The client's affective impact on the therapist: Implications for therapist responsiveness

Affective authenticity, a modulated, shaded registration of a client's affective impact on the therapist, may provide one component of a reparative opportunity in therapy. Building on infant studies that indicate early forms of sociability and empathy, the author argues that having an impact is a lifelong need. She draws on feminist critiques of abstinence to support her view that therapy can repeat the power imbalances characterizing many clients' historical contexts, if the therapist does not respond to her client's affective influence in an attuned way. A case example of a client with AIDS illustrates some of these ideas.     

The therapist as a catalyst in promoting separation-individuation

This paper describes a therapeutic approach to patients fixated at or regressed to a developmental point in the separation-individuation phase. The normal developmental sequence from autism and symbiosis to the achievement of a position of on-the-way-to object constancy as elaborated by Mahler and her colleagues is summarized. Though the original experience cannot be replicated, a precise understanding of what has been missed in the early dyad between mother and child enables the therapist to help repair lesions and promote growth through the patient-therapist relationship and carefully designed interventions. A case illustration is offered of treatment of a patient with profound difficulties at the symbiotic phase which impede negotiation of separation-individuation.     

Termination: When the therapist leaves

Despite an expansion of our knowledge about loss and grief little has been written on the experience and techniques employed during a forced termination. This article examines the theory, applications of theory, and transference/countertransference issues surrounding the author's experience as she moved to another state and transferred or terminated with her patients.Paper presented at the Fourteenth Annual Symposium of the New York Center for Psychoanalytic Training, March 1989.     

The role of the therapist: what effective therapists do

After expressing enthusiastic agreement with Blow, Davis, and Sprenkle's (in press) call for research focused on what effective therapists do in therapy, this article dissents from two notions that serve as the foundation for these authors' ongoing advocacy of client-worldview/model-worldview matching as a privileged means of enhancing therapeutic outcome. In response to their assumption that client-worldview/model-worldview dissonance almost inevitably produces a therapy-threatening disruption of the therapeutic alliance, two scenarios are described in which such dissonance can not only be compatible with, but might also even contribute to, positive therapeutic outcome. In response to Blow and colleagues' notion that extant research supports the superior efficacy of client-model matching, this article underlines that the research they cite is substantially mute on the matter of switching models in order to accommodate to client worldview.     

Through a glass darkly: Chronic illness in the therapist

This paper is about doing psychotherapy while suffering from a chronic illness. The purpose is to describe the manner in which ongoing irreversible pain integrates itself into the life of any human being, but specifically that of the therapist. The process of weaving the experience into the life narrative and in turn the therapeutic narrative is explored.     

Aging in a critical world: The search for generational intelligence

Critical gerontology attempts a radical approach to adult ageing drawing on both the personal experience of older adults and their relationship to social and structural inequality. In this paper the author uses personal historical experience to chart a critical approach to intergenerational relationships and draw out lessons and new directions for a revitalised critical approach to adult ageing. The concept of generational intelligence is introduced, as a joint project with another author, and as a bridge toward future intergenerational solidarities.     

The role of the therapist in common factors: continuing the dialogue

The common factors debate conducted on the pages of this and other major family therapy journals has evolved toward a preliminary consensus that the therapist plays a crucial role in activating and effectively bundling common and model-specific factors in the delivery of successful treatment. However, Blow, Sprenkle, and Davis (2007) remain unconvinced that therapist-worldview/model-worldview congruence, which I have hypothesized plays a determinative role in enabling the therapist to effect this activation and bundling, does, indeed, play such a role. In this article, I use key findings of Davis and Piercy's (2007a, 2007b) recently reported research on common factors to answer Blow and colleagues' objections to my hypothesis.     

Public good and private good valuation for waiting time reduction: a laboratory study

In a laboratory experiment, subjects were endowed with money and waiting time. Preferences for waiting time reduction were elicited with salient rewards both as a private good and as a public good. The allocations of the public good that were theoretically predicted by the Nash equilibrium and the Lindahl equilibrium, respectively, were computed from the individual private good valuations and compared with the subjects?? actual contributions. We found a significant positive correlation between private good valuations in terms of willingness-to-pay and public good valuations in terms of voluntary contributions. Group contributions to public waiting time reduction significantly exceeded the non-cooperative prediction and were close to the socially optimal level. However, for a majority of subjects, the Lindahl equilibrium was not able to predict the observed contributions.     

