The Case Study Method in Psychodynamic Psychology: Focus on Addiction

The case study method has been essential in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy, since it is the only way to describe and explore the deepest levels of the human psyche. Addiction is no more and no less than a particular psychological mechanism, identical at its core to other psychological compulsions, and is therefore best understood and reported by this method that explores the mind in depth. We will discuss the value of the case report method in general and in specific with regard to psychoanalysis and addiction, criticisms raised about this method, and comparisons of it with nomothetic research.     

The Case of Rosie: An Adlerian Response

This response is based in the perspective of Individual Psychology, especially in addressing Rosie's stated sense of failure in each of the three life tasks identified by Alfred Adler (1964) as confronting all human beings and defining the requirements for successful adaptation. These are (a) the social task of friendship and making one's place in the community; (b) the task of love and sexuality; and (c) the task of work. Each of these is dictated by the social character of human being, and is seen as ineluctable, given the way humankind's successful evolution was secured by the capacity for language, the revering of social-sexual bonds, and the exchange of goods and services through the division of labor.     

The adventures of Case Connie (1975): a tool for reflecting on practice?

This was one of a number     

Where angels fear to tread: Richard Schoenherr (1935–1996)

Richard Schoenherr, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin — Madison, passed away unexpectedly on 9 January 1996. He is memorialized in this essay for his scholarly contributions in the areas of teaching, research, and service.     

How to Maintain High Retention Rates in Long-Term Research on Addiction: A Case Report

High dropout rates threaten the validity of longitudinal studies involving participants suffering from substance use disorder (SUD). The objective of this article is to evaluate strategies to improve retention. The data analysis was based on an ongoing study of long-term recovery of neurocognitive and psychosocial functions. We used traditional strategies to enhance the contact rate. Common factors in psychosocial treatments and biweekly Short Message Service (SMS; text messaging) monitoring were added to further increase the contact rate. The participants (n = 146) were recruited from treatment facilities for SUD. Assessments were measured at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months. This study was successful in retaining a cohort of participants who are typically characterized as having a negative prognosis because of their unstable living arrangements and incomes. Compared to those using GHB, addictive medications, and opiates, the retention rate was the lowest among participants with severe alcohol use disorder (42%).     

The Viability of Readiness Assessment in Contributing to Improved Career Services: Response to Jepsen (2000)

This article responds to D. A. Jepsen's (2000) commentary on Sampson et al.'s theory‐based approach to using readiness assessment to improve career services (J. P. Sampson, G. W. Peterson, R. C. Reardon, & J. G. Lenz, 2000). Three topics are included in this response: the reliability, validity, and utility of readiness assessment measures; verbal ability and the use of cognitive information‐processing theory in practice; and the potential contribution of reflective evaluation in career decision making. This article concludes with recommended research questions to examine the impact of readiness assessment on the effectiveness of career service delivery.     

Institutionalization of Trust as Response to Globalization: The Case of Consumer Cooperatives in South Korea

This paper explores an explanation which elaborates how individuals effectively enact and sustain trust in the sphere of social economy and the capability. I discuss how value employed by actors and the strategies and power relation in the socio-economic value sphere and focus on the function of ‘trust’ as the key mechanism of the interaction. This paper examine South Korean consumer cooperative Hansalim as a case of social economy which successfully institutionalize their system in competitive economic market arena.      

Response to the Kris Poasa Article The Samoan Fa'afafine: One Case Study and Discussion of Transsexualism

No abstract available for this article.     

Exposing College Students to Exercise: The Training Interventions and Genetics of Exercise Response (TIGER) Study

Abstract

Objective: The Training Interventions and Genetics of Exercise Response (TIGER) study is an exercise program designed to introduce sedentary college students to regular physical activity and to identify genetic factors that influence response to exercise. Participants: A multiracial/ethnic cohort (N = 1,567; 39% male), age 18 to 35 years, participated in the study. Methods: Subjects underwent 30 weeks of exercise training, 3 days/week, for 40 minutes at 65% to 85% of age- and gender-predicted maximum heart rate reserve. Multiple measures of body size/composition, heart rate, and blood pressure were obtained. Results: A total of 1,567 participants, (39% male), age 18 to 35 years, participated in the TIGER study. The prevalence of overweight/obesity in participants was 48.0%/19.3% in non-Hispanic Whites, 55.3%/24.2% in Hispanic Whites, 54.9%/25.4% in African Americans, and 38.3%/11.3% in Asians. Average within-semester retention was 68%, but overall retention (30 weeks, 2 semesters) was 20%. Conclusions: The TIGER study represents an efficacious strategy for introducing college-aged individuals to regular aerobic exercise.     

Rapid Response to a Conjunctivitis Outbreak: The Use of Technology to Leverage Information

Abstract

When an outbreak of conjunctivitis was identified at a rural New England college early in 2002, the college health center medical staff used various information management and communication systems to alert the community to the situation. They called upon the state Department of Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help them understand and manage the outbreak. Technological systems already in place at the college allowed for rapid collection of data by means of a survey delivered over the Internet and a carriage study facilitated by a Web-based appointment and communication system. Within days, the data were collected and analyzed and an immediate response to contain the outbreak was launched.     

Welfare‐to‐Work Reform and Intergenerational Support: Grandmothers' Response to the 1996 PRWORA

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA; Pub. L. 104‐193) in the United States aimed at encouraging work among low‐income mothers with children below age 18. In this study, the author used a sample of 2,843 intergenerational family observations from the Health and Retirement Study to estimate the effects of the reform on single grandmothers who are related to those mothers. The results suggest that the reform decreased time transfers but increased money transfers from grandmothers. The results are consistent with an intergenerational family support network where higher child care subsidies motivated the family to shift away from grandmother provided child care and where grandmothers increased money transfers to either help cover the remaining cost of formal care or to partly compensate for the loss in benefits of welfare leavers.     

Civil Society Meta-organizations and Legitimating Processes: the Case of the Addiction Field in France

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - To cope with the new challenges inherent to their political role, civil society organizations must convince their...     

Counseling for the Family: The Neglected Aspect of Addiction Treatment in Canada

ABSTRACT

There has been a historic neglect of both research and practice in the area of counselling for the family members of alcohol or other drug abusers by the addiction field in Canada. As a result, treatment for individual family members affected by alcoholism and other drug addiction remains a neglected component of the majority of Canadian addiction programs. When family involvement is incorporated, the tendency has been to concentrate on orientation and education rather than on the provision of counseling for the family members. This dearth of programming exists despite the knowledge that an active alcohol or drug abuser's behaviour disrupts the entire family system, including the functioning and development of children. Each family member is uniquely affected with negative outcomes ranging from economic hardship to violence being perpetrated against them to an increased risk among children of becoming alcohol or drug abusers themselves. Thus, treating only the active alcohol or other drug abuser is limiting and an overly narrow orientation for the enhancement of both family and community health.     

Gang Leader for a Day: A Response to the Critics

This essay provides a response to Clampet-Lundquist, Charles, and Young's comments on my book Gang Leader for a Day :