American Journal of Psychotherapy back issues from January 2001:
Ancient templates: The classical origins of psychoanalysis
Jan 01, 2001; ... In dreams The beastly and savage part (of the mind) ... endeavors to sally forth and satisfy its own natural instincts ... there is nothing it will not venture to undertake as being released from all sense of shame and all reason. It does not shrink from attempting to have intercourse ...
Therapeutic action: A new theory
Jan 01, 2001; ... This article introduces a new clinical construct: "Interaction structure." Interaction structures are recurrent, mutually influencing patterns of interaction between therapist and patient. The experience, recognition, and comprehension of the meaning of such repetitive interactions are a ...
Psychotherapy for massively traumatized refugees: The therapist variable
Jan 01, 2001; ... In the treatment of severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), much emphasis is put on techniques, especially behavioral therapies. Such techniques negate the importance of the therapist as an individual in the treatment of complex PTSD as presented in severely traumatized refugees. The ...
Is couple therapy indicated for borderline personality disorder?
Jan 01, 2001; ... The healing aspects of intimate relationships are being recognized by therapists and supported by empirical findings. Little has been written regarding the indications for couple therapy for individuals with borderline personality disorder. This paper proposes a three-level hierarchy for ...
Active treatment of depression
Jan 01, 2001; ... Despite advances in medication and psychotherapeutic methods, most patients with depression are subject to frequent recurrences and lead damaged lives even when they do not meet criteria for an episode. This article suggests an active, directive, educational treatment approach for patients with ...
Enhancing self-belief with EMDR: Developing a sense of mastery in the early phase of treatment
Jan 01, 2001; ... Deep inside each of us is a seed that holds our vision of truth, peace, and happiness. Our early childhood attachments, societal influences, and innate capacity determine how well that seed is nurtured and the deepest inner vision is set free. This article is about the ways that vision becomes ...
Freud's unfortunates: Reflections on haunted beings who know the disaster of severe trauma
Jan 01, 2001; ... I try to make the ghosts within me speak. (1, p. 143) The forms of dissociation are multiplex and must include a type of dissociation that represents human beings' fundamental inability to process and represent severe trauma. This article posits a form of dissociation-resulting from ...
A religious psychiatrist's ethnographic self-report
Jan 01, 2001; ... REFLECTIONS The religious identity of psychiatric patients is deemed important as it may impact upon the understanding of patients' problems and the quality of the therapeutic relationship. It would seem important that the psychiatrist should also be sensitive to the role of his/her own ...
Letters to the editor
Jan 01, 2001; ... Dear Editor: While I very much appreciate the attention Dr. Shamasundar gave in his Commentary to my recent praxis paper, I am sorry to have to say that he seems to have missed the essentials of that article (Am. J. of Psychotherapy, 2000, vol. 54, pp. 43-54). First, he ...
Training psychotherapists in attributes of "mind" from Zen and psychoanalytic perspectives, part I: Core principles, emptiness, impermanence, and paradox
Jan 01, 2001; ... This paper outlines the principles of a conceptual foundation for an innovative approach to the training of the modern psychotherapist, using certain technical and philosophical precepts found in the practice of Zen, divorced from its usual role as a form of Buddhism and/or a religious belief A ...
Training psychotherapists in attributes of "mind" from Zen and psychoanalytic perspectives, part II: Attention, here and now, nonattachment, and compassion
Jan 01, 2001; ... Part II of this paper enumerates four additional attributes of mind derived from Zen that could enrich the training of a psychotherapist. These include: training and modulation of the therapist's attention, the centrality of the concept of "here and now," what it is and is not, and the natural ...
Felicia's journey: An object-relational study of psychopathy
Jan 01, 2001; ... This paper examines Atom Egoyan's film, Felicia's Journey, based on the novel of the same name by William Trevor, from an object-relational viewpoint. The protagonist's characteristic defense mechanisms of splitting, projection, and denial, which are characteristic of the schizoid position, are ...
Rediscoverig existential psychotherapy: The contribution of Ludwig Binswanger
Jan 01, 2001; ... Ludwig Binswanger, a founder of the existential school of psychiatry, attempted to apply philosophical ideas derived from Martin Heidegger, such as Heidegger's views on the mind-body problem, to the understanding and treatment of psychiatric patients. Binswanger also interpreted Heidegger's ...
