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What can young mothers’ accounts of their childhood relationships tell us about why they become parents? An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study of mothers aged 16 - 19 supported by the Family Nurse Partnership
Full text linkThis research project explores links between childhood relationships and adolescent motherhood. It uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and a psychoanalytic framework of understanding. Working in collaboration with the Family Nurse Partnership, five young women who had become mothers between age 16 and 19 were recruited as participants. In semi-structured interviews they provided detailed accounts of their childhood experiences, relationships and families. The interview data was analysed using IPA, informed by psychoanalytic thinking. The interviews revealed a complex network of childhood relationships. These were developed into themes exploring the potential impact of participants’ experiences of early relationships on their becoming mothers in adolescence. While the accounts differ according to participants’ unique personal experiences and circumstances, four superordinate themes were found across the data. A preoccupation with their own mothers pervades all participants’ accounts, and the first two themes of this study’s major findings relate to the important problems of first possessing and then separating from a mother. Extending outwards from these first central relationships with mothers, two further themes were uncovered which, additionally, give greater perspective to early relating in participants’ families. Theme 3 is about relating to others in the family including fathers (the first ‘other’), sisters and – significantly - maternal grandmothers. Within this theme an interesting finding is the impact on participants’ emotional development of complicated dynamics between parents. Theme 4 examines the sense of being unsafe in a dangerous-feeling-world. This theme was found in all of the accounts, along with the hope expressed by participants that having a baby might satisfy an unmet need to feel secure
Creating distance from adolescents’ anger: psychotherapists’ responses to conversational trouble in Short Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
No full textThe exploration of negative feelings is one of the core principles of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, yet anger experienced towards the therapist may lead to increased risk, ruptures in the therapeutic relationship and dropout. This study explored the psychotherapists’ immediate responses to patients’ anger in Short Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (STPP). Data came from a randomised controlled trial investigating the efficacy of three types of therapy in the treatment of adolescent depression, in which therapy sessions were audio-recorded. Purposive sampling was used to select ten extracts from four different patient-therapist couples where patients expressed anger towards their therapist. Those extracts were transcribed and analysed using conversation analysis (CA). The analysis showed that following patients’ anger expression, psychotherapists were inclined to create distance either by moving aside from the topic of conversation, or by referring to ‘other times’, past or future. In only one out of the ten extracts did the psychotherapist name the young person’s anger towards them in the moment. In all other cases, psychotherapists commented on patients’ latent feelings of anger, but were inclined to create distance from explicit and direct anger-expressions. Possible reasons for this are explored, along with both clinical and research implications
A Reflection on Self-disclosure
No full textThe technical aspect of managing the analyst's emotional responses to a patient has changed over the years, from Freud's position (1910, 1912, 1915), stating that emotions are a sign of an incomplete analysis from the analyst, to the recognition of this emotion as a communication between patient and analyst by Bion (1954). This recognition led to the acknowledgment of their importance as a diagnostic tool, while avoiding disclosure by Heiman (1950) and King (1978). More recently, consideration in the ways we can interpret these feelings during the analysis has been study (Winnicott, 1947; Little 1951; Casement 1986; Ogden 2018). This paper, advocates for the disclosure of such feelings (self-disclosure) mainly when they are of a positive nature and the patient has a history of neglect. Also, there is a reflection on the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. Finally, there is consideration of the difference between a patient's need and a patient's desire before such disclosures
Most influential scholars in criminology and criminal justice, 1986-2020
No full textThis brief examines the influence and prestige of scholars and works in the field of criminology and criminal justice, as well as changes in influence and prestige over a period of 35 years, using citation analysis. Based on responses to prior research, most criminologists consider the results both fascinating and thought-provoking, although methods of measuring scholarly influence are also highly controversial. The brief includes 35 years of data (1986 through 2020) on the most-cited scholars and works in major American and international criminology and criminal justice journals, and provides an objective measure of scholarly influence and prestige. Appropriate for graduate students and researchers, it helps to document the intellectual development of criminology and criminal justice as a field of study.
