A therapist's pregnancy: An opportunity for conflict resolution and growth in the treatment of children

A therapist's pregnancy is a unique event which holds profound implications for both patient and therapist in any therapeutic relationship, and it inevitably affects the course of the patient's treatment. A number of theoretical and clinical articles have been written over the past 15 years on the topic of the pregnant therapist, but very few have concentrated specifically on the child patient. This article explores the therapist's pregnancy and treatment implications in clinical work with children and offers an in-depth case vignette to illustrate how a child may effectively utilize the experience to work through previously unresolved feelings and conflicts. The therapist's pregnancy can, therefore, provide the child with an opportunity for conflict resolution and growth, if the process is handled in a therapeutically sound and sensitive way.The author would like to thank Ava Siegler, PhD and Jules Glenn. MD for their helpfül suggestions.     

The therapist's pregnancy: Impact on the treatment process

As soon as she becomes aware of her pregnancy, the therapist is confronted with a barrage of issues involving her identity, integration of roles, maternal identification, and redenfinition of important relationships, including those with her patients. While she works at becoming aware of and responding to the dramatic emotional and biological changes of pregnancy, and emerges with corresponding maturational adjustments, her patients enter an often stormy period of therapy in which they respond to the changes in the therapist's appearance, the threat of the growing infant, and the reality of the therapist's needs and inevitable absence for maternity leave. The special event of the pregnancy alters the therapeutic setting and affects both the transference and coun-tertransference, initiating reverberations in the therapeutic relationship which provide opportunities for marked advances in therapy.     

To die in treatment: An opportunity for growth,consolidation and healing

This paper addresses death's place in human development and specific psychotherapeutic treatment, using a case illustration with a dying individual. Based on an ongoing diagnostic assessment and utilizing the principles of ego psychology and object relations along with thanatology and crisis models, formulations of essential treatment parameters emerged. The premises are that psychological growth and change can continue up through this final stage of life, and that a dying person is still an individual with needs similar to, but not identical with, those who go on living. Within this context, realistic and relevant interventions evolved to maximize this individual's capacity psychologically and physiologically to survive longer. As patient passed on to death, he was more intact, less alienated, and psychically and physically more comfortable. This has implications for victims of AIDS along with those who fall under The hammer of fate to catastrophic illnesses long known to humankind.This article is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for certification in The Post Masters Program in Advanced Clinical Social Work at Hunter College (1987). The author expresses appreciation to Laura Melano Flanagan for her contributions to this paper.     

Pregnant teens: differential pregnancy resolution and treatment implications

Profiles on three groups of pregnant teens in a comprehensive social service agency were identified: those who followed through with a parenting plan, those who followed through with an adoption plan, and those who switched from an adoption plan to a parenting plan. Pregnant teens who switched plans were identified as high risk in terms of health histories and psychosocial profiles. Since they represent as much as one-third of the total population, service plans must be made for them that focus on these risk areas. This article addresses the identification of new subgroups in the universe of pregnant teenagers, and treatment implications.     

Support systems: An aspect of social aging for the homosexual male

In the United States, homosexual men in mid and late life have been viewed as isolates and without support systems. The capacity for these men to develop present and have access to future living patterns, based on support systems, has been found to have greater meaning than the labeling of their overall life style has suggested. Research data suggestive of this proposition is discussed.     

Gandhi and the heritage of enlightenment: non-violence,secularism and conflict resolution

This essay re-examines the democratic Enlightenment as a multi-dimensional, heterogeneous, non-Eurocentric and living heritage. Gandhi's political contribution to the Enlightenment heritage is assessed in terms of values, epistemology and practice. Practically, this concerns the French Revolutionary heritage as a paradigm of political action, and Gandhian innovations in terms of mass movements based on the philosophy and practice of non-violence. The essay contends that Gandhi, far from merely an heir to the Enlightenment tradition, also radically challenged, expanded and transformed it. This transformation belongs to a broader re-evaluation of Enlightenment in terms of growth over final ends, held in common with thinkers such as John Dewey. The article critiques predominant arguments that Gandhi was an ‘anti-modern’, whether in a heroic ‘post-modern’ posture or as an enemy of ‘scientific modernity’. It argues for a more sociologically nuanced and historically grounded view of Gandhi in the historical comparative perspective of modern independence struggles, civil society formation and nation-making.     

Victimhood dissociation and conflict resolution: evidence from the Colombian peace plebiscite

Theory and Society - How does violence shape citizens’ preferences for conflict termination? The existing literature has argued that violence either begets sympathy for more violence or...     

