ANALYTIC GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY—For Wives and Husbands

The practice of group psychotherapy has its roots in Freudian dynamics and concepts, and varies from play group psychotherapy to analytic group psychotherapy, using the dynamics of transference, catharsis, interpretation, insight, ego building, reality, and sublimation.This presentation is based on the experience of the author with about 40 women patients formed in groups at a sanatorium. The majority were neurotic, psychoneurotic or manic-depressive. Several were psychotic. Some of the patients were treated in groups that included their husbands, after discharge from the sanatorium.Analytic group psychotherapy is a concept of an attenuated mobile and uncensored societal setting, where persons who have failed in the larger and harsher social reality may again attempt resocialization in a permissive, friendly, and protected environment. It is not to be considered the poor man''s makeshift for individual psychoanalysis. Group dynamics facilitate the regression and catharsis necessary to produce insight and ego strength, leading to more rapid recovery.Husband and wife participation in the same group led to a more tolerant acceptance by the husband of the concept of mental ailment, and empathy for the spouse.The role of the psychiatrist in group psychotherapy is very similar to that in individual psychoanalysis. He represents the reality to the patient and the group. He is objective but permissive, and not passive. Therapeutic goals are the same as in individual therapy, and may focus on the resolution of pre-oedipal conflicts or on situational maladjustments.     

Libido and PTSD

The most frequent PTSD treatment is group therapy. Experiences gained from this kind of work warn us of big difficulties, especially if psychotherapist is an analytically oriented person. He has to do with non-presence of insight. These groups are dominated by projection and catharsis, which is often a source of secondary traumas. However, patients are fond of these group sessions. In the dynamics of such group sessions, what can be recognized is the tendency towards repression of the actual problems a PTSD patient has in his family, at work and in social relations. One of these problems, marked for the intensity of repression and negation, is the problem of libido. Weakness of potency and other libidinous problems are often the source of family problems as well as auto-aggressive acts. Libidinous problems are a taboo topic and the task of a psychodynamically oriented psychotherapeutist is to point out at this problem. Psychotherapeutic process changes its dynamics while directing verbalization to the problem of libido. Apart from readiness for solving the problem, patients with PTSD diagnosis show an interest in the members of their family being involved into psychotherapy. A special dynamics is being developed while solving the libidinous problems of the widows whose husbands were killed in war.     

A psychotherapeutic approach to task-oriented groups of severely ill patients

This paper presents a conceptual approach for leading various types of groups of chronically mentally ill patients. Although these groups may have a concrete, task-oriented purpose, with skillful leadership they also function as psychotherapy groups. The developmental deficits in ego functions, object relations, and social skills that severely impair such groups can be compensated by non-interpretative actions of the therapists. The group leader must actively work to provide for the structure, stability, and safety of the group when group members are unable to provide these for themselves.     

The Executive and Neurosis

Executives are prone to overwork, to need to achieve and to need to compete. The dynamics responsible for this pattern were also the dynamics of the breakdown in 16 executives with neurosis. Overcompensation for inferiority feelings, often originating in low socioeconomic childhood background, and ambivalence to the father with repression of hostility were prominent, the main ego mechanisms of defence being repression and denial. The patients often attempted to turn psychotherapy into discussions and had difficulty in accepting a non-directive approach.     

Spiritualism, Psychoanalysis, and psychodrama

The term "fluids" of spiritualism seems related to the libido concept in psychoanalysis. A mental breakdown explained as possession by spirits with whom the patient has been in contact in another existence (existential situation) seems to have affinity with a phenomena similar to what psychoanalysts call a "flooding of the ego by a return of the repressed." When compared with psychotherapeutic practice, spiritualism reveals clear affinities with psychodrama.     

