When Social Work and Psychoanalysis Meet

In this paper I share my personal journey from agency social worker to psychoanalyst. I show how I have brought to my psychoanalytic work the teachings of such well known social workers as Mary Richmond, Bertha Reynolds, Gordon Hamilton, and Florence Hollis as well those of such contemporary social workers as the late Gertrude and Rubin Blanck, Nancy Bridges, and Eda Goldstein, among others. In the presentation, I also consider how social work values, social work ethics and social work attitudes have influenced my approach to the practice of psychoanalysis. The attitudes which I refer to, include flexibility, beginning where the client is; an appreciation of the importance of understanding a patient’s cultural background and a recognition of the importance of the relationship in the therapeutic encounter. These were not standard for psychoanalysts at the time I began to practice. Today however psychoanalysis has largely caught up with social work, and this paper affirms how those of us who have had a social work background are well prepared for psychoanalysis in the 21st century.

Never the Twain Shall Meet: A Memetic Analysis of Poverty Perceptions

Poverty, as defined within development discourse, does not fully capture the reality in which the poor live, which is formed also by values and beliefs specific to a given culture and setting. This article uses a memetic approach to investigating the reality of poverty among pastoralists and urban dwellers in Kenya. By distinguishing the semantic space and the cultural context in which the definitions are framed, it enables the researcher to make sufficient generalisations while also recognising the differences between cultures. The results demonstrate how pastoralists and urban dwellers conceptualise poverty differently particularly in regard to causes. Further, the article suggests that development actors often utilise a Western construct which does not entirely reflect the values and beliefs of the poor.     

Contemporary Social Work Education and Psychoanalysis

For the first time, the use of psychoanalytic theory in all United States Graduate Schools of Social Work has been surveyed! A comparative discussion of CSWE statistics is related to the survey. Important shifts in student election of multiple methods are noted. Faculty utilization of multiple theories to understand behavior is also described The need for curriculum emphasis of any idea system to develop an appreciation of possibilities of practice adaptation is inferred.     

Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Social Work Theory

This paper maintains that much in the contemporary postmodern and relational paradigms in psychoanalysis is a refinding of elements of clinical social work theory. To illustrate that, this paper elucidates the pivotal differences between contemporary psychoanalytic theory and classical ego psychological psychoanalytic theory. I describe my own experiences in training, first as a social worker, then as an ego psychological psychotherapist, and finally as a psychoanalyst to illustrate how I began to realize the homologous nature of clinical social work and contemporary psychoanalysis. The beginnings of social casework theory from Mary Richmond and Charlotte Towle are then described. Like Moliere's bourgeois gentleman who discovered he's been speaking prose for forty years without knowing it, perhaps social work theory has been cutting edge for eighty years without knowing it.     

Clinical Social Work and Psychoanalysis: Introduction to the Special Issue

As clinical social work developed in America it was highly influenced by the concepts and techniques of psychoanalysis and many of its practitioners became interested in seeking psychoanalytic training. More and more psychoanalysts are now coming from a background in clinical social work due to the development of a network of interdisciplinary training institutes and the opening of the Institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association to non-medical candidates. This special issue considers how psychoanalysis may be affected as more of its practitioners and contributors come from a background in clinical social work. This introduction reviews the history of the development of clinical social work and outlines the issues related to “lay analysis” in this country.

The Relationship Between Social Work and Psychoanalysis: The Future Impact of Social Workers

Because social workers are likely to have a more expanded role within organized psychoanalysis than previously, it seems timely to consider the numerous challenges and opportunities ahead with respect to social workers’ impact on the practice of psychoanalysis. For those who become social work psychoanalysts, in particular, a pivotal issue is the degree to which they retain their core identity as clinical social workers. It is important for them to integrate and balance the diverse aspects of their dual identity, to participate in our social work organizations, to contribute to developing psychoanalysis, and to work to keep the teaching of contemporary psychoanalytic theories alive in social work education.

Beyond the Pale of Psychoanalysis: Relational Theory and Generalist Social Work Practice

Many have noted the consonance between contemporary relational theory and classic social work values and practice principles such as person in environment and starting where the client is. However, there have been few efforts to explore relational theory’s utility to the generalist social work framework. This paper takes the position that relational theory’s intersubjective stance lends new coherence to classic social work principles, and therefore elucidates the process aspects of evidence-based social work practice. In order to illustrate this point, the author applies relational theory to implementation issues around early childhood home visitation with Spanish-speaking immigrant clients—a social work service modality that, like so many others, does not fall into the category of individual psychotherapy in the context of private practice.     