Workgroup context and the experience of abuse: An opportunity for prevention

This study examined the relationship between certain workgroup characteristics and the experience of abuse in the workplace. Data were collected from 6540 workers at sixteen work sites among six Fortune 500 companies. Workgroup cohesiveness, workgroup interdependence, supervisory concern, supervisory presence and the percent of women in the workgroup were tested for associations with perceived hostility, harassment and negativity for both women and men. Workgroup cohesiveness and supervisory concern showed the strongest protective relationships. The percent of women in the workgroup was also protective for women on all three abuse measures and for men in relation to experienced hostility and negativity. Workgroup interdependence demonstrated an unexpected positive association for experienced hostility and harassment for both men and women. Findings that identify workgroup characteristics that are protective for employees experiencing workplace abuse will be useful for prevention planning.     

Pockets of opportunity: multicultural marketing strategies for BEP growth

Ranked among the 50 largest food service corporations in America, the Randolph-Sheppard Business Enterprise Program (BEP) represents a challenging and rewarding career opportunity for Americans who are legally blind. In recent years, however, the number of facilities and facility managers has declined. Multicultural consumers represent a major emerging growth market. The multicultural market is one of the most overlooked retail markets in the United States--and the one with the most buying power and growth potential. Multicultural marketing is among the least understood strategies available to facility managers, vocational rehabilitation counselors and BEP directors. Four major minority markets are discussed and marketing strategies are offered to help BEPs target and serve these unique consumers.     

Financial literacy education: An opportunity for colleges and sociology

Financial literacy represents the knowledge necessary to manage one's financial affairs in a way that contributes to overall wellbeing, yet financial literacy and financial education are understudied in sociology. While emerging adults have low rates of financial literacy overall, this article focuses on college students due to increasing college access and student loan debt. Based on the limited literature that assesses college financial literacy education, it appears that these types of programs may serve to advance college students' financial knowledge. Additional mechanisms that serve to develop college students' financial literacy include parent socialization, banking experience, and high school financial education programs. However, not everyone has the same access to these resources. Thus, given the magnitude of the US student debt crisis and persistent economic inequalities, college financial literacy education may prove beneficial for all students, particularly those from economically vulnerable backgrounds. This article serves as an invitation to sociologists to consider financial literacy education as both a worthwhile pursuit in application and as a research topic.     

Conflicts over farming practices in Canada: the role of interactive conflict resolution approaches

An increasing number of articles in professional and scientific journals, as well as in the public press, give evidence to a rising number of conflicts that exist in rural communities. These conflicts arise from changes in farming practices, the increasing number of large-scale production units, resource use, and demographics. Fair, effective and efficient approaches to resolve these conflicts are of increasing interest and importance. An interactive conflict resolution (ICR) approach that focuses on communication and positive social interactions may be a preferred approach for resolving conflicts. The role of ICR approaches in addressing conflicts arising from farming and agri-business practices is presented and discussed in this paper. The paper posits that ICR approaches are efficient from an economic as well as a social perspective and that they provide the greatest potential to realize socially optimal outcomes from a both a theoretical and practical perspective.     

The role of organizational procedures in the resolution of social conflict

Employee-employer conflict can arise from the expression of social issues within an employment organization. Recently, public support for non-discrimination in employment has led to the existence of external forums--regulatory agencies and the courts--that allow appeals for complaints of discrimination by protected groups. This paper examines the role of organizational procedures for conflict resolution where individuals have the option of appealing to an external forum. Through the analysis of internal grievance procedures and external charges in three urban hospitals, the paper explores the origins and expressions of employee-employer conflict in the areas of discrimination, the impact of an internal system on the rate of external charges, and the general relationship between internal and external forums of conflict resolution.     

Community conflict resolution: the development of social capital within an interactional field