Developing a global psychotherapeutic approach to schizophrenia: results of a five-year follow-up

This is an account of a long-range action research project to determine indications for and effects of a comprehensive psychotherapeutic approach, including various treatment modalities, in the treatment of schizophrenics. Four diagnostic groups were established among the 100 patients. In the course of data analysis, the group of typical schizophrenics (56 percent) was contrasted to or compared with the entire series. A further diagnostic differentiation was established according to ego functioning; i.e., imminent, acute, regressive, and paranoid ego disintegrations, respectively. Patients and family members were interviewed upon admission, and again two and five years later, and the data recorded on a 163-item form from which 40 clinical and psychosocial variables were constructed after the baseline examinations. In addition to cross-tabulation, logistic regression analysis was employed. The conclusion that the follow-up study supports the effectiveness of our global psychotherapeutic approach to treating schizophrenia seems justified. Results so far indicate that five modes of therapy in addition to drug treatments are optimal for different patients. The five modes are long-term individual psychotherapy, couple or conjoint family therapy for married patients, family therapy with the family of origin, flexible short-term crisis intervention with a family focus, and extensive long-term treatment focused on social rehabilitation for the most ill-starred patients.     

Integration of Cognitive and Psychodynamic Approaches in the Psychotherapy of Somatoform Disorders

From its very beginning (Duhrssen, 1985), many methodologists have regarded the cognitive branch of behavioral psychotherapy as a "bridge to psychoanalysis." The first postulates of cognitive psychotherapy were formulated, and then developed, as an integral current by the dissidents from psychoanalysis A. Ellis and A. Beck. The cognitive approach fertilized behaviorism and helped to overcome its crisis of ideas. The result was vigorous development of diverse cognitive-behavioral psychotherapeutic approaches (of which there were from 11 to as many as 17, depending on which classification is used [Mahoney, 1974; Mahoney & Arnkoff, 1978]). Rejected by psychoanalysis, the cognitive school went on to develop within the context of behaviorism, and is today striving for recognition as an independent area of specialization (Perris, 1988). The general trend is toward its ever greater integration into psychodynamic approaches (Dobson, 1988; Mahoney, 1988), though it retains its cognitive model of mental disorders and develops its own properly cognitive procedures while, at the same time, readily drawing on behavioral methods (see, for instance, Beck, 1990).     

The concept of neurasthenia and its treatment in Japan

The term neurasthenia, which had been widely used in Japan before the Second World War, came to be replaced by the term neurosis thereafter. With this change in terminology, there seems to have been a shift in the popular ideas of minor psychiatric disorders towards a more psychological view. Unlike in the West where psychoanalysis was a major contributing factor, in Japan it was Shoma Morita who contributed to this change by questioning the somatic basis of conditions then diagnosed as neurasthenia and by developing the conceptshinkeishitsu in the early 1920's, rejecting the concept of neurasthenia. In his theory, the development of shinkeishitsu symptoms is explained in terms of certain psychic dispositions and as a vicious cycle of sensation and attention; he formulated a psychological treatment, Morita therapy, which has been very effective for that condition. With the advent of modernization in this country, doubts have been raised whether this form of psychotherapy with continue to be acceptable to modern Japanese. However, in reality many neurotic patients are still being treated with Morita therapy, although analytically oriented psychotherapy is coming to be practiced more and more in recent years. The indigenous psychotherapies represented by Morita therapy and Naikan therapy have deep-seated roots in Buddhist tradition: its values and ideas have been redefined and reformulated into forms of therapy acceptable to modern Japanese.This paper was translated by Ryu Suzuki.     

Treatment of Psychosomatic Disorders

Goals, potentialities and limitations of treatment of psychosomatic disorders are reviewed. Removal of a disturbing psychosomatic symptom may be all that can be accomplished. The bulk of patients suffering from psychosomatic disorders should be treated by physicians other than psychiatrists. Difficulties arise, owing to differences in approach, when treatment is carried out by a general physician as well as a psychiatrist. In appraising the prospects of treatment, the age on examination, intelligence, duration of illness, degree of insight, nature of illness, environmental stress and personality structure of the patients should be considered. Psychiatric measures which have been employed include: electroconvulsive therapy, psychotropic drugs, hypnosis, drug abreaction, group therapy, supportive psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis provides the best understanding of the psychodynamics of psychosomatic illness but is, for a variety of reasons, applicable only to a small number of patients. Alternations and removal of disturbing symptoms can be accomplished by the other therapeutic means.     

