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Rigidity and stability in a psychotic patient: Some thoughts about obstacles to facing reality in psychotherapy
No full textThinking space
No full textThe Tavistock’s Thinking Space aims to bring issues of diversity from a hidden, subconscious or unconscious place to one that is more open, conscious and thoughtful
The perception of digital objects and their impact on development
No full textClinical work with adolescents and young people over the last decade has indicated that an intense relationship to digital objects was a major aspect of their mental lives. Digital objects have become embedded, inextricably, within our psychology, emphasising the earliest drives and phantasies at some moments, yet giving rise to less familiar phenomena at other times. The aim of this paper is to consider how the rise in digital media and social networking is impacting upon the lives of young people and influencing the course of their development, with particular reference to the impact of visual media within social networks and how this has a distinct influence on mental functioning. In attempting to describe these processes, it is hoped that we can become more able to accompany younger or older people in their exploration of the digital world, which will be as important to them in their future adult lives as their mastery of the physical, external world was in early childhood. The need is pressing, since access to the digital world has significantly increased through the use of mobile, connected devices, and the further evolution of new technologies, such as ‘the internet of everything’ and ‘wearable tech’, are almost upon us
Overcoming obstacles
No full textIt is hard to remember that we are born to the human condition. No matter how much we want our babies to be happy and to enjoy life, the fact is that from the beginning life is a mixed affair, and pain is present as much as pleasure. The question for parents, even in the best circumstances, is how to foster in their children delight in good experiences, and also strength to tolerate and live through bad ones. Children need good food to grow and to thrive, and also to build up strength and resistance. A malnourished child is vulnerable to infections, illnesses, all the accidents which can happen to a small organism. The baby needs to take in milk which is to be digested and transformed into a strong body. But as good food builds the body, so good experience builds the mind. The last physical necessity for an infant is for protection, and this is of various kinds
Too few staff can lead to premature independence
Get PDFDr Louise Emanuel explains why she believes that proposals to reduce ratios of staff to children could harm children's developmen
Thoughts on transitions between cultures: Jonathan moves from home to school and from class to class
No full textGroup analytic therapy for compulsive users of internet pornography
No full textIncreasing numbers of patients presenting problems with internet pornography have led to changes in the culture and practice of group analytic therapy at the Portman Clinic. The addictive element of this new form of artificial, sexual stimulation has to be recognised as part of the harm it produces. Group members spontaneously develop some of the principles and practice of established methods of addiction treatment, especially the 12-step programme, by helping each other manage their compulsion. This self-help function of the group coexists alongside the psychodynamic perspective, in which the meaning of harmful sexual behaviour is explored and understood. Certain individuals are more vulnerable to excessive use of pornography because of early developmental problems and current difficulties in their sexual relationships, resulting from internal conflicts about their sexuality. The group provides intimacy without sexualisation, primarily through a sibling transference. The therapist embodies an ability to think about the complexity of the sexual abuse that the pornography portrays. He or she works towards a truer perception of reality for group members, in which the false solutions of compulsive sexual behaviour are seen to be what they are: impediments to healthy development
From Milan to the Tavistock: The influence of systemic training on child and adolescent psychiatrists
No full textRethinking placebo in psychiatry: The range of placebo effects
No full textThis article, the first of two on placebo effects, provides a broad overview of placebo in the field of medicine. A brief conceptual history is followed by some basic facts about placebos. Problems of definition are identified. Additive and non-additive models of treatment effects, and problems of measurement of placebo effects are described. The role of placebo in the pharmacotherapy of depression and complementary and alternative medicine is discussed. The ‘efficacy paradox’ (that placebo treatments can have larger effects than ‘evidence-based treatments’) is introduced. Finally, ethical issues are discussed