Purpose: In recent years, we have seen the concept of social capital incorporated into academic and popular discourse within the United States and across the globe. Social capital has been linked to the differences in land sale prices among agricultural producers to the economic decisions individuals make as they participate in a market economy to educational attainment, and the collective benefit of more effectively managing the physical and economic resources of a collective.Justification for the focus on social capital has been based on the role social capital plays in enhancing the ability of communities to manage human, economic, and environmental capital. High degrees of social capital have been suggested to enhance a community’s ability to manage controversy. Yet, little is known about the development of social capital within a community. Questions arise such as, “Does a community have to have social capital before a conflict develops if it is to successfully resolve a community wide dispute? If not, then what conceptual framework will provide insight into the development of social capital as a community engages local conflict?”This paper provides a linkage between the community literature, which examines community as an interactional field and the evolving concept of social capital. The concept of community as an interactional field was supported by Kauffman (1959) as he presented an argument that community can be viewed as a field of social interaction, which when strengthened and focused, the result is the creation of public good oriented actions. This public focus provides a structure to better organize and manage community wide resources.Wilkinson, a student of Kauffman, continued this conceptual work as he described two fields. The social field and the community field. The primary distinction between the two fields is that in the social field individuals pursue their own self interest while a community field cuts across these fields and is more generalized. It is within the community field that we see collective action focusing on public good.Methods: Drawing upon a case study the question of “how does social capital develop?” is addressed. This paper examines the development of social capital within the context of a community conflict. By examining the process through the lens of community as an interactional field the development and impact of social capital is highlighted. Utilizing a case study of a small rural Nebraska community the process of social capital development is examined as a small geographically isolated rural community engages across social fields building social capital as it heals and gains skills to manage its human, economic and environmental resources.In this paper I provide a theoretical overview of the conceptual components of social capital, link those to the concept of community as an interactional field and use this theoretical synthesis to examine a case study of a small Nebraskan community as it attempts to resolve a serious community conflict.Results: The findings suggest that social capital is a consequence as well as a cause of community action. The interaction within the social field provides a preliminary forum for increased acquaintanceship densities, which provide in-depth personal knowledge about players across social fields and beyond specific self interests. Norms develop, trust and reciprocity evolve from the increased acquaintanceship density across social fields. Social capital develops as the collective action takes on a community focus versus that of a specific individual or organization. In the case of Alton, Nebraska, social capital developed within the community field as the residents engaged in conflict over a local school.Conclusion: This case study provides insight into how social capital not only can enhance the community’s ability to manage resources but may develop as a consequence of collective action such as resolving a local conflict.     

Ranking opportunity sets: An approach based on the preference for flexibility

We describe a criterion to evaluate subsets of a finite set of alternatives which are considered as opportunity sets. The axioms for set comparison are motivated within the preference for flexibility framework. We assume the preference over the universal set of alternatives to be made of two disjoint binary relations. The result is the axiomatic characterization of a procedure which is formally similar to the leximax ordering, but in our case it incorporates the presence of some uncertainty about the decision-maker final tastes. Received: 20 January 1999/Accepted: 20 October 1999     

Pathological gamblers in methadone treatment: A comparison between men and women

This article uses data from interviews with 462 individuals enrolled in methadone treatment programs in New York City to compare the gambling and gambling-related drug use and criminal activities of those males (N=72) and females (N=27) found to be pathological gamblers. Both the male and female pathological gamblers were and continue to be actively involved in various forms of gambling. A greater proportion of males had engaged in almost all specific types of gambling, although differences between males and females were not all statistically significant. Males and females were very similar in terms of their patterns of drug and alcohol use and the substances they used when gambling. Males and females shared some reasons but also had separate reasons as to why they used heroin when they gambled. Males especially may participate in a variety of criminal and hustling activities to have the money to be able to gamble or to pay gambling debts. The implications of this research are discussed.This study was supported by grant 1RO3-DA08348, Prevalence of Gambling Problems Among Methadone Patients, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, awarded to National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. Points of view or opinions in this report do not necessarily represent the official opinions or policies of the United States Government, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY, Illinois State University, or Abt Associates. The authors wish to thank Leila Cahill and Michelle Silverman for their assistance with this research.     

Telephone sessions in the treatment of a child during the therapist's absence because of threatened miscarriage

This paper concerns a specific experience during the treatment of an eleven year old boy when the therapeutic work was interrupted by the therapist's threatened miscarriage which confined her to bed. The patient had been traumatized at about the age of four when a younger sibling was born. Following the birth of the sibling the mother became depressed and was hospitalized for close to a year. Accordingly, the therapist's illness reevoked the patient's early trauma serving to fuse the original event with the interruption of the current treatment. This afforded an opportunity for demonstrating to the patient the persistent effects of the first trauma and the evidence of the unconscious fantasies deriving from it. Under the circumstances it was decided to continue the treatment by telephone.     

Dimensions of conflict for separated families index: An index for family courts

Many services and interventions focus on assisting separated families experiencing high conflict. Yet, little research has focussed on identifying and distinguishing levels of conflict. This research tested reliability and validity of an Index based on assessing 15 dimensions of conflict typical of high conflict in separation. Seventy-seven mothers and 47 fathers receiving services from family courts or social service agencies were assessed by two raters for inter-rater reliability. Internal consistency was high, with Cronbach's alpha = 0.94 (mothers) and 0.96 (fathers). Inter-rater reliability was high, with ICC = 0.85 (mothers) and 0.83 (fathers). Preliminary evidence of validity was found comparing scores on the index to scores on the Conflict Tactics Scale and the Ahron's Quality of Coparenting Communication Scale.