Implications For Psychotherapy Research Articles

The Ecological Paradigm of Mind and Its Implications for Psychotherapy

As the result of a tremendous cross-disciplinary effort, the past 20 years have witnessed huge advances in our understanding of the brain and of the brain's relationship to the mind. A new paradigm of the mind—an ecological paradigm, as Gregory Bateson called it in 1973—has fallen into place. The authors have begun to have a scientific, biologically grounded explanation of how the human brain–mind system works. Despite the likely relevance of this paradigm for psychotherapy, its uptake in the clinical literature has been uneven to date. Accordingly, this article aims to pique the interest of the psychotherapeutic community in the ecological paradigm as a whole, in hopes of stimulating wider discussion and research into its clinical aspects and consequences.

Welche Kategorien des zentralen Beziehungs- Konflikt-Themas stehen in Zusammenhang mit Depressions-Symptomen? Eine explorative Studie/ Which core conflictual relationship themes are consistent with depressive symptoms? An exploratory study

We study the pattern of interpersonal alliances typical of depressive symptoms by means of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method. In an exploratory manner we examine which CCRT-coded wishes, perceived responses from the other and associated responses of the self predict the magnitude of a score on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Interview data from 31 mental health patients were coded (CCRT expanded standard categories system). Relations between the CCRT categories and the dependent variable were examined by combining 1000-fold forward stepwise regression analyses, and multiple regression analyses in which confidence intervals were estimated with the bootstrap technique. Three CCRT categories that jointly explain more than half of the variance were selected: diminished levels of the wish to be understood, and elevated levels of disliking others and of feeling helpless. The results and implications for psychotherapy are discussed within a psychoanalytic context. Suggestions for further research are indicated.

Enactment in Schizophrenia: Capacity for Dialogue and the Experience of the Inability to Commit to Action

While research has steadily begun to explore thoughts and beliefs linked with helplessness and despair in schizophrenia, it is less clearly understood how to account phenomenologically for the related experience of being unable to commit to action in the midst of grave discomfort. To explore this issue, the current paper presents an analysis of the experience of volitional paralysis of two persons over the course of long—term integrative psychotherapy. In particular, we explore the experience of the inability to commit to action and the consequences of the gradual recovery of a sense that one is capable of action. Results suggest that in both cases inaction was tethered to a sense of self as insufficiently centered to survive action. In particular, we suggest both men appeared initially unable to commit to action because such a commitment threatened them with forces both felt would undo the tenuous conversations that comprised their identities. Finally, as a sense of self as capable of action emerged, both men began to experience themselves as relatively more complex human beings and to sustain more complex conversation within themselves and between themselves and others. Implications for psychotherapy and rehabilitation are discussed.

Narrative in the Study of Resilience

The authors trace the contribution of narrative studies to the study of resilience. Narrative studies infiltrated the mental health field more slowly than they did the medical and social sciences, despite its long reliance on "talking therapies. " With the development of the Adult Attachment Interview, however narrative studies began to come into their own in developmental psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. Narrative studies are an especially apt tool in resilience studies. The authors discuss their use in this context, considering also some theoretical questions about the nature of narrative and its implications for psychotherapy.

Concepts of Care in Organizational Crisis Prevention

The role of ethics in organizational crisis management has received limited but growing attention. However, the majority of research has focused on applications of ethical theories to managing crisis events after they have occurred, as opposed to the implications of ethical theories for the primary prevention of these situations. The relationship between concepts derived from a contemporary ethic of care (resistance, voice, silence, connection) (Gilligan, C.: 1988, ‘Exit–voice Dilemmas in Adolescent Development’, in C. Gilligan, J. V. Ward and J. M. Taylor (eds.) (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 141–158, Gilligan, C.: 1990, ‘Preface’, in C. Gilligan, N. P. Lyons and T. J. Hanmer (eds.) (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA), pp. 6–29, Gilligan, C.: 1991, ‘Women’s Psychological Development: Implications for Psychotherapy’, in C. Gilligan, A. G. Rogers and D. L. Tolman (eds.) (Harrington Park Press, New York), pp. 5–32), and, concepts derived from a classic theory of organizational decline and recovery (exit, voice, loyalty) (Hirschman, A. O.: 1970, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms,Organizations, and States (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)) is described. The relevance of these notions for signal detection and uptake in organizational crisis prevention is discussed. Implications for prevention are highlighted through consideration of a case involving organizational crisis, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. Directions for both business practice and future research are identified