Where Empathy in Psychotherapy Originated: C. Rogers,His Psychoanalytic Predecessors and Followers

This article presents a historical-psychological analysis of how the concept of empathy appeared and became established in psychotherapy. It examines in detail the early psychoanalytic approaches of S. Ferenczi and O. Rank and their possible influence on C. Rogers’s laying the groundwork for the role of empathy. For the first time in Russian psychology, the article illuminates certain aspects of the biographies of Rogers and H. Kohut as the founders of new schools in psychotherapy, of which empathy is the paramount feature. Kohut’s self-psychology is analyzed from the standpoint of his postulation of the “threefold” status of empathy as a method of psychology, a tool of the analyst, and the subject of a universal requirement of development. It briefly considers the development of the views of Rogers and Kohut in the latest “experiential” schools in the person-centered approach and intersubjective psychoanalysis.     

虚拟现实技术在健康医疗领域的应用

介绍虚拟现实技术的发展历程及基本概况,综述VR/AR技术在临床技能培训与教育、康复治疗、心理治疗及远程医疗等方面的应用研究,提出健康医疗领域虚拟技术的应用还处于起步阶段,未来将在疾病诊疗、手术模拟、远程医疗、健康管理监测等方面不断发展,对提高医护工作人员的服务水平、改善患者就医体验有重大的意义。     

An integral approach to the victims of war

Contemporary psychotherapy is of integral nature. It is a part of integral medicine and of the integral viewpoint in science. Integrity is the opposite of polarity. There can be no doubt about it, sub-specialisation deepens the insight, simultaneously narrowing the efficiency of any activity. Integration is mandatory if we are to approach the victims of the Patriotic war in Croatia. Biological, psychological, social, philosophical and religious standpoints of an individual and a group of facilitators make the appropriate form of that approach. This is why education of facilitators has been directed towards integral way of thinking.     

浸入式虚拟现实技术在心理学研究中的应用

文章简要介绍了虚拟现实技术的概念、分类以厦构建浸入式虚拟环境的方法。对采用浸入式虚拟现实技术在视空间认知、知觉一运动的协调、心理治疗、社会心理学等领域取得的成果作了简要的评论。讨论了利用虚拟现实技术进行心理学研究的一些独到的优点和局限性,并对未来的研究趋势进行了展望。     

Chronology of Viral Functions in Bacteriophage α

Temperature-sensitive mutants of phage alpha were subjected to short pulses of permissive temperature at various times during the lytic cycle. All the mutants showed an optimal response to the permissive pulse at a specific time after infection. The optimal responses of the mutants belonging to the same complementation group fell close together in the same time interval; the optimal responses of mutants contained in 20 different complementation groups were more or less uniformly scattered throughout the lytic cycle. Temperature sensitivity, therefore, seems to afford, at least in the case of phage alpha, an independent way of grouping the genes in an ordered sequence with respect to the steps they control.     

Serum cholesterol concentration and structured individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy in suicidal and non-suicidal male patients suffering from borderline personality disorder

Findings from numerous studies suggest an association between low cholesterol levels and suicidal behavior in patients with different psychiatric diagnoses. The aims of this case-control study were to test whether cholesterol levels in male suicidal patients (N=20) with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are lower than in male non-suicidal patients (N=20) with BPD and male healthy control group (N=20), and to evaluate the influence of structured individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy on suicidal behavior. The groups were matched for age and body mass index (BMI). Results showed that serum cholesterol levels did not differ significantly between suicidal and non-suicidal BPD patients and healthy controls. The level of psychopathology (measured by Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) was significantly higher in the group of suicidal patients, which indicates the importance of evaluating particular clinical symptoms in BPD, in order to prevent suicidal behavior. Non-suicidal male patients suffering from BPD received more frequently structured individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy prior to the hospitalization than suicidal group. These results emphasized the role of this type of psychotherapy in preventing suicidal behavior in BPD patients.     

