pathological productions, in this case, auditory hallucinations in English in a French-speaking patient. Incorporating this transgenerational approach into psychoanalytic psychotherapy could prove therapeutic, including for certain schizophrenic patients.

Coming Up Short by Laurie Morrison

Reviewed by: Coming Up Short by Laurie Morrison Elizabeth Bush Morrison, Laurie Coming Up Short. Amulet/Abrams, 2022 [304p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781419755583 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781647003678 $15.54 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 4-7 When the Bartletts married, they named their daughter Beatrix, "she who brings joy," to mark their happiness as two widowed people who had found a bright path forward, and Bea has mostly delivered that joy, supported by her parents' attention and reassurance. Her lawyer father, however, has made a string of ill-advised and ultimately unethical business decisions, for which he's lost his stature in the community and been shamed across social media. The fallout for Bea is rough: a move to more modest housing is inevitable; her friends are weird, embarrassed by their parents' animosity toward Bea's family but unable to do much; and her softball skills have totally unraveled. Worst of all, a closet full of family secrets swings open when Bea takes refuge with her maternal Aunt Mary, but a large dose of her aunt's tactful honesty makes Bea realize she's not personally responsible for her parents' past choices, current behavior, or overall happiness. Morrison's tale hits the ground running, and Bea's emotional journey is as deftly chronicled as her time at a softball camp, which backgrounds the summer of her recovery. There are no villains here, just people of all ages who've made decisions they regret but are learning to dust themselves off and do better. [End Page 328] Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Laura Marcus (7 March 1956–22 September 2021)

Laura Marcus (7 March 1956–22 September 2021)

Les Aventures de Tintin, l’œuvre d’Hergé au regard de la psychiatrie

Hergé’s “Adventures of Tintin” is a renowned Belgian comic book series. The twenty-four albums are rich in psychological and psychiatric elements, intricately woven into a smartly written and complex storyline. These elements have, however, seldom been studied systematically from a psychiatric point of view. In the current paper, we propose a systematic review of the series and of the medical literature concerning the psychiatric semiology and phenomenology found in the work of Hergé. The search terms used in the Pubmed database were “Tintin”, “medicine”, “medical”, “health”, “mental”, and “psychiatry”. Upon reading the integrality of the twenty-four albums, the most recurrent themes found were delusions and psychosis, personality disorders, and alcohol and other psychoactive substance use disorders. We then conduct a chronological analysis of the evolution of the representations of asylums and psychiatric hospitals, psychiatrists and the “mad man” throughout the albums. Finally, we present the psychoanalysis of the “Adventures of Tintin”, as developed by the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Serge Tisseron, who, upon reading Hergé’s work, suspected the existence of a family secret that the author might have concealed in his albums.

Introduction: The Politics of Family Secrecy

Histories of family secrecy are often emotionally, morally, and politically ambivalent. They entail fear, shame, pain, and repression, but they also often involve solicitude, tenderness, and degrees of tolerance. This special issue takes secrecy practices as a lens through which to examine the emotionally charged micropolitics of the family and its intertwinements with macropolitical currents, institutional practices, economic patterns, and wider social norms. The present introduction reflects on the key concepts of secrecy and family. In addition, it places the different contributions of the issue in a wider context by outlining some of the main questions and problems related to the historical study of family secrets in dialog with existing literature on the subject.

Aunting as Family Shadow-Work

Women have long been known as family kin-keepers, sources of knowledge about family histories. Yet little has been written on the role of aunts within families, and more specifically on aunts’ domain over sensitive or secret family information. This paper develops the concept of family shadow-work to analyse labours that are unseen yet essential to family life. To do this it explores aunting practices around family secrets using ‘facet methodology’ applied to qualitative research. This analysis highlights aunts’ efforts to manage and transmit information while navigating the politics of family secrecy. While such acts of diagonal transmission may be less recognised as reproductive of family, they are crucial in creating a continuity of family lore, structure, and identity.

Left on a Doorstep: The Role of Infant Abandonment in Preserving and Exposing Family Secrets in Australia 1834–1954

Based on a database of Australian cases from 1834–1954, this article argues that abandonment was an intentional strategy intended to maximise a child's chances of survival while preserving its family's reputation. However, abandonment had the potential to expose family secrets, bringing them into the public gaze and subjecting them to interrogation. Abandonment was also used for revenge, exposing the identity of putative fathers in a demand for financial support. Through this analysis the article positions abandonment as a key site of interaction between the individual and society, and the private and the public in relation to the politics of secrecy.