Rumination and dysphoria: The buffering role of adaptive forms of humor

The current study examines the effects of rumination and humor on individuals’ dysphoria level. Measures of humor (affiliative and self-enhancing), rumination, and depressive symptoms were completed by 303 undergraduate students. Consistent with our hypothesis, both affiliative humor and rumination independently accounted for variance in dysphoria levels. In addition, self-enhancing humor and rumination were independently associated with dysphoria. Moreover, significant interactions between affiliative humor and rumination, and self-enhancing humor and rumination, on dysphoria also emerged. Results indicated that among individuals with high rumination, those with high affiliative and/or self-enhancing humor had significantly lower levels of dysphoria than individuals with low affiliative and/or self-enhancing humor. The combination of low affiliative and/or self-enhancing humor and high rumination led to substantially higher levels of dysphoria than any other combination. Implications for psychotherapy and research in this area are discussed.

Between Arrogance and a Dead-End

The interpretive turn in the human sciences has profoundly influenced interpersonal, postmodern, and now relational psychoanalysis. Although it has transformed psychotherapy theory in many ways, some important philosophical difficulties have also followed in its wake. In this paper I examine two founders of the interpretive turn, the hermeneuticist Martin Heidegger and the postmodernist Michel Foucault. Practitioners of both theories feature an understanding of human being that is historical or cultural, and yet, admirably, attempt to avoid historical determinism. Some hermeneuticists do so by emphasizing how historical traditions intersect and then affect one another; some postmodernists do so by emphasizing the experiential and heuristic importance of the sociopolitical periphery. I examine these two strategies and their implications for psychotherapy by critiquing Heidegger's involvement in National Socialism and Foucault's limited vision of the moral: Heidegger's monocultural arrogance and Foucault's extreme relativism. I argue that both positions are deficient, and suggest that Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutic concept of dialogue (enhanced with some of Antonio Gramsci's socialism) can remedy both flaws and point the way toward more helpful psychotherapeutic applications of the interpretive turn.

Attachment and Borderline Personality Disorder: Implications for Psychotherapy

Background: Psychopathology researchers and theorists have begun to understand fundamental aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD) such as unstable and intense interpersonal relationships, feelings of emptiness, bursts of rage, chronic fears of abandonment, intolerance for aloneness, and lack of a stable sense of self as stemming from impairments in the underlying attachment organization. In the present study, we will examine self-reported attachment in a study group of well-characterized patients reliably diagnosed with BPD. Sampling and Methods: Ninety-nine outpatients reliably diagnosed with BPD using the International Personality Disorders Examination, completed a number of attachment measures including the Relationship Questionnaire, Relationship Style Questionnaire, and Experiences in Close Relationships inventory. Results: Factor analysis revealed six factors that clustered into three groups corresponding to an avoidant attachment pattern, a preoccupied attachment pattern, and a fearfully preoccupied pattern. The preoccupied pattern showed more concern and behavioral reaction to real or imagined abandonments, whereas the avoidant group had higher ratings of inappropriate anger. The fearfully preoccupied group had higher ratings on identity disturbance, although only at the trend level. Conclusions: The psychometric properties and response characteristics of the ECR items suggest that the scales, keying, and domains are appropriate for assessment of attachment in BPD samples. The scales generally retain their factor structure and show a similar pattern of correlations and inter-relationships. Nevertheless, consistent with a developmental psychopathology model, there are some important differences in factor structure, indicating the need to look at both typical and atypical samples when constructing models of attachment. Further research is needed to delineate the prognostic and prescriptive significance of attachment patterns for treating patients with BPD.

