Interpersonal Disputes Research Articles

Treating Bipolar Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewFull AccessTreating Bipolar Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to Interpersonal and Social Rhythm TherapyScott Stuart M.D.Scott Stuart M.D.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Jan 2007https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.2007.58.1.145AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail The newest addition to the growing collection of interpersonal psychotherapy treatment (IPT) manuals is Treating Bipolar Disorder . In the tradition established by cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) researchers, IPT is being adapted to the treatment of a variety of psychiatric disorders. Ellen Frank has been at the vanguard of the empirical testing of various IPT models, including the use of IPT as a maintenance treatment and as an intervention for depressed patients with panic spectrum disorders. Unlike other IPT textbooks, this text describes an intervention that is a deliberate hybrid of IPT and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT). The SRT component was developed by Frank's research group and rests on the premise that disruptions in social rhythm—for example, time of waking, sleep onset, and eating—lead vulnerable individuals to be at higher risk for onset of depression or mania. SRT relies heavily on activity scheduling and behavioral interventions and resembles the initial stages of CBT or behavior therapy. It is the use of these techniques with patients who have bipolar disorder that is novel.The elements of IPT described in the manual mirror those in the standard IPT textbooks for depression. The interpersonal formulation and a focus on the problem areas of role transitions, interpersonal disputes, grief and loss, and interpersonal deficits or sensitivities form the foundation of the intervention. Frank has added another problem area labeled "grief for the lost healthy self," which she describes as useful in assisting patients to cope with the chronic life changes that often accompany severe bipolar disorder. Many wonderful case examples illustrate the use of IPT with these problem areas.The unique aspect of IPSRT is the coupling of the general behavioral approach with IPT. This allows a sequential approach in which behavioral interventions are aimed at regulating social rhythms. This focus is maintained throughout, but as the patient's daily routine becomes more firmly established, treatment focuses on the interpersonal ramifications of bipolar disorder and works on recognizing and accepting the limitations imposed by the illness.The book is a superb manual for beginning therapists and those with limited training. The intervention relies very heavily on the use of scales and self-report forms that are used both to monitor the patient's concrete behavior and as behavioral interventions. These are reproduced in the appendix and are a resource all clinicians will find useful. IPSRT also provides a clear structure that is of benefit both to difficult patients and to their therapists.For the more experienced therapist, however, it is not entirely clear that IPSRT differs from interventions that a seasoned clinician might provide. The SRT component relies heavily on psychoeducation, on enhancing compliance with medication, on recognizing and avoiding stressors, and on straightforward behavioral interventions that should be in the armamentarium of all well-trained clinicians. Interventions directed toward the "loss of the healthy self" bear much similarity to acceptance and commitment therapy, with a focus on accepting the limitations imposed by bipolar illness and positive adaptation to them. Moreover, there is little empirical data supporting the specific elements of IPSRT, though there is a wealth of clinical experience that undergirds it.This should not be seen as criticism but as a reflection of the reality that all of the empirically validated psychotherapies are far more similar than different. It is also clear that adaptations such as IPSRT, which provide a structure for the application of good general psychotherapeutic techniques to specific populations and individual patients, are moving the field forward.Dr. Stuart is professor of psychiatry and psychology and director of the Mood Disorders and Psychotherapy Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 58Issue 1 January, 2007Pages 145-145PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES January 2007 Volume 58 Number 1 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 January 2007 Published in print 1 January 2007

Culturally Determined Patterns of Violence: Biological Anthropological Investigations at a Historic Urban Cemetery

Patterns of violence and the type and distribution of resulting injuries are highly culturally specific. In this study, skeletal data from a historic cemetery (St. Martin's, England) are combined with contemporary sources and modern clinical data to enable the patterning of violence‐related injuries to be interpreted. Particular consideration was given to the possibility of a relationship between commonly occurring types of violence and those that are popular in sport. Phillip Walker (1997) suggested that the growth of fist fighting in the early‐20th‐century United States was stimulated by the rising popularity of boxing. At St. Martin's, a pattern of injuries consistent with fighting in a style specific to boxing is evident, suggesting that developing boxing styles were influential in 18th‐ and 19th‐century Britain as the accepted way of settling interpersonal disputes. This research underlines the importance of interpreting skeletal data in their specific cultural context to gain the maximum information on patterns of behavior.

