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Some reflections on the ‘Teaching Attitude’ and its application to teaching about the use of the transference: A British view
No full textIn this paper the author argues that psychoanalytic education is enhanced when (a) it attends seriously to the affective, relational and social processes that frame the experience of teaching and of learning, fostering a critical engagement with both, and (b) it engages candidates in exploring what they do (technique) in the context of the articulation of their model of working (theory). The features of the ‘teaching attitude’ that are relevant to psychoanalytic education are illustrated though a ‘teaching case study’ detailing the rationale, process and content for a curriculum on the concept of transference
Personality disorder: A diagnosis of disturbed relating
No full textIn this paper the author develops some of the themes discussed in an earlier paper (Ruszczynski, 2006) in which he explored violence in the couple relationship. As in that paper, he is interested in considering whether some of what can be learned from working clinically with especially disturbed forensic and anti-social patients, can be adapted to clinical work with some types of more disturbed couple relationships and with some parts of the relationship of perhaps many couples. The question explored is, if action predominates over reflection—a central characteristic of the types of patients described, that is, those who act out—how do clinicians offer a psychoanalytic experience to such patients for whom the capacity for symbolisation, thought, and reflection is, at best, partial or fragmented
Training for complexity and professional judgement: Beyond 'communication skills plus evidence'
No full textThe article reflects on reductionist tendencies in medicine and a tradition of approaches that general practice has to training, to counter these. It highlights the importance of incorporating epistemology that would enable to hold on to generalism in the current professional universe, and pedagogy that would enable trainees to function as generalists and interact with patients in a productive way. It reflects on the rubric of 'Conversations inviting Change'
The thinking heart. Three levels of psychoanalytic therapy with disturbed children
No full textHow do we talk about feelings to children who are cut off from feeling? How do we raise hope and a sense of safety in despairing and terrified children without offering false hope? How do we reach the unreachable child and interest the hardened child?
The Thinking Heart is a natural sequel to Live Company, Anne Alvarez' highly influential and now classic book about working with severely disturbed and damaged children. Building on 50 years experience as a child and adolescent psychotherapist, Alvarez uses detailed and vivid clinical examples of different interactions between therapist and client, and explores the reasons why one type of therapeutic understanding can work rather than another. She also addresses what happens when the therapist gets it wrong.
In The Thinking Heart, Alvarez identifies three different levels of analytic work and communication:
The explanatory level the "why - because"
The descriptive level - the "whatness" of what the child feels
The intensified vitalizing level - gaining access to feeling itself for children with chronic dissociation, despairing apathy or 'undrawn' autism.
The book offers a structured schema drawing on and updating some of her classic work. It is designed to help the therapist to find the right level of interpretation in work with clients and, provides particular help with the unreachable child. It will be of use to Psychotherapists, Psychoanalysts, Clinical and Educational Psychologists, Child Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Special needs teachers and carers of disturbed children