The Abyss Experience and the Trauma Complex: A Jungian Perspective of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Dissociation

ABSTRACT This article analyzes Carl G. Jung's theory of universal archetypes and complexes in the context of understanding traumatic experiences and the development of PTSD and dissociation. First, Jung's idea of psychological complexes as emotionally formed constellations of experiences centered around a unifying theme are discussed. Second, Jung set forth eight dimensions of constellated complexes, which are reviewed and compared to the core processes of PTSD, dissociation and their associated features. Based on comparisons to Jung's model of generic complexes, it is possible to define the Trauma Complex as a set of psychological processes which are archaic and typical, i.e., “archetypal.” The Abyss Experience is discussed as the core set of fear based emotional responses inherent in traumatic experiences and integral to understanding the unconscious dynamic of traumas impact to psychological functioning, with implications for psychotherapy. The implications of the Trauma Complex are discussed as a more inclusive psychodynamic conceptualization of PTSD and dissociative processes. The inner and outer worlds of trauma (i.e., conceptual paradigms) are explored from different etiological models. By identifying the underlying structures of the Trauma Complex and the Trauma Archetype, a wide array of post-traumatic intrapsychic dynamics involving the self, unconscious mechanisms, dissociative processes and symptom manifestations can be seen in a psychodynamic framework.

THE VIEW OF THE SYSTEMICIST: A CONVERSATION

In this reflective dialogue, Humberto Maturana speaks about his understanding of living systems and its implications for psychotherapy. Dismissing the myth of "instructive interaction," Maturana argues that a simple causal conceptualization of therapeutic procedures producing precise and predictable effects in clients is incoherent with a theory of structure-determined systems. Instead, he contends that every therapeutic action is embedded in a network of relationships, whose dynamics must be appreciated by therapists in order for them to participate in the client's system and at the same time maintain the distance necessary to relate reflectively and in a noncontrolling fashion. Maturana contends that the profound and un­biased understanding that can follow from this stance fosters an awareness of the observer-dependent nature of "pathology," and provides grounds for a critique of larger cultural systems in shaping the distress or liberation of their members.

Attachment, ethology and adult psychotherapy

This article discusses Bowlby's development of an ethological-evolutionary perspective, and its implications for psychotherapy with adults. According to Bowlby, attachment behavior is instinctive, having emerged throughout the course of evolution to ensure protection and actual survival. Because the environment affects how attachment behavior unfolds, adverse experiences can divert developmental pathways away from resilience, toward dysfunction and emotional distress. Psychotherapy offers the experience of an attachment relationship. Part of the process involves helping patients understand that feelings such as fear and anxiety are inherent responses to safeguard affectional relationships when they are endangered. As working models are re-appraised and revised, there is emphasis on clarifying the attachment experiences that may have intensified these natural feelings.