Photographs, Diaspora, and Identity: Homecoming in Hala Alyan’s The Arsonists’ City

ABSTRACT Hala Alyan is an Arab American novelist and poet. Besides The Arsonists’ City (2021), which will be examined in this paper, she has published a novel titled Salt Houses (2017) and four collections of poetry. This paper argues that Alyan’s novel shows how photographs help the protagonist, Ava, to re-discover her own identity and unveil a forty-year-old family secret. This goal will be achieved by drawing on Roland Barthes’s concepts of punctum and stadium. Ava’s story is situated within the broader context of Palestinian experiences of displacement and homelessness. Her life turns upside down when she spends her summer holiday in Beirut in the late 2010s. She realises her identity by tracing a number of photographs which she finds in an album in her grandparents’ old house in Beirut. Like other Arab novelists in diaspora, Alyan portrays Ava’s identity as a site over which social, cultural and transnational forces converge.

Family secrets: Experiences and outcomes of participating in direct-to-consumer genetic relative-finder services

In recent decades, genetic genealogy has become popular as a result of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. Some DTC genetic testing companies offer genetic relative-finder (GRF) services that compare the DNA of consenting participants to identify genetic relatives among them and provide each participant a list of their relative matches. We surveyed a convenience sample of GRF service participants to understand the prevalence of discoveries and associated experiences. Almost half (46%) of the 23,196 respondents had participated in GRF services only for non-specific reasons that included interest in building family trees and general curiosity. However, most (82%) also learned the identity of at least one genetic relative. Separately, most respondents (61%) reported learning something new about themselves or their relatives, including potentially disruptive information such as that a person they believed to be their biological parent is in fact not or that they have a sibling they had not known about. Respondents generally reported that discovering this new information had a neutral or positive impact on their lives, and most had low regret regarding their decision to participate in GRF services. Yet some reported making life changes as a result of their discoveries. Compared to respondents making other types of discoveries, those who learned that they were donor conceived reported the highest decisional regret and represented the largest proportion reporting net-negative consequences for themselves. Our findings indicate that discoveries from GRF services may be common and that the consequences for individuals, while generally positive, can be far-reaching and complex.

COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE FAMILY

Non-interference in violence against women, considered a "family secret", leads to a deeply rooted problem in society. Because if a man threatens, injures, beats a woman, and if no action is taken, if she is not taken away from the family, of course, this situation will become permanent. This article describes in detail about domestic violence against women, its types and assistance to women victims.

Class Rooms

Class Rooms

The features of legal regulation of personal data of remote workers

To date, the Russian Federation has been formed as an information state, the priority task of which is to protect the interests of the individual, his rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The widespread use of modern technologies, in particular all kinds of transfers of personal data, poses a real threat to the violation of not only constitutional guarantees for privacy, personal and family secrets, but also labor legislation. It should be recognized that electronic document management increases the opportunities for abuse of rights by workers and employers. In the article, the authors analyze some of the problems arising in the processing and protection of personal data of remote workers, law enforcement practice, and also propose ways of improving labor legislation in this field.

Заглавия изданий: между рекламой и прагматикой

The title, as one of the most important elements of any publication, has a dual nature. The aim of the article is to evaluate the correlation of advertising and pragmatic functions in the titles of modern mass literature publications. The study was conducted on the basis of an experiment. Thirty-four titles of fiction publications were the material for it; these are books by the Eksmo Publishing House, published in the first half of February 2022. Respondents were asked to choose no more than five titles of books that they would like to read. After that, they had to briefly describe what they thought each selected book was about. Eighty-five people took part in the survey. Successful book titles (chosen by more than 10% of respondents) and unsuccessful ones (chosen by fewer than 5% of respondents) were taken for further research. All of them were divided into three groups - depending on how accurately the respondents were able to determine the subject, genre or content of the book. The study confirmed the hypothesis that the title of the book should clearly indicate to the potential reader what kind of work awaits them. In some cases, lexical “marking” of a genre orientation is enough for this. According to these signs, the titles Soul Catchers (“souls”: fantasy, mysticism), Looking at the Sea (“sea”: romance), People Are Stronger Than Walls (heroic pathos of comparison) and even Show of Family Secrets (“secrets”: detective, thriller) were correctly interpreted. On the contrary, the title Thrice Risen was associated with mysticism, philosophy, although the genre of the work turned out to be different. The pragmatic component can also be provided by a capacious reflection of the subject matter of the work. On this basis, the problems of books with the titles When Mom is You (“Mom”: the theme of motherhood and relationships with children) and partly Chronicles of the Asylum (“Asylum”: the theme of borderline states of the psyche) were correctly “read”. But the title A Career Requires Sacrifice can be considered unfortunate, since it evoked clear (but false) associations: the difficulty of balancing a career and personal or family life. The book title can also be associated with the text by its style. Thus, the title Looking at the Sea seemed “soft” and “lyrical” to the respondents, which corresponds to the idea of a sentimental novel. In the course of the experiment, the most serious errors of publishers when approving the title were also revealed. One of them is the choice of a title similar to another well-known one (The Mentalist, The Ice Heart). Another common problem is the ambiguity of the title when it includes completely unknown words (The Pursuit of the Pankera) or using complex metaphors (Windows in the Clouds, Rapid Jelly). It is proved that a successful title should be informative and should clearly indicate the genre, thematic focus, problems and style of the work. It also should not contain excessive pathos, should not be stereotyped and should be original enough. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Family Secrets and Narrative Structure in Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng’s novel Everything I Never Told You (2014) has been said to combine some stock ingredients of literary thrillers with other less customary features that complicate its classification in that genre. Although we learn from page one that the protagonist of the novel, sixteen-year-old Lydia Lee, is dead, discovering who is behind the possible murder of this Chinese American girl proves to be one of the lesser mysteries in the story. While the reader remains intrigued by the forces/people that may have driven Lydia to her demise, other enigmas—related to the other members of the Lee family—keep cropping up and turn out to be closely linked to the protagonist’s fate. This article explores the secret-saturated structure of the novel, which moves back and forth between the Lees’ speculations about Lydia’s death, the impact that the event has on their lives and the protagonist’s own version of the story. Ng delves deep into the issues of gender, race and other types of otherness that spawn most of the secrets driving the story. Assisted by theories expounded by Frank Kermode, Derek Attridge and other scholars, the article highlights the centrality of family secrets as a structuring principle in Ng’s novel.