The Untold Story of Clare and Donald Winnicott: How Social Work Influenced Modern Psychoanalysis

While the work of Donald Winnicott is well-known to clinical social workers, most are unaware of his rich professional collaboration with his second wife, Clare, a pioneering social worker analyzed by Melanie Klein who worked in child welfare, academia, government service, and psychoanalysis. This paper will review their work and lives together, outlining how their relationship expanded Donald's horizons in exploring the interface between psyche and environment.     

The First Interview in Child Protection: Social Work Method and Process

SUMMARY. A particularly problematic aspect of practice is the initial investigation into non-accidental injury. This article describes a social work approach which will be of interest to other disciplines in seeking to understand social work method. Within a task-centred framework, the author outlines three major tasks in initial child protection interviews: safeguarding the child, obtaining an explanation, and establishing a working alliance with the parent. An exploratory interview, following up an allegation of non-accidental injury, is then analysed to highlight the actual social work process or technical moves within it Although a single example is limited in the number of factors it can illustrate, the principle of trying to establish collaborative alliances is clear, if not always possible. The case example should prove useful in training, from whence it has been developed.     

Psychoanalysis and Domestic Violence: Exploring the Application of Object Relations Theory in Social Work Field Placement

Psychoanalytic theories are steadily falling out of favor within many American schools of social work. This lack of emphasis on psychodynamic perspectives deprives students of the rich developmental insight that can be of particular value in field placement settings like domestic violence shelters in which mother/child dyads are typically of clinical significance. However, existing examples object relations theory applied to contexts of domestic violence often fail to interrupt the replication of a hegemonic misogyny that has historically permeated domestic violence literature. In order to avoid unduly blaming women in contexts of domestic violence, clinical social work students interested in utilizing the theory of object relations in their work must employ an array of additional analyses that focus on issues such as race, financial status, and the psychological effects of trauma.     

Teaching the Child Perspective in Social Work Education: Ethical Principles and Classroom Strategies

Aimed at graduate and undergraduate social work instructors, this article identifies the problem of inadequate attention to children in social work education in the US. The authors argue that social work ethics require social work educators to address children as a vulnerable population. They argue that children will be more central in social work education if instructors adopt a child perspective defined by three knowledge categories, development, well‐being and hope, that serve as reference points in teaching. A triangular strategy of position, attitude and action is provided to guide the day‐to‐day use of a child perspective in the classroom. The authors examine sources of the problem, describe its effects on students' education and future practice and provide classroom examples and teaching techniques.     

Film Portrayals of Social Workers Doing Child Welfare Work

This article reports on research that investigated the images of social workers engaged in child welfare work as portrayed in movies, a major medium of popular culture. Findings from an analysis of 27 movies spanning from 1938 to 1999 are presented with particular attention to themes about how children are depicted as recipients of child welfare services and how child welfare worker activities and interventions are portrayed. Ways that the results of the research can guide intervention efforts that more accurately and more completely portray the activities, values, and knowledge base of the profession of social work are suggested.     

Reducing Child Protection Error in Social Work: Towards a Holistic-Rational Perspective

Social work in the UK remains embroiled in concerns about child protection error. The serious injury or death of vulnerable children continues to evince much consternation in the public and private spheres. Governmental responses to these concerns invariably draw on technocratic solutions involving more procedures, case management systems, information technology and bureaucratic regulation. Such solutions flow from an implicit use of instrumental rationality based on a ‘means-end’ logic. While bringing an important perspective to the problem of child protection error, instrumental rationality has been overused limiting discretion and other modes of rational inquiry. This paper argues that the social work profession should apply an enlarged form of rationality comprising not only the instrumental-rational mode but also the critical-rational, affective-rational and communicative-rational forms. It is suggested that this combined, conceptual arsenal of rational inquiry leads to a gestalt that has been termed the holistic-rational perspective. It is also argued that embracing a more rounded perspective such as this might offer greater opportunities for reducing child protection error.     

Kinship Care and Public Child Welfare: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Work Education

Abstract

The growing practice of arranging and financing “foster placement” of abused and neglected children with relatives provides an opportunity to redefine relationships between extended families and the child welfare system. The dilemmas and possibilities presented by kinship care as a child welfare service challenge schools of social work to provide intellectual leadership and to prepare social workers for changing child welfare practice. The author's ideas concerning responses to this challenge focus on key mandates of the Council on Social Work Education's Curriculum Policy Statement and on five principal curriculum areas in social work education.