Party-Directed Mediation: Pushing the Envelope in Interpersonal Disputes

Mediator styles vary on a number of dimensions. One such factor relates to degree of mediator directiveness. This paper introduces and defends a model - Party-Directed Mediation - that empowers parties involved in interpersonal disputes to increasingly take more responsibility for the resolution of their conflict. In recent decades a number of mediation styles have moved away from mediator-directed approaches for conflicts of an interpersonal nature, with the idea of empowering parties. The Party-Directed Mediation approach pushes the envelope in terms of empowering parties and reducing mediator directiveness. This is mainly accomplished through two somewhat controversial techniques: (1) the pre-caucus (where the mediator meets alone with each party before ever bringing both parties together); and (2) the party-directed joint session (where the parties sit facing across from each other and direct their comments to each other rather than to the mediator). Not all conflicts lend themselves to Party-Directed Mediation. The model is especially designed for conflicts affecting co-workers, neighbors, those involved in family owned businesses and other instances where parties will continue to live or work together after the mediator goes home.

The Process of Change in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for Depression: A Case Study for the New IPT Therapist

This case study involves a set of transcripts of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) sessions from the Christchurch Psychotherapy for Depression Study. The case study explores the techniques employed by the therapist for a depressed patient who has identified interpersonal disputes as the interpersonal area to focus on. The psychotherapeutic interventions utilized by the IPT therapist included: seeking information; exploring parallels in other relationships; exploring relationship patterns; exploring communication patterns; signalling what is significant; providing support, exploring affect; exploring options; problem—solving; drawing analogy; and challenging. The themes that emerged in the patient's response to IPT were: struggling, deconstructing, connecting, practicing and reconstructing.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy as a Treatment Model for Depressed Adolescents with Chronic Medical Problems

Many adolescents with chronic medical disorders experience psychological distress and mental health problems, including depression. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited individual psychotherapy which was originally developed for the treatment of depression in adults. It explores the patient’s interpersonal problem areas such as grief, interpersonal disputes, role transitions and interpersonal deficits, which then become the focus of the therapy. Controlled clinical studies have shown the efficacy and effectiveness of this therapeutic model for the management of adolescent depression. This article explores the applicability of IPT to adolescents with depression and chronic medical problems using theoretical concepts and research evidence from the adolescent development and health psychology literature. The specific interpersonal problem areas of IPT are relevant to the difficulties faced by these adolescents, although some modification of standard adult IPT may be necessary.

Partners No More: Relational Transformation and the Turn to Litigation in Two Conservationist Organizations

The rise in litigation against administrative bodies by environmental and other political interest groups worldwide has been explained predominantly through the liberalization of standing doctrines. Under this explanation, termed here “the floodgate model,” restrictive standing rules have dammed the flow of suits that groups were otherwise ready and eager to pursue. I examine this hypothesis by analyzing processes of institutional transformation in two conservationist organizations: the Sierra Club in the United States and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI). Rather than an eagerness to embrace newly available litigation opportunities, as the “floodgate” model would predict, the groups' history reveals a gradual process of transformation marked by internal, largely intergenerational divisions between those who abhorred conflict with state institutions and those who saw such conflict as not only appropriate but necessary to the mission of the group. Furthermore, in contrast to the pluralist interactions that the “floodgate model” imagines, both groups' relations with pertinent agencies in earlier eras better accorded with the partnership-based corporatist paradigm. Sociolegal research has long indicated the importance of relational distance to the transformation of interpersonal disputes. I argue that, at the group level as well, the presence or absence of a (national) partnership-centered relationship determines propensities to bring political issues to court. As such, well beyond change in groups' legal capacity and resources, current increases in levels of political litigation suggest more fundamental transformations in the structure and meaning of relations between citizen groups and the state.

Observers' perceptions of an interpersonal dispute as a function of mode of presentation

Communication researchers have employed a number of modes for presenting stimuli to subjects including written accounts, audio and videotapes, and live performances. The use of these different modes could be potentially problematic if the mode of presentation influences variables measured in the research. This study investigated whether the modality employed to present stimuli to subjects (written transcript vs. videotape) influences perceptions of a conflict situation. The results revealed that whether observers learned about the dispute by transcript or viewing it on videotape had no effect on perceptions of argumentative or verbally aggressive conduct, the estimation of verbal aggression, or ease of assessing the dispute. Attitudes toward dispute behaviors and dispute resolution were influenced by presentation mode, however. These findings have implications for the role of mode of presentation in communication research.

Negotiation, Power in Conciliation, and Review of Compensation Claims

Workers Compensation claims are not interpersonal disputes. Almost always they are disputes between individuals and corporations. Compensation insurers are “repeat players” in the system. Workers are often “one–shotters” who have little or infrequent contact with the system. Power inequality between the worker, employer, insurer, and those who are required to facilitate negotiations and resolve and settle disputes under compensation legislation are matters of considerable importance. This paper examines the effects of the implementation, in 1993, of informal dispute resolution processes in the Western Australian workers compensation system under the Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 1981(WA), which excluded lawyers from the process. It argues that preexisting power imbalances have been aggravated by these procedural changes, and in particular, by the exclusion of legal practitioners from the dispute resolution process. The issues raised herein have general application to most workers compensation systems.