German-Polish migration: the elusive search for a German nation-state

"This article examines past and present migrations to Germany from the perspective of nation-state formation.... Focusing on the many experiences with the Polish minority (ranging from the eighteenth century to the present), this essay suggests that Germans have never discovered an acceptable and workable approach for dealing with large non-German minorities in the German nation-state. Rather, different regimes at different times have vacillated between an exclusive approach founded on nationalist principles and practices and an inclusive one founded on liberal principles and practices.... The confusion over the two approaches produces not only a confused immigration policy, but also reflects deep-seated confusion over the definition of the new German state and identity of the newly united German nation."     

Using cosmetics: The social construction of a consumer object

In this study, the consumption of cosmetics is examined as a social construction. Methods industry uses to sell cosmetics, including advertising and personal demonstrations; ways that consumers decide whether to purchase cosmetics; and the ways in which users actually use cosmetics are discussed. Rather than the structural view of consumers as passive victims of the marketing process, consumers are seen as active decision makers who, jointly with the messages they receive, construct the meanings of products.     

The good organization speaking well: a paradigm case for religious institutional crisis management

Arguing that too much organizational apologia research focuses on the mistakes of big, for-profit corporations, this study examines the discourse of a religious institution that faced allegations of wrongdoing and cover-up. Specifically, this essay analyzes the discourse that surrounded the disclosure by the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) that a number of students at Mamou Alliance Academy in Guinea, West Africa, had been abused over a period of time (1950–1971) while their parents served as missionaries. The authors argue that the C&MA is engaged in ethical crisis management and is paradigmatic of what George Cheney has called “the good organization speaking well.”¹     

Dsm-iii-R and the family therapist: ethical considerations

DSM-III-R has gained popularity in many segments of the mental health field. Family therapists have generally not found its approach to assessing problems to be helpful in the planning of therapy, yet, are often forced to use it due to the requirements of third-party payers. This raises several ethical and practical concerns, e.g., the incompatibility of orientations between DSM-III-R and family therapy, the stigma associated with diagnosing, being asked to misrepresent diagnoses to third-party payers, and the competency of some family therapists to make DSM-III-R diagnoses. Short- and long-term strategies to deal with these ethical dilemmas are also presented.     

The impact of therapist pregnancy on the treatment process

Therapist pregnancy is a powerful emotional stimulus and a real-life event that affects clients and the treatment process. In the present paper, previous literature is reviewed and clinical experiences of the author in a university counseling center are reported to address how therapist pregnancy influences clinical treatment. Although therapists often hesitate in emphasizing their pregnancy, evidence suggests that it is easy to underestimate the importance of the pregnancy for clients. Case examples are presented which demonstrate client responses and the significance of the pregnancy for four female clients. Gender differences in client reactions are not fully understood, and it may be particularly difficult to facilitate male clients in dealing with issues stimulated by the pregnancy. These clinical findings suggest that in a variety of settings, understanding and working with clients' reactions to the therapist's pregnancy can enhance treatment.     

North African labour migration: The search for alternatives

The varying responses of the Maghreb countries to the closure of the West European labour markets to immigrant labour inflows in 1973 are examined. While Algeria has affirmed its commitment to the return and re‐integration of its migrant community, Tunisia and Morocco have pursued policies of migrant re‐direction. Although emigration to Libya has increased substantially, fluctuating political relations made this a highly unstable destination. Government efforts to secure employment opportunities in the Gulf emirates and in Saudi Arabia have been markedly less successful. Long‐term solutions to the employment problems of the North African states demand radical new policies.     

The search for sustainable communities

Community Voices: Creating Sustainable Spaces, edited by Sally Paulin. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press, 2006. 256 pp., $35.95 paper.