Tavistock and Portman E-Prints Online
Not a member yet
2774 research outputs found
Sort by
Psychoanalytische behandlung von kindern mit störungen aus dem autismusspektrum. Theoretische implikationen [Psychoanalytic treatment of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Theoretical implications]
No full text‘It's been hell.’ Italian and British practice educators’ narratives of working with struggling or failing social work students in practice learning settings [E’ stato un inferno! Racconti di supervisori di toricinio che han lavorato con studenti problematici o che non hanno superato il tirocinio]
Get PDFPeriods of assessed learning in practice settings are common requirements for social work students world wide. The ‘practice learning opportunity’ as it is known in the UK, and ‘tirocinio di servizio sociale’ as it is referred to in Italy, are important sites of gatekeeping in preventing unsuitable people from becoming social workers. The experience of assessing failing students in practice learning settings however, has been found to be particularly stressful and challenging for practice educators. This article documents findings from two qualitative studies that explored field educators’ experiences of working with struggling or failing social work students in Italy and England. The study finds both similarities and differences in the narratives of the assessors from the two countries Similarities include, unpleasant emotional experience of working with a failing student, internalisation of the students failing as the practice educators’ own failing, perceptions that the universities may hide negative information about students and lack of acknowledgement of the gatekeeping function inherent in the practice educator role. Differences include the level of emotionality experienced by educators, the way students are spoken about and the perceived role and responses of the university. Further comparative European research which focuses on practice education is indicated
How much is too much? Understanding the role and function of violence and its manifestation in the consulting room: Intensive psychotherapy with a latency-aged boy
No full textThe aim of this article is to explore and lend meaning to the role and function of violence in children, in particular boys, who have had disturbing and traumatic early experiences. Psychoanalytic thinking about the role and function of violence, as well as its impact and management in the consulting room, will be central features of this exploration. In a research project involving a single case study, a number of clinical concepts emerged that have potential ramifications for child psychotherapists working with children exhibiting violent and challenging behaviour. The clinical concepts emerged via the application of grounded theory research methodology to clinical data and contribute to the thinking and theory of Meltzer’s use of ‘temperature and distance’ as a means of understanding and regulating emotional states in the therapeutic setting. ‘Time’ and ‘space’ were additional clinical concepts that emerged. These four concepts are considered crucial elements in providing the child psychotherapist with the means to apply transformative and modifying processes to the un-processed and raw externalisation of primitive, violent impulses
Finding a voice through `The Tree of Life': A strength-based approach to mental health for refugee children and families in schools
No full textThe Child and Family Refugee Service at the Tavistock Centre in London has run a series of 'Tree of Life' groups for both parents and children in schools. The groups were developed in response to a concern about the majority of psychological treatments, which focus predominantly on vulnerability factors in refugee populations, and the effect that this can have on those they are attempting to help. In addition, these are modelled on western assumptions, which do not adequately take account of culture. The Tree of Life groups have provided an alternative to traditional mental health services, which many refugee families find hard to access because of perceived stigma and lack of knowledge about what is on offer. The groups employed a strength-based narrative methodology, using the tree as a creative metaphor, which enabled parents and children to develop empowering stories about their lives, which were rooted in their cultural and social histories. From this secure base, participants were able to develop shared, culturally congruent solutions to their problems. The groups have been found to benefit parents and children alike, as well as the school communities in which they have taken place
Thinking postmodern and practising in the enlightenment: Managing uncertainty in the treatment of children and adolescents
No full textIn this paper, I explore how postmodern ideas about gender may impact on clinicians working with gender variant children and adolescents. The postmodern turn has built on the feminist rejection of the idea of ‘essential’ gender, to further interrogate accepted conceptions of sex and gender and the stability of all identity categories. Some queer theorists have taken a further step, viewing all gender as fictional and artificial and celebrating the subversive potential of transgender identities. However, those working clinically with trans adolescents may experience a troubling tension between, on the one hand, a view of sex and gender categorisations as undecidable and fragmented (as postmodern theory suggests), and, on the other hand, the apparent need of many for a coherent and settled sense of self. In particular, how do we justify supporting trans youngsters to move towards treatment involving irreversible physical change, while ascribing to a highly tentative and provisional account of how we come to identify and live as gendered? I conclude that the meaning of trans rests on no demonstrable foundational truths but is constantly being shaped and re-shaped in our social world. Clinicians must be accountable in this process; far from succumbing to a paralysing relativism, the task for clinicians is to be highly attuned to our young clients’ complex narratives and to question our complex investments in the positions we adopt
Off the couch, into the toilet: Exploring the psychic uses of the analyst's toilet
No full textThe analyst’s consulting room toilet lends itself to myriad uses in the context of the analytic relationship. It is a place where “dirty” secrets may be excitedly deposited and where perverse fantasies can be fueled and acted out, as illustrated in the analysis of Mr. D. This perverse use of the analyst’s toilet is contrasted with the case of Ms. C., whose anxieties about the destructiveness of her aggression led initially to a phobic avoidance of the toilet and then evolved toward its use as a container for parts of herself she felt were bad and unacceptable, thereby protecting the relationship with the analyst, who could not yet be trusted to receive and survive her projections. In these cases the toilet becomes quite concretely the location of the “toilet-breast” (Meltzer 1967), a means of preserving a more idealized relationship with the analyst