The Assessment of Mediation Outcome: The Development and Validation of an Evaluative Technique

This article describes a new, multidimensional instrument, the Assessment of Mediation Process and Successful Outcome (MPSO). The MPSO was designed to assess the effectiveness of mediations involving interpersonal disputes between adults. The development proceeded in several steps. First, we identified several dimensions relating to mediation success and explored how mediation is evaluated in terms of its successfulness by reviewing literature and corresponding with professionals in the field. Next, evaluations of mediation success dimensions were differentiated into 1) what happens during mediation (process dimensions) and 2) what indicates success (outcome dimensions). Third, we created operational definitions and multiple-item subscales that assess each dimension. Finally, subscales were determined from two separate efforts: 1) examining forty mediations conducted as a part of a quasi-experimental study and 2) analyzing data from 122 actual mediation clients. The instrument is useful to administrators who manage court and community-based mediation programs. This instrument can determine the successfulness of mediation sessions in terms of client satisfaction and perceptions of distributive justice, relationship change, and the overall resolution of the conflict. Administrators can also determine the quality of the mediation process.

Supporting Accountability in the Field of Mediation

Over time, many fields of work—law, medicine, and teaching—matured from informal bodies of knowledge and skills, passed from one practitioner to another, into professions. In the process each began enumerating and affirming their intellectual and practical roots. Each also began testing practitioners to insure comprehension of relevant knowledge and an ability to demonstrate relevant skills. Family mediators in Canada have moved in this direction. In the United States, people who mediate interpersonal disputes also feel pressured to take additional steps to assure the quality of our work. This article summarizes what mediation organizations in the United States have done and could do to vouch for work in our field. But, taking additional steps calls for a clearer understanding of what a mediator should know and what they are expected to do. These two critical pieces of information remain nebulous. So, this article goes beyond describing ways of insuring accountability by also describing a recently completed job analysis, a tool frequently used in other fields of work to describe the skills and knowledge relevant to a particular job.

Koreans in the Hood: Conflict with African Americans

Conflict between Korean Americans and African Americans attracted national attention in the aftermath of the 1992 Rodney King trial in Los Angeles. The news media seized upon the violent riots and depicted Korean shop owners as gun-wielding exploiters of the African American poor. Absent from the barrage of media coverage was the Korean American point of view and experience of the inner city economy and racial relations. This new volume of essays written largely by Korean American scholars adds substantially to our understanding of interracial, multiethnic conflict by examining relations between the Korean American and African American communities in three major American cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Edited by sociologist Kwang Chung Kim, the book brings together similar yet contrasting studies of Korean American and African American conflict. Korean Americans find themselves economically powerful, but weak politically. African Americans, however, wield considerable political clout even though they may have little economic power. Koreans in the 'Hood offers the Korean American perspective on coexisting with African Americans in some of the poorest areas of American cities. Each chapter focuses on a particular city and experience, offering a unique opportunity for inter-city comparison as the contributors explore three overt forms of Korean American and African American confrontation: interpersonal dispute, boycott, and mass violence. The first part of the book examines Korean American experience of the conflict in Los Angeles. It then details the social, political, and economic tensions arising from the African American boycott of Korean fruit and vegetable merchants in New York. The final chapters concern the Korean American experience of conflict in Chicago. Throughout, the authors rely on empirical data and seek to trace the roots of conflict, the consequences, and future directions of relations between the two groups. What emerges is an unique account of Korean Americans caught between the poor African American population and the larger, more affluent white population.

In Practice: Defining Mediator Knowledge and Skills

A two‐year collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and advisers from the major national organizations of mediators produced a job analysis relevant to mediators involved in interpersonal disputes (i.e., divorce, community, formal parent‐child mediation, etc.). One byproduct of the job analysis is an extensive list of the knowledge areas and skills important to effective job performance. This essay defines the knowledge and skill areas that emerged from the analysis.

Introduction: Problem‐Solving Courts

Problem‐solving courts have become a significant feature of the U.S. justice system, and their popularity appears to be growing internationally with courts under way or in development in countries such as Australia and Great Britain. Drug courts are the most visible type of problem‐solving court, but other varieties are beginning to take hold. Mental health courts, domestic violence courts, and community‐based courts among others are beginning to handle a considerable portion of the legal workload in many jurisdictions. Criminal law violations as well as neighborhood conflicts and interpersonal disputes are increasingly being referred to problem‐solving courts rather than to traditional criminal or civil courts.