E-Mail Communication as an Adjunct to Systemic Psychotherapy

E-Mail Communication as an Adjunct to Systemic PsychotherapySusan H. McDanielSusan H. McDaniel1. University of Rochester School of MedicineSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:June 2005https://doi.org/10.1521/jsyt.22.3.4.23355PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutReferencesBrown , E., Sheese, B., & Graziano, W. (2002, August). Written emotional expression and health: A new study using e-mail. Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, Illinois. Google ScholarLange , A., Schoutrop, M., Schrieken, B., & Van de Ven, J. (2002). Interapy: A model for therapeutic writing through the Internet. In S. LePore & J. Smyth (Eds.) The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Wellbeing (pp. 215–238). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Google ScholarLePore , S. J., & Smyth, J. M. (2002). The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Well-being. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Google ScholarMarlo , H., & Wagner, M. K. (1999). Expression of negative and positive events through writing: Implications for psychotherapy and health. Psychology and Health, 14, 193–215. Google ScholarMcDaniel , S. H., Harkness, J. L., & Epstein, R. M. (2001). Differentiation before death: Medical family therapy for a woman with end-stage Crohn's Disease and her son. In S. H. McDaniel, D. D. Lusterman, & C. L. Philpot (Eds.) Casebook for Integrating Family Therapy (pp. 323–336). Washington, DC: APA Publications. Google ScholarMurray , B. (2002, June). Writing to heal. Monitor on Psychology, 54–55. Google ScholarPenn , P., & Frankfurt, M. (1994). Creating a participant text: Writing, multiple voices, narrative multiplicity. Family Process, 33, 217–231. Google ScholarPennebaker , J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8, 162–166. Google ScholarPetrie , K. J., Booth, R. J., Pennebaker, J. W., Davison, K. P., & Thomas, M. G. (1995). Disclosure of trauma and immune response to a hepatitis B vaccination program. J of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 787–792. Crossref, Google ScholarSmyth , J. M., Stone. A. A., Hurewitz, A., & Kaell, A. (1999). Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. JAMA, 281, 1304–1329. Google ScholarWir e Services (2002, June 24). Ann Landers' last column to run on July 27. Democrat & Chronicle (p 1C), Rochester, NY. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. E-mail support as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: Impact on dropout and outcomeOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. Therapeutic Letters as Relationally Responsive PracticeOnline publication date: 13 February 2009. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar3. E-mail at work: A cause for concern? The implications of the new communication technologies for health, wellbeing and productivity at workOnline publication date: 5 September 2013. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. Clinical Implications of Students' Use of Online Communication for College PsychotherapyOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar5. Technology Integration and Behavioral AssessmentOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar6. E-mail och Längtanstårtan terapeutiskt arbete med tonåringar i tidenOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar7. STUDYING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: METHODLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUESOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 22Issue 3Sep 2003 Information© Guilford Publications Inc.PDF download

Theory and Practice: Narratives of psychotherapy in modern English literature

Narrative offers us a unique opportunity to enter an imaginative space in which to make sense of experiences and emotions in a playful way. In this study we posed the question: ‘How do novelists portray counselling in contemporary fiction?’. We found that the most effective practitioners were those who formed a strong, meaningful therapeutic relationship with their clients and who adopted a reflective, critical stance on their own practice. With regard to theoretical orientation, the most favourable accounts were of existentialist–phenomenological and cognitive–behavioural approaches. Client-centred and psychodynamic approaches were mainly portrayed negatively. Overall the importance of the therapeutic relationship as overriding considerations of schoolism was confirmed. The implications for psychotherapy and psychological counselling are discussed.

Telling lies? An exploration of self-deception and bad faith

If self deception is a lie that one tells to oneself, then paradoxically the deceived is also simultaneously the deceiver. This paper considers two contrasting conceptualizations of self-deception: A.R. Mele's (1987) account of cognitive functioning and J.P Sartre's (1989) existential exploration of ‘bad faith’. Both writers seek to resolve the ‘paradox’ of self-deception or bad faith without recourse to the positing of mental partitioning or the Freudian unconscious. Mele uncovers and lays bare the underlying structure of self-deception, revealing it to consist in desire-driven perceptual and interpretational shortcomings. Sartre's analysis of bad faith emerges from his ontology and is bound up with his notions of ‘being-for’ and the tension between personal ‘transcendence’ and ‘facticity’. Finally, the implications for psychotherapy of Mele's and Sartre's accounts are considered.

Meanings of Perfectionism: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

Quantitative and qualitative analysis is used in this article to explore the meaning of perfectionism. The defining feature of perfectionism appears to be high personal standards. The distinction between having high standards and the affective, intrapersonal, and interpersonal responses to living up to those standards distinguish adaptive from maladaptive perfectionists. Adaptive perfectionists seem to be less distressed when high standards are not achieved whereas maladaptive perfectionists experience considerable distress. Individual interviews with perfectionists and non-perfectionists refined the meaning of perfectionism as one thatgenerallyencompasses elements of distress andtypicallyemphasizes the desire to perform well. Other typical features of perfectionism also emerged and yielded several implications for psychotherapy and future research.