The narcissistic function in obsessive-compulsive neurosis
Jan 01, 2001; ... Freud's intrapersonal concept of anal-sadistic regression is set against the interpretation of obsessive-compulsive neurosis as a structural ego deficit. The interpersonal dimension that comes to the fore as a result of this, becomes clear if we focus on obsessive-compulsive behavioral disorder: ...
General introduction to the psychotherapy of Pierre Janet
Jan 01, 2001; ... This article deals with Pierre Janet's concept of "Psychological Analysis" (analyse psychologique). It brings out Janet's criticism of Sigmund Freud's ideas, and delineates the difference between psychological analysis (Janet) and psychoanalysis (Freud), Further it points out that Janet's ...
Re-minding the body
Jan 01, 2001; ... The author discusses a fragment of the analysis of a patient who had experienced both neglect and sexual molestation during early childhood. The analysand had developed a defensively hypertrophied form of mindedness in an effort to gain some sense of control over bodily experience, which ...
Schizoid anxiety: A reappraisal of the manic defense and the depressive position
Jan 01, 2001; ... The author views the manic defense as a combined attempt to control persecutory objects and to save them from the aggressive forces within the ego. Rather than strictly a manifestation of depressive guilt, it is also a defense against the fear of destroying the object and subsequently the self ...
Psychotherapy in consultation-liaison psychiatry
Jan 01, 2001; ... Psychotherapy in the Consultation-Liaison (C-L) setting is shaped by the realities of the patient's situation, since all patients referred are dealing with physical illness. The patient's state of physical and mental health will determine both the type of therapeutic work possible and the focus ...
Freud's Megalomania
Jan 01, 2001; ... ISRAEL ROSENFIELD: Freud's Megalomania. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000, 173 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0-393-04898-5. Israel Rosenfield, a distinguished scholar of the history of science calls his book Freud's Megalomania a work of fiction and we do not usually review fiction in this Journal. Yet, ...
Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Jan 01, 2001; ... LATA K. MCGINN & WILLIAM C. SANDERSON: Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Northvale, NJ, Jason Aronson Inc. 1999, 296 pp., $40.00, ISBN 0-76-570-2118. Drs. Lata McGinn and William Sanderson have responded to the demands of the health care environment by producing an ...
Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families: From Old Problems to New Futures
Jan 01, 2001; ... WILLIAM C. MADSEN: Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families: From Old Problems to New Futures. The Guilford Press, New York, 1999, 358 pp., $35.00, ISBN 1-57230-490-1. Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families is as much about the attitude that we bring to our work ...
Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Adults with Brain Injury or Stroke: A Clinician's Treatment Resource
Jan 01, 2001; ... KAREN G. LANGER, PH.D., LINDA LAATSCH, PH.D., & LISA LEWIS, PH.D. (EDS.) Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Adults with Brain Injury or Stroke: A Clinician's Treatment Resource, Madison, CT., Psychosocial Press, 1999. 257 pages, price $35.00, ISBN 1-887841-23-7. The editors of this ...
Psychiatry and Religion: The Convergence of Mind and Spirit
Jan 01, 2001; ... This book represents a significant contribution to the therapy of a population of seriously distressed patients. St. Louis, MO PAUL A. DEWALD, M.D. JAMES K. BOEHNLEIN (ED.): Psychiatry and Religion: The Convergence of Mind and Spirit. American Psychiatric Press, ...
Psychoanalytic Clinical Practice
Jan 01, 2001; ... RICHARD D. CHESSICK, MR: Psychoanalytic Clinical Practice. Free Association Books, London, 2000,294 pp., $30.00, ISBN 1-85343-479-5. This book presents an in-depth investigation of classical and contemporary psychoanalytic theories and therapeutic approaches in a concise and clear ...
Changing the Unchangeable: Brief Therapy with Intimidating Cases
Jan 01, 2001; ... RICHARD FISCH AND KARIN SCHLANGER: Changing the Unchangeable: Brief Therapy with Intimidating Cases. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999, 163 pp., $34.95, ISBN 0-7879-4364-9. These days, it seems there are nearly as many models and paradigms for conducting brief therapy as there ...
Illusion and Disillusion: Core Issues in Psychotherapy
Jan 01, 2001; ... STANLEY H. TEITELBAUM: Illusion and Disillusion: Core Issues in Psychotherapy. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 1999,305 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0-7657-0219-3. In the acknowledgments, the author thanks Wolfe for having taught him how to write. This struck me as odd, perhaps because most ...
