New Jersey History (NJH - E-Journal)
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The Case of "Daniel": Flexibly Delivering an Inherently Challenging Treatment in the Face of a Complex Presentation
No full textIn this article, I respond to commentaries by Martin Franklin (2019) and by Liza Pincus and Andrea Quinn (2019) about my case study of "Daniel" (Tice, 2019), a 14-year-old young man presenting to therapy with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I treated Daniel with a manual-based, 25-session treatment centered around the cognitive-behavioral approach of Exposure and Response Prevention (E/RP). A major theme running through my case study and the two commentaries is the need for flexibility in adapting the manual to be responsive to a variety of factors associated with Daniel’s disorder, such as his personality, interests, life situation, attitude towards his symptoms, and his way of relating to the therapist. In the context of the commentaries, I review a variety of the specific ways in which I learned to be flexible. Some of these included (a) focusing on nonspecific factors in developing a strong therapeutic alliance and rapport; (b) paying particular attention to how I communicated relevant psychoeducational concepts to Daniel, particularly by the use of metaphors, in preparing him for the E/RP procedures and in encouraging his participation; and (c) focusing on the process of making decisions at important clinical choice points
The Effect of Integrating Music Listening With an Attachment- And Affective-Focused Short-Term Psychotherapy in an Individual With Relational Trauma: The Case of "James"
No full textThe purpose of this study is to explore the utility and feasibility of incorporating client-chosen music listening into a short-term dynamic therapy model in an individual with trauma. Specifically, Diana Fosha’s Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) was chosen due to its focus on emotional experience and attachment. Relevant literature regarding the current clinical applications of music is presented, along with research supporting music’s effects on relevant psychotherapeutic mechanisms such as affect, autobiographical memory, and attachment. These effects are illustrated through the use of the hybrid case example of "James," a composite psychotherapy client who struggles with symptoms stemming from relational trauma. In addition to being informed by clinical examples in relevant psychological literature, James' case is assembled from actual psychotherapy cases of the author. Demonstrating this client’s course of treatment provides an avenue for describing key clinical issues related to the utility of music within a more traditional short-term dynamic therapy model. By adopting a qualitative, disciplined inquiry approach, treatment is tailored to the client’s unique psychological struggles within the context of historical, contextual, and relational factors. Following a pragmatic case study research format (Fishman, 2005), case material is analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Discussion explores how an integrative treatment approach, exemplified in the case of James, can effectively combine psychodynamic, relational, and musical elements in treating individuals with relational trauma and the resulting pathology. James’ case is designed to be a resource for therapists who seek to gain additional understanding of a new component in providing effective and meaningful treatment for individuals with relational trauma
Integrating Client-Chosen Music in Relational Trauma Treatment: Pathways to the Heart
No full textThis commentary discusses the therapy of a hybridized client (Blimling, 2019) with a difficult relational trauma history in which client-chosen music was combined with a short-term treatment utilizing Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP). This combination bypassed rigid defenses and allowed access to a level of affect not ordinarily available to the client, allowing significant symptomatic and relational shifts to occur. Primary goals of helping the client deal with a major loss, reduce his level of depression, and improve his interpersonal functioning were met. Implications for the use of integrative methods with short-term models and the importance of therapist flexibility are discussed
The The Canon as Provocation: Partnering with Museums for the Future of Art History
No full textUnderstanding the art-historical canon as socially embedded and historically negotiated is a threshold concept for art history but there is a paucity of research on how to position students to examine the formation of the academic disciplines and negotiate the performance of their canons in academic and public space. Art history has an advantage over other disciplines in this regard due to the close relationship it enjoys with art museums, which make the discipline and its history present in space. This article presents two case studies in support of partnering with museums to move histories of the discipline to the forefront of students' art-historical investigations. Drawing on Community Based Learning (CBL) with critical perspectives based in critical pedagogy and institutional critique, the article shares findings from two courses developed in partnership with a local public art museum that successfully promoted students' "canonical critical consciousness" and empowered them to develop original, research-based interpretations of individual artworks with that perspective. One course focused on black arts and the other course drew on a European masterpiece collection and a larger collection of African art. In these courses students demonstrated increased awareness of the canon as a social construct, the ability to evaluate its value propositions, and applied ethical judgment to their interpretive choices