PSYCHOTHERAPY AS THE INTERPRETATION OF BEING: HERMENEUTIC PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy recently has been interpreted by hermeneutically-inspired writers and scholars in ways that emphasize the historical, sociocultural, moral, and political embeddedness of psychotherapeutic practice. Following a brief introduction to the core ideas of twentieth-century Continental hermeneuts, more recent work is discussed that has applied these ideas directly to the interpretation of psychotherapy. The authors' own reading of these hermeneutic writings indicates that psychotherapy can be understood as a practical, moral, and interpretive attempt to assist clients by extending their understanding of their lives and concerns in a specific way. The enhanced understanding that is sought takes the form of clarifying the particular existence of clients in ways that relate to human existence in general. In the final section of the article, the authors' understanding of psychotherapy as the interpretation of being is discussed, and implications for psychotherapy are drawn.

Focusing on the positive, focusing on the negative: implications for psychotherapy.

Each of the contributions in this special section challenges some of our preciously held notions. We are challenged to be aware that an overfocus on positivity and optimism can be tyrannical, see the positivity in the negativity, realize that some pessimism can be adaptive, see that complaining has positive value, and be aware that false hope is not necessarily bad. Through an examination of these, I have suggested that (a) we have to be careful to deeply respect the individuality of our clients and to take seriously the possibility that there is some "ecological wisdom" in their apparently dysfunctional behavior, and (b) what is more important than optimism-pessimism, complaining versus not complaining, or false versus realistic hope is the degree to which the client adopts a task-focused orientation towards problems.

Affect regulation in borderline personality disorder: experimental findings from psychophysiology and functional neuroimaging.

Intense and rapidly changing mood states are a major feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD), which is thought to arise from affective vulnerability. There have been only a few studies investigating affective processing in BPD, and particularly neither psychophysiological nor neurofunctional correlates of abnormal emotional processing have been identified so far. Studies are reported using psychophysiological or functional neuroimaging methodology. The psychophysiological study did not indicate a general emotional hyperresponsiveness in BPD. Low autonomic arousal seemed to reflect dissociative states in borderline subjects experiencing intense emotions. In the functional magnetic resonance imaging study enhanced amygdala activation was found in BPD, and it is suggested to reflect the intense and slowly subsiding emotions commonly observed in response to even low-level stressors. Implications for psychotherapy are discussed.

Constructivist psychology of child abuse and implications for psychotherapy.

Abstract This paper reviews constructivist and related literature on child abuse and psychotherapy. Constructivist psychology, with its emphasis on the personal, socially embedded construction of meaning, is uniquely situated to contribute to humanistic psychotherapy for child victims and adult survivors. Conversely, work with abused clients deepens our understanding of developmental meaning‐making processes and the social ecologies of meaning within which they unfold. Constructivist approaches to child abuse are inherently humanistic, focusing on the child victim's and adult survivor's attempts to make meaning of their experiences, including the often traumatic experiences of abuse and the relational contexts in which it occurs. This paper first discusses how constructivist psychology may deepen our understanding of the impact of abusive experiences, the reverberation of those experiences through subsequent living, and the role of constructivist therapies in the healing process. Secondly, this paper expl...

The Humanistic Psychology and Positive Psychology Connection: Implications for Psychotherapy

This article explores the common ground between positive and humanistic psychology and responds to positive psychology’s challenges to humanistic psychology about research and a concern for social values. It begins with a brief review of the humanistic psychology movement and shows how its many developments in fact constitute a “positive psychology.” Next, the article moves into an exploration of the unique research approaches and areas of study dictated by the primacy in humanistic psychology of human experience. The article shows how positive psychology can gain from recognizing the merit of experiential, process-oriented research methodologies. The article concludes by highlighting the ways that the new emphasis on happiness and optimal experience promoted by research psychologists not only affirms humanistic psychology’s principles but also serves to reinforce some of the positive directions long practiced by experiential, existential, somatic, and spiritually oriented psychotherapies.