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The dichotomy of ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ in social work practice with neglected infants and toddlers. How do social workers respond to neglect and abuse in infancy, and does this change with the introduction of a sustained case discussion forum?
Get PDFNo abstract available
The container contained: Biography and role as factors in managing stress for secondary head-teachers
Get PDFThis research explored the experiences of three secondary headteachers and the way in which role conception, informed by unconscious processes, functions as a mechanism for managing the stresses and demands of said role. The research was underpinned by a psychosocial framework and used an explicitly psychoanalytic epistemology. The research used semi-structured interviews to explore influential biographical factors, which were then explored using a psychoanalytic lens. This produced a series of themes used to thematically analyse their accounts of their jobs and the stresses and strains within it. The ensuing analysis revealed that the unconscious patterns, implicit in their narratives, influenced both role conception and the way they perceived and related to the organisations they led. In discussing these findings, links were made to relevant psychoanalytic and systems-psychodynamic theory; especially Bion's work on containment and alpha function, as well as Rice's seminal thinking about the way in which the unconscious influences role acquisition and task engagement. Further applications to both theories are suggested. A central argument is that working with school leaders has a systemic impact on schools and school populations, something well within the remit and consultative skill-set of Educational Psychologists. This research concludes that unconscious patterns and processes are involved in the management of stress and anxiety and that this is done through unconsciously "shaping" the way headteachers conceive of the role and the schools they lead
Ways in which the cultural identities of mixed heritage individuals are maintained in mixed ethnicity stepfamilies
Get PDFThere has been an increasing amount of research into mixed heritage individuals, both adults and adolescents. More recently, some research has emerged on mixed heritage families, but there is hardly any research on mixed ethnicity stepfamilies. As a systemic clinician of mixed heritage, my research interest has stemmed from my personal experience of living in a stepfamily with visible differences, where my fathers Nigerian culture was not discussed. In my clinical job, work with families from culturally mixed backgrounds and have developed a keen interest in their experiences of maintaining the different cultures. I used discourse analysis to examine the various ways in which stepfamilies talked about their differences. Five stepfamilies were recruited. The biological parents (all mothers) and their partners and children participated in the study. The study revealed considerable variation in the talking and maintenance of cultural heritages within the stepfamilies, but four main findings emerged. In some stepfamilies, there was little or no talking, whilst in others, talking about the process of becoming a stepfamily occurred. The stepfamilies had various experiences of living with their visible differences, which included ideas of not having any differences or minimising differences. The extended family's role also played an important part that changed over time. The biological fathers 'presence' was particularly significant to the children, most of whom maintained contact with their fathers. The study has revealed stepfamily life's complexities and the numerous ways in which the mixed heritage children/stepchildren navigated the different households to maintain their cultural heritages
How far does the Work Discussion Method lend itself to facilitating change, to solve specific problems in work settings?
Get PDFThe aims of the study are firstly to investigate the suitability of the work
discussion method as a consultancy change intervention in solving specific
work issues in the organisational context of public sector services, and
secondly to consider the viability of work discussion as a research method.
This study has little substantiating research precedence to draw on and as
such is one of discovery and understanding.
The work discussion method is a systematic experiential small group process
founded on the principle of the importance of emotional experiences, both
conscious and unconscious, of work and the workplace in shaping
understandings of role and of organisational life. This consultancy application
of work discussion is a process of reflecting on specific issues with the intent
of evoking a changed state in either thinking and or changed behaviours. As a
method it is both concerned with individual learning and with shared learning.
This is a small in-depth qualitative study following the principles of grounded
theory and informed by systems psychodynamic theory. The research
participants of this study come from a range of children’s and young people’s
education and welfare services, predominantly in the public sector but also
including one partner service from the voluntary sector.
The findings of this study suggest that the word discussion method when
applied as a consultancy change intervention has merit. The research
participants during the life of the research study made notably changes to
their understandings and or behaviours in their work situations
Creative responses to compromised beginnings in life: How to support families struggling with early difficulties
No full textThis paper discusses forms of intervention based on psychoanalytic understanding useful to families who are struggling with the impact of a young child with special difficulties of various kinds. It proposes that the crucial contribution of the clinician is to find meaning in the disturbing behaviour of the child and to convey this to both parents and child while being attentive to the high level of parental distress
Working with and ‘seeing through’ the sexual transference in the psychotherapy of an adolescent boy
No full textThis paper explores the challenges and developmental opportunities of working with the sexual transference in psychotherapy with adolescents. Psychoanalytic contributions investigating the nature of adolescent sexuality and the developmental move from a narcissistic organisation to a capacity to form intimate relationships are reviewed, and the question of what happens when there is a lack of containment in infancy is addressed. The way in which unintegrated sexual impulses and phantasies can invade the therapeutic relationship is further discussed through the account of the weekly psychotherapy of a 16-year-old boy who formed a powerful sexual transference to his female therapist. The paper highlights how working through the sexual transference enabled this young man to face his developmental paralysis and begin to use the therapy as an opportunity for psychic growth
Clinical commentary by Antje Netzer-Stein, child and adolescent psychotherapist and psychoanalyst
No full textThe author reflects on the case of a 16-year-old girl with psychosomatic symptoms and underwent psychotherapy and specifically teenagers' tendency to struggle between regressive tendencies and be more independent. A background of the girl is provided who is an only child of separated parents and suffered several traumatic separations as a child. Also examined are the mental health of her mother and the dynamics between mother and daughter
Heather Wood on Newsnight. Are there low risk paedophiles? 28 February 2017, BBC News 24 [Starts at 32:03]
No full text‘I am learning peacefulness’: Sylvia Plath’s liminal art of (un)living
No full textHow much of the “Sylvia Plath” we know is a storied life rather than a real one? Can the two be separated? This is complex given that Plath’s final collection Ariel was published twice by husband then daughter. How do we (re)construct Plath as a real person when the narrative around her death is enveloped by presumptions and stereotypes of suicide? This paper explores poems from both versions of Ariel with the idea that, rather than living for her suicide, Plath explored experiences of living in a space in-between wanting to live and wanting to die. This passionate ambivalence is demonstrated in poems such as Tulips, Edge, and Lady Lazarus. This paper will not presume that the poems within Ariel represent her whole life; rather, they represent the story of her life during the time in which they were written, tangible artefacts of her inspiration from 1961 to 1963