Cultural competence in multi-family psychoeducation groups: The experiences of Russian-speaking immigrant mothers of adults with severe mental illness.

The successful integration of cultural competence with evidence-based practices in mental health services is still limited for particular cultural populations. The current study explored culturally adapted family psychoeducation intervention for immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel who care for a family member with severe mental illness (SMI). Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 immigrant mothers about their experience of taking part in Russian-speaking multi-family psychoeducation groups (MFPGs). Qualitative content analysis revealed five salient processes and changes that participants attributed to their engagement in the intervention: 1) from a language barrier to utilization of and satisfaction with services; 2) from a lack of information to acquiring new mental health knowledge; 3) from harboring a family secret to exposure and sharing; 4) from social isolation to cultural belonging and support; 5) from families blurring boundaries to physical and emotional separation. The results showed that these changes-linguistic, cognitive, emotional, socio-cultural and relational-improved family coping and recovery. Implications for cultural adaptation of family psychoeducation for Russian-speaking immigrants are discussed.

Family Histories, Family Stories and Family Secrets: Late Discoveries of Being Adopted

This paper reviews what we know about the experiences of adopted people who discover in later-life that they are adopted. It begins by discussing how and why various facets of the adoption experience have come to the fore over the 20th and 21st century time span of contemporary adoption. The paper concludes with the fact that research on the late discovery of adoption is in its infancy. It also points to parallels that will exist for people who have been conceived by anonymous donation and raises additional areas for possible research.

The Facts and Family Secrets of Plasmids That Replicate via the Rolling-Circle Mechanism.

Plasmids are self-replicative DNA elements that are transferred between bacteria. Plasmids encode not only antibiotic resistance genes but also adaptive genes that allow their hosts to colonize new niches. Plasmid transfer is achieved by conjugation (or mobilization), phage-mediated transduction, and natural transformation. Thousands of plasmids use the rolling-circle mechanism for their propagation (RCR plasmids). They are ubiquitous, have a high copy number, exhibit a broad host range, and often can be mobilized among bacterial species. Based upon the replicon, RCR plasmids have been grouped into several families, the best known of them being pC194 and pUB110 (Rep_1 family), pMV158 and pE194 (Rep_2 family), and pT181 and pC221 (Rep_trans family). Genetic traits of RCR plasmids are analyzed concerning (i) replication mediated by a DNA-relaxing initiator protein and its interactions with the cognate DNA origin, (ii) lagging-strand origins of replication, (iii) antibiotic resistance genes, (iv) mobilization functions, (v) replication control, performed by proteins and/or antisense RNAs, and (vi) the participating host-encoded functions. The mobilization functions include a relaxase initiator of transfer (Mob), an origin of transfer, and one or two small auxiliary proteins. There is a family of relaxases, the MOBV family represented by plasmid pMV158, which has been revisited and updated. Family secrets, like a putative open reading frame of unknown function, are reported. We conclude that basic research on RCR plasmids is of importance, and our perspectives contemplate the concept of One Earth because we should incorporate bacteria into our daily life by diminishing their virulence and, at the same time, respecting their genetic diversity.