Immigration and Identity. Turmoil, Treatment and Transformation
Jan 01, 2001; ... SALMAN AKHTAR: Immigration and Identity. Turmoil, Treatment and Transformation. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, London, 1999, 219 pp., $40.00 ISBN 0-7657-0232-0. The migration of people across the globe has become part of our current landscape and we eagerly welcome a book, such as Salman ...
The Traumatic Bond Between the Psychotherapist and Managed Care
Jan 01, 2001; ... KAREN WEISGERBER (ED.): The Traumatic Bond Between the Psychotherapist and Managed Care. Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ, London, 1999, 254 pp., $44.00, ISNB 0-7657-0180-4. This book addresses the impact on psychotherapists and their patients, training and treatment setting in the ...
Whose Freud?: The Place of Psychoanalysis in Contemporary Culture
Jan 01, 2001; ... PETER BROOKS AND ALEX WOLOCH, EDS: Whose Freud?: The Place of Psychoanalysis in Contemporary Culture. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2000,342 pp., $19.95, ISBN 0-300-08745-4. The debate about psychoanalysis, its validity, the truths of its theories, the meanings of Freud's ...
The Relationship Code: Deciphering Genetic and Social Influences on Adolescent Development
Jan 01, 2001; ... DAVID REISS WiTH JENAE M. NEIDERHISER, E. MAVIS HETHERINGTON AND ROBERT PLOMIN: The Relationship Code: Deciphering Genetic and Social Influences on Adolescent Development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000,532 pp., $55.00, ISBN 0-674-00054-4. This book is of fundamental ...
The Phoenix Phenomenon: Rising from the Ashes of Grief
Jan 01, 2001; ... JOANNE T. JOZEFOWSKI: The Phoenix Phenomenon: Rising from the Ashes of Grief. Jason Aronson, Inc., Northvale, NJ, 1999, 246 pp., $40.00, ISBN: 0-7657-- 0209-6. Dr. Jozefowski is an experienced (R.N., Ph.D.) psychotherapist who is a diplomate of the International Academy of Behavior ...
Erratum
Jan 01, 2001; ... The author of Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men is Richard B. Gartner (not Gardner, as it appeared on p. 439 of the Summer 2000 ...
"Don't write me down": Legal, clinical, and risk-management aspects of patients' requests that therapists not keep notes or records
Jan 01, 2001; ... Although many clinicians have reported anecdotally that patients occasionally ask that treatment or evaluation notes or records not be kept, the issue has not been addressed in the literature. This article deals with the problems arising from patients' requests that their therapists refrain from ...
Therapeutic empathy with the suicidal wish: Principles of therapy with suicidal individuals
Jan 01, 2001; ... Therapeutic Empathy with the Suicidal Wish: Principles of Therapy with Suicidal Individuals* Several principles of therapeutic work with suicidal individuals are described. These principles represent different aspects of therapeutic empathy with the suicidal wish. They are ...
Psychotherapy, biological psychiatry, and the nature of matter: A view from physics
Jan 01, 2001; ... Biological psychiatry has marginalized psychotherapy, and it is difficult for psychotherapists to counter its hegemony. The reductionist/materialist position seems incontrovertible and self-evident. An important factor in maintaining this stance is the belief that the physical world is ...
"Selflessness" in the service of the ego: Contributions, limitations and dangers of Buddhist psychology for western psychotherapy
Jan 01, 2001; ... Buddhist psychology has now gained some credence in the West and is starting to exert a growing influence both on various areas of medicine and well-established Western psychotherapies. We reviewed key texts of both the Eastern and Western Buddhist literature, with particular emphasis on recent ...
Therapist reporting of suspected child abuse and maltreatment: Factors associated with outcome
Jan 01, 2001; ... Therapist Reporting of Suspected Child Abuse and Maltreatment: Factors Associated with Outcome* A mail survey of 176 mental health professionals (e.g., psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers) known to have reported a case of suspected child abuse or maltreatment to ...
Agitation therapy for antisocial and psychopathic personalities: An outline
Jan 01, 2001; ... In this paper, a hypothetical model of agitation therapy for some categories of antisocial and psychopathic patients/offenders is presented. Agitation therapy is mainly meant for very problematic and aggressive individuals who do not (or hardly) respond (in some periods) to any other type of ...
The Masterson approach with play therapy: A parallel process between mother and child
Jan 01, 2001; ... This paper discusses a case in which the Masterson Approach was used with play therapy to treat a child with a developing personality disorder. It describes the parallel progression of the child and mother in adjunct therapy throughout a six-year period. The unique value of the Masterson ...