Psicoterapia en Atención Primaria: consejo interpersonal para la depresión

In this work we review the general principles of P r i m a ry Health Care counselling for depression as it is described in the Primary Health Care version of the original Interpersonal Therapy for Depre s sion Gerard Klerman’s manual. We review the four i n t e rvention focus, that is: grief, role transitions, interpersonal disputes and interpersonal deficits and we bring clinic vignettes extracted from the cli nical practice.

Mediation in black and white: Mediation center‐police partnerships—a dignified police response

AbstractThis article addresses how mediation center‐police partnerships, in which police are mere referral agents for mediation centers, perpetuate superficial responses to police calls‐for‐service, social inequality, social subordination, and the already had police‐people of color relationship. I take an alternative position, which calls for mediation centers not to discourage police officers from doing what they have been doing all along (although selectively): mediating. In this regard, I show how partnerships that discourage police officers from transferring power in interpersonal disputes perpetuate the fundamental social problem of racially discriminatory policing. Specifically, the problem is that of mediation being performed less frequently in communities of color than in other communities. A mediation center‐police partnership that looks to many mediation professionals like a healthy, traditional institutional arrangement could justifiably be perceived by people of color as contributing to social injustice.

Defining Mediator Knowledge and Skills

A two-year collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and advisers from the major national organizations of mediators produced a job analysis relevant to mediators involved in interpersonal disputes (i.e., divorce, community, formal parent-child mediation, etc.). One byproduct of the job analysis is an extensive list of the knowledge areas and skills important to effective job performance. This essay defines the knowledge and skill areas that emerged from the analysis.

The Social Dimensions of Interpersonal Dispute Resolution: A Test of a General Theoretical Framework with Survey Data

Studies of social control most often focus on the deterrent effects of informal or formal social control mechanisms. In this study I draw on theory designed to explain variation in the form of social control itself. Arguing that most social control is exercised in the context of interpersonal disputes, I attempt to explain variation in the form of social control used to resolve disputes. The theoretical model posits that both the social reality of the conflict and the social location of the aggrieved party will condition the social control response. I test propositions drawn from this model with individual‐level survey data on a sample of respondents from a metropolitan parish in the south central United States. The results for the empirical test of the theoretical model are mixed. I conclude with suggestions for future research.

Interpersonal psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa.

This paper outlines the rationale for treating individuals with anorexia nervosa using interpersonal psychotherapy. We review theoretical, empirical, and psychotherapy literature relating to interpersonal functioning in anorexia nervosa. Etiological theories emphasize interpersonal and family dysfunction in the development of anorexia nervosa. Research supports the notion that families of individuals with anorexia nervosa have dysfunctional patterns of communication. The history of treatment for anorexia nervosa emphasizes the need for resolution of interpersonal dysfunction, within the traditions of psychodynamic, family therapy, and multidimensional therapies. Interpersonal psychotherapy is a time-limited psychotherapy based on the notion that regardless of etiology, interpersonal relationships are intertwined with symptomatology. The goals of the therapy are to improve interpersonal functioning and thereby decrease symptomatology. Factors identified as important in the development of anorexia nervosa are readily conceptualized within the interpersonal psychotherapy problem areas of grief, interpersonal disputes, interpersonal deficits, and role transitions.

Gender-Related Effects in Emotional Responding to Resolved and Unresolved Interpersonal Conflict

The current study examines gender differences in affective responding of 58 men and 52 women to various forms of resolved and unresolved interpersonal disputes. The participants were predominantly Caucasians from middle to upper middle class socioeconomic backgrounds. Resolved disputes were perceived as less angry and more okay and happy, and unresolved disputes evoked more anger than resolved disputes did, with continued fighting evoking more anger than did lapsing into the silent treatment. Women reported feeling more angry than did men during both forms of unresolved disputes, and more happy during arguments ending with either apologies or compromises. Men perceived the actors as more sad and reported feeling more okay during arguments than did women. The results extend findings from the children's literature regarding the effect of resolution on emotional responding, and illustrate important gender differences for adults.

Principles of Islamic Interpersonal Conflict Intervention: A Search within Islam and Western Literature

The purpose of this paper is to discuss potential principles for interpersonal dispute resolution models within an Islamic context. Such a task requires an Islamic researcher to walk a fine line in order to avoid falling in one of two methodological traps. The first trap is to draw upon western literature on conflict analysis and resolution without sufficient consideration of whether and how that literature may be applied in an Islamic setting. The subtle assumptions underlying most of the conflict intervention models developed in the west have gone undetected, until recently. The other trap is to embark upon a review of the existing Islamic literature relevant to conflict. This approach leads directly to entrapment in circles of legalistic interpretations developed centuries ago, which lack the spirit of conflict resolution as a movement for social change and an interdisciplinary field of research.