Analyzes the most-cited scholars and works in major American and international criminology journals over 35 years
Shows how focal concerns in criminology and criminal justice change over time
Displays how the influence of particular scholars and works waxes and wanes over tim
Dead Dinosaurs and Creative Beginnings: A Case Study of a 3-year-old Boy Who Started Nursery Shortly After the Loss of his Mother
No full textThis essay discusses the initial period of work in a clinical case undertaken by a first-year psychological therapies trainee. It describes the challenges of beginning such work in tragic circumstances, how the therapist and the institution managed that, and the emergence of creative possibilities alongside painful and deadening experiences. Developmental implications for the child are reflected on, as the themes of the work and the therapeutic relationship are described and illustrated with vignettes. The value of the psychological therapist's observant thoughtful presence, and naming and containing the child's emotional experiences is noted, and alongside a supportive network, considered to facilitate a more creative engagement with life for this young child
Health of Convicted Persons in the Third Generation of the Longitudinal Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
No full textResearch suggests that convicted persons are more likely than non-convicted persons to suffer poor health. However, few longitudinal studies have investigated associations between health and offending across generations. Using the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, this article prospectively investigates the relationship between health and offending across generations and between genders. At the average age of 25, third generation convicted males and females reported a higher incidence of serious drug use than non-convicted persons. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of mental illness and self-harm, whereas convicted females reported a lower incidence of physical illness, mental illness, self-harm and hospitalizations when compared to non-convicted females. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of industrial accidents, sports injuries and fight injuries, but a lower incidence of road accidents, whereas convicted females were more likely to report road accidents. Like their fathers, convicted males show worse health compared to non-convicted individuals
Brown Girl in the Ring: What are the Experiences of Senior Female Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic Leaders in Social Work today?
Full text linkThere has been extensive concern with race and racism in social work as a discipline, including empirical enquiry examining the experiences of social workers from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the experiences of BAME female social work leaders. This thesis reports on a practitioner research enquiry addressing this group’s experiences. The study relied on a psychoanalytically informed, psychosocial methodological approach, alongside autoethnographic reflection. Biographical narrative interviews were undertaken with five female BAME leaders working in a local authority adult social care context. Data generated from these interviews were then subject to an in-case/cross-case analysis based on a constructivist epistemological framework. Themes identified from the analysis related to experiences in the workplace and leadership journeys, illuminating ways in which personal and professional biographies converged in the participants’ understanding of the demands and challenges of leadership, as well as wider organisational and social forces that had an impact on them as professionals and BAME women, particularly racism. The analysis revealed how the participants were prompted to be attentive to both their inner experiences and work contexts to understand themselves as leaders. The study’s principal contribution is in helping to develop psychosocial knowledge that may help inform action to challenge racism and organisational barriers bearing upon the career trajectories of BAME women. Key terms: Black and Minority Ethnic, leadership, psychoanalytically informed research, psychosocial social work research, race, racism, social work leadership
What is it like working with psychotic children and adolescents? A study of child and adolescent psychotherapists’ experience
Full text linkThis study explores the lived experiences of a small sample of clinically experienced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists regarding their work with psychotic children and young people. The research question is phenomenological in nature; the study seeks to understand what it feels like to work with these children. The method employed is IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) owing to its compatibility with a small-scale qualitative study concerned with an idiographic approach, which aims to understand the ‘world view’ of individual participants. The following themes will be described: 1. Definition and Aetiology 2. Working with primitive states: the cost for the therapist, child, and family 3. Rival babies 4. What’s required – setting, technique, and personal qualities. The themes will be discussed in relation to psychoanalytic literature. The study concludes that a sub-group of overtly destructive psychotic children continue to be under-represented in the literature and require significant individual therapeutic support in addition to the active involvement of a wider network. Psychotherapists require considerable support to sustain the work with these children and intense emotional involvement ensues. Recommendations are made for further research