Love, praxis, and desirable therapist qualities
Jan 01, 2001; ... Until recently, both love and praxis as therapist qualities have not enjoyed the attention they deserve. The components of praxis and the derivatives of love (namely, empathy and good-will) are important ingredients of therapeutic behavior. They are also capable of promoting mental health ....
Resilience in ambiguous loss
Jan 01, 2001; ... During a conference at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in September 2000, Pauline Boss presented her concept of ambiguous loss (1), an "incomplete or uncertain loss" (p. 3). Boss recognizes two basic kinds of ambiguous loss. In the first, people are perceived by family members as being ...
The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Pharmacotherapy: Improving Treatment Effectiveness
Jan 01, 2001; ... ALLAN TASMAN, M.D., MICHELLE R. RIBA, M.D., AND KENNETH R. SILK, M.D.: The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Pharmacotherapy: Improving Treatment Effectiveness. The Guilford Press, New York, 2000, 169 pp., $30.00, ISBN 1-57230-596-7. The magnitude of the revolution in psychiatric treatment ...
Not Trauma Alone: Therapy for Child Abuse Survivors in Family and Social Context
Jan 01, 2001; ... STEVEN N. GOLD: Not Trauma Alone: Therapy for Child Abuse Survivors in Family and Social Context. Brunner-Routledge, Philadelphia, PA, 2000, 272 pp., $34.95, ISBN 1-58391-027-1. Clinicians working with adult survivors of child sexual abuse are presented with many questions. How does ...
Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Jan 01, 2001; ... EDNA B. FOA, TERENCE M. KEANE, AND MATTHEW J. FRIEDMAN (EDs.): Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. The Guilford Press, New York, 2000, 388 pp., $42.00, ISBN 1-57230-584-3. This concise book provides both an ...
Surviving Literary Suicide
Jan 01, 2001; ... JEFFREY BERMAN, Surviving Literary Suicide. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA, 1999, 290 pp., $60.00 cloth, $18.50 pbk., ISBN 1-55849-195-3. Surviving Literary Suicide is a fascinating account of a course by that name, written by an English professor who is knowledgeable ...
Kohut, Loewald, and the Postmoderns: A Comparative Study of Self and Relationship
Jan 01, 2001; ... JUDITH GUS TEICHHOLZ: Kohut, Loewald, and the Postmoderns: A Comparative Study of Self and Relationship. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ, 1999, 320 pp. $47.50, ISBN 00-88163-260-0 (Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series Volume 18). Teicholz assumes that a "revolution" has taken place in ...
Odysseys in Psychotherapy
Jan 01, 2001; ... JOSEPH J. SHAW, PH.D., AND JOAN WHEELIS, M.D. (EDS.): Odysseys in Psychotherapy, Arendt, Media Inc., New York, 2000; 428 pp; $44.95, ISBN 0-8290-5215-1 This book presents a collection of 18 essays by senior psychotherapists representing varying disciplines and programs in the United ...
Writing between the Lines
Jan 01, 2001; ... DOUGLAS FLEMONS: Writing between the Lines. W.W. Norton, New York, 1998, 266 pp., $27.00, ISBN 0-393-70263-4. We do not usually review books from other fields in these pages but Writing Between the Lines by Douglas Flemons, Associate Professor of Family Therapy in Nova Southeastern ...
Geriatric Mental Health Care
Jan 01, 2001; ... GARY J. KENNEDY: Geriatric Mental Health Care. The Guilford Press, New York, 2000, 331 pp. $39.00, ISBN 1-57230-592-4. Kennedy aims to reach a very wide audience, including students and trainees in nursing, social work, psychology, and medicine, in addition to clinicians, managed-care ...
Psychotherapy with African-American Women: Innovations in Psychodynamic Perspective and Practice
Jan 01, 2001; ... LESLIE C. JACKSON AND BEVERLY GREENE, (EDS.): Psychotherapy with AfricanAmerican Women: Innovations in Psychodynamic Perspective and Practice. The Guilford Press, New York, 2000, 298 pp., $35.00, ISBN 1-57230-585-1. This edited book expresses support for psychodynamic techniques, ...
The Reproduction of Evil: Clinical & Cultural Perspective
Jan 01, 2001; ... SUE GRAND: The Reproduction of Evil: Clinical & Cultural Perspective. Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ, 2000, 198 pp. $36.00, ISBN 0-88163-261-9. The problem of evil is the most important issue humankind has ever faced. Every day countless numbers of men, women, and children, by means ...
Building Your Ideal Private Practice: How to Love What You Do and Be Highly Profitable Too!