Reflections on the meanings of dreams prompted by reading Stekel.

What does it mean to interpret a dream? While reading Stekel, an underappreciated but fascinating author, I was struck both by his keen insights as well as his interpretive limitations. This led to broader questions concerning the polyvocal concept of “meaning” in the interpretation of dreams. This article suggests the meaning of dreams can include wish fulfillments, univocal translations, clarifying the life context, morphological equivalences, associations, and personal history. Stepping back, even the question of “interpretation” versus “appreciation” reminds us that the need, if any, for interpretation will vary depending on who is asking the question. Indeed, reflections on the “who” or ego in the dream leads beyond dreaming to ultimate questions concerning the reality of ego and meditative reflections on what it means to truly be awake and aware of life as it is. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le psychothérapeute psychanalyste « à <Emphasis Type="Italic">l’école de la phénoménologie</Emphasis> »

The mixing of psychoanalysis and phenomenology fosters the development of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis drawing on phenomenology to offer a method of studying and understanding the human being; this creates a genuine form of “anthropology”. Phenomenology’s contributions to psychoanalysis revolve around the three notions of épochè, the understanding of others and transference. On the one hand, épochè (a suspension of natural states of mind, obviousness and knowledge; an eidetic reduction; and an opening to the world and others) ensures better comprehension (“to take with yourself”) of others and their existential projects. On the other hand, épochè prevents falling into the transference and countertransference traps and sets the distance necessary for the hermeneutic act, that is, the interpretation of what is no longer there, what is absent, yet said and indicated by language in psychoanalytic therapy. Through its humanist, anthropological perspective and its overall understanding of the human being, phenomenology leads the way to rethinking clinical psychotherapy to create a more unified discipline.     

The Treatment of Pathological Tendencies and Obsessional Conditions by Diversion Psychotherapeutic Methods

As is known, today's psychotherapy may be divided into two categories: lower-order psychotherapy, in the form of hypnosis or suggestion in the waking state, and higher-order psychotherapy, in the form of treatment by Déjérine's exercise,¹ rational therapy or Dubois's persuasion therapy,² Freud's psychoanalysis,³ and treatment by Martsinovsky's methods.⁴     

Controlled trial of psychotherapy for bulimia nervosa

In a randomised controlled trial of different types of psychotherapy for bulimia 92 women were assigned to receive cognitive-behaviour therapy (n=32), behaviour therapy (30), or group therapy (30) for 15 weeks and a further 20 (controls) assigned to remain on a waiting list for 15 weeks. Eating behaviour and psychopathology were assessed by standard methods. At the end of the trial the controls had significantly higher scores than the treated groups on all measures of bulimic behaviour. In terms of behavioural change all three treatments were effective, 71 (77%) of the 92 women having stopped bingeing. In addition, scores on eating and depression questionnaires were reduced and self esteem improved. Follow up was continuing, but of 24 women available at one year, 21 were not bingeing and had maintained their improved scores on psychometric scales.Bulimia nervosa is amenable to treatment by once weekly structured psychotherapy in either individual or group form.     

Cultural adaptability as an attribute of therapies: The case of morita psychotherapy

Morita psychotherapy, a form of therapy developed in Japan some sixty years ago, has survived extensive changes in Japanese society, and is now enjoying popularity in the United States. This gives us an opportunity to look closely at the concept of cultural fit between an important therapeutic technique and its social milieu, and to speculate about recent changes in American culture that may account for the growing popularity of Moritism. In contrast to Western style `talking therapies' like psychoanalysis, Morita psychotherapy is relatively group-centered, ritualistic, and behavioristic. One would expect to find these features in a Japanese therapy, but their acceptance in America suggests that previously popular Western techniques may not be optimum for handling certain problems of the post-industrial American. McLuhan, Peacock, Douglas, and others have suggested some emerging traits of Western character that might shed some light on this question.