Self-Selected Music for Relational Trauma: Commentary on the Psychotherapy Case of "James"
No full textThis commentary discusses Dr. Paul Blimling’s (2019) composite case of James, a patient with a history of severe childhood interpersonal trauma, who responded remarkably well to individual psychotherapy augmented with the targeted use of self-selected music. I describe how music and psychotherapy both have their origins in the shamanistic practices of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, such that combining psychotherapy and music together is a reconciliation of sorts. The Case of James demonstrates how music can be used in psychotherapy with a counter-dependent patient, to help the patient to access sensitive, vulnerable feelings that normally would never be expressed to another person. In this case, the therapist’s keen sensitivity to the patient’s disorganized attachment style created an environment in which the patient eventually felt safe lowering his defenses and expressing his emotions in the treatment—with the help of five songs. Aside from the direct, visceral benefits of the music itself, the process of asking a relationally traumatized patient to select a song has other potential benefits. For example, it supports the patient’s sense of self (which, in the relationally traumatized patient, is likely fragmented), and it may reduce the "hot seat" feeling with a self-conscious patient, by shifting focus from the patient to the song. Songs selected by patients in advance of a session versus songs selected during a session may provide different types of information, and may have different types of benefits. If I were working with a patient such as James, two additional possibilities I would consider are (a) helping the patient to develop practical skills for managing overwhelming emotions, and (b) making the patient’s goals a more prominent focus throughout the treatment
Beyond the West: Barriers to Globalizing Art History
No full textThis article provides an empirical measure of progress toward global inclusiveness in introductory art history textbooks. Using both qualitative and quantitative content analysis, we find that although the discourse of art history has shifted toward global definitions of art, the incorporation of Non-Western artists into introductory textbooks has occurred slowly, making up only 23% of modern and contemporary artists featured in recent editions. There is greater editorial agreement about the canonical significance of Western modern and contemporary artists than about Non-Western artists. Drawing on qualitative interviews with textbook authors, editors, publishers, and reviewers, we identify the epistemological, economic, and institutional factors that have limited movement toward greater global inclusion in survey textbooks
The Case of “Rosa”: The Importance of Specificity in Our Quest to Integrate Cultural Competence in Practice
No full textThis commentary explores Nicole Vigoda Gonzalez’s (2018) treatment of “Rosa” with Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), an attachment-based, relational, and experiential approach effective for treating attachment trauma. I discuss how AEDP also welcomes culturally competent strategies. My focus is the importance of specificity in the inclusion of culturally competent strategies in psychotherapy practice. Specifically, I address the difference between a Caribbean versus an Hispanic identification. I also explore the impact of culture, including race/ethnicity and familial discrimination, in Rosa’s case. Finally, I explore the impact of the therapist’s disclosure, or lack thereof, of her own race/ethnicity in the context of AEDP interventions
Metaphoric Tasks in Psychotherapy: Case Studies of "Margie's" Self-Image and "Amy's" Pain
No full textMetaphor exists not simply as figurative language but as a fundamental organizing principle of human thought. Given the appropriate context, anything can function metaphorically. In the presently described cases of "Margie" and "Amy," which differed in many ways, a common theme was the effective incorporation of simple tasks, assigned as homework, which were used metaphorically in successful psychotherapy. In Margie's case, the task was not self-consciously conceived as a metaphor by the therapist, but it functioned that way. The therapeutic power of that metaphoric task was confirmed by the client many years later. In the second case, the task was deliberately formulated as a metaphor. Whether this metaphoric task contributed to the case's initially positive outcome is uncertain. To provide background for understanding the integrative psychotherapy model that I bring to these two cases, a statement on my development as a psychotherapist is included as Appendix 1