Jan 01, 2001; ... LYNN GRODSKI: Building Your Ideal Private Practice: How to Love What You Do and Be Highly Profitable Too! W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 2000, 266 pp., $29.00, ISBN 0-393-70331-2. Psychotherapy is a calling, a healing profession, and is difficult for practitioners to think of it as a ...
Letters to the editor
Jan 01, 2001; ... Dear Editor: As an experienced author, I've seen my publications elicit appreciative, unappreciative, and occasionally even deprecatory comments. What your reviewer harshly described as "loose thinking," for example, another found "tightly reasoned." I wasn't pleased with Jonathan ...
The interface of positive psychology with a psychology of loss: A brave new world?
Jan 01, 2001; ... In this paper, it is argued that a psychology of loss can help to illuminate one of the central themes of positive psychology: That is, showcasing those human skills that emphasize human strengths and optimal functioning. However, the interface of positive psychology and a psychology of loss ...
Evolving connections: Research that is relevant to clinical practice
Jan 01, 2001; ... Evolving Connections: Research that Is Relevant to Clinical Practice* Although in the past some clinicians have not found psychotherapy research to be valuable, we assert that things have changed. Specifically, current research tends to be more sensitive to clinicians' concerns ...
Scientific vs. clinical-based knowledge in psychology: A concealed moral conflict
Jan 01, 2001; ... A Concealed Moral Conflict* Psychology and the other mental health professions are bitterly divided between the proponents of scientific vs. clinical-based knowledge. Though these two groups agree on little related to assessment, treatment or outcome evaluation, they share a belief in ...
Listening to our clients: A dangerous proposal
Jan 01, 2001; ... Although therapeutic thinking and practice have entered their second century, most practitioners remain largely uncertain as to what data to trust, including "what works" and, "why it works." If anything, practitioners' reliance on ever-increasing numbers of theoretical models and either vague ...
Unfounded trust: A constructivist meditation
Jan 01, 2001; ... From a postmodern standpoint, all trust is ultimately unfounded, in the sense that no authoritative theoretical, empirical or practical foundation exists to ground a unified, explicit, and justified framework for psychotherapeutic practice. Following a constructivist meditation on these themes, ...
Cognitive-behavioral family treatment of childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: Preliminary findings
Jan 01, 2001; ... The effectiveness of a 14-week cognitive-behavioral family treatment protocol for childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was piloted using a volunteer sample of seven children aged 10-14 years. The primary outcome measures were diagnostic status, symptom severity, and global functioning ...
Crisis intervention techniques for panic disorder
Jan 01, 2001; ... Panic disorder is estimated to affect more than 4% of the U.S. population. It is assumed that this incident rate increases during crisis situations. While the professional literature is replete with references on the treatment of panic disorders, few authors address the use of nondrug treatment ...
Arterial blood gas: A rare form of self-mutilation and a review of its psychological functions
Jan 01, 2001; ... CASE STUDY This case history records a rare form of self-mutilation via arterial blood gas. The case is presented and contrasted to two previous cases with similar methods of self-mutilation. We then review the psychological functions of self-mutilation with specific reference to this ...
The no-suicide contract: Possibilities and pitfalls
Jan 01, 2001; ... FROM THE LITERATURE The management of the suicidal patient is one of the greatest clinical challenges facing mental health professionals. The overall suicide rate in the United States is 11-12 per 100,000, and more than 90% of those who complete suicide have diagnosable psychiatric ...
Humor and creative life styles
Jan 01, 2001; ... Humor and Creative Life Styles* REFLECTIONS This paper is based upon the writings of William James in the late 19th century, and Alfred Adler and Sigmund Freud in the 20th, enriched by the contributions of later personality and role theorists. The self is defined as the unique ...
Changing Conceptions of Psychoanalysis: The Legacy of Merton M. Gill
Jan 01, 2001; ... DORIS K. SILVERMAN AND DAVID L. WOLITZKY (EDS.): Changing Conceptions of Psychoanalysis: The Legacy of Merton M. Gill. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ 2000, pp. viii+317, $36.00, ISBN: 0-88163-235-X. This outstanding text, available in paperback, should be in the library of anyone ...
Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision
Jan 01, 2001; ... Louis BREGER: Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision. Wiley, New York, 2000, 472 pp., $30.00, ISBN: 0-471-31626-8. Another biography of Freud? Surely this must be one of the first questions asked by psychoanalytic students, especially those familiar with the many biographies that have ...