Recovery and realism.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Results for “Reality Testing”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The "Newsletter": a catalyst for learning in group psychotherapy.
This article reports on an experiment in which members of a therapy group were invited to take turns doing process recordings of meetings, which were then circulated weekly to all members. The history of this "Newsletter," its benefits, the therapeutic goals, and the resistance it encountered are described. The method is seen as a potentially enriching tool for group psychotherapy.
Adult↗
The impact of the deflated self-image on the prolongation of treatment.
In many individuals a devalued archaic self-image originating in the pregenital period remains fixated in the ego either consciously, unconsciously or both. The splitting between the archaic self-image and the more current integrated ones tends to create a permanent intra-systemic conflict within the ego. One crucial factor culminating in a severe character resistance is the persistence of these primitive self-images. It is stressed further that in order to bring about a cure a long therapy and working through are essential to eradicate these primitive self-images and permit the ego to synthesize more stable, better integrated ones. Four cases are offered to substantiate the aforementioned concepts.
Adult↗
DSM-III and the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
In order to achieve more understanding of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, particularly as it relates to DSM-III, a historical review of influential diagnostic systems is undertaken. It is noted which systems are most relevant to DSM-III and which systems DSM-III neglects. With this in mind, strengths and weaknesses of DSM-III are discussed. Although DSM-III provides a precise, reliable, and research-oriented system, it does not provide construct validity, identifies only the most chronic schizophrenics, does not provide either genetic or psychodynamic understanding, and implies therapeutic nihilism. A conclusion is reached, that, regarding the diagnosis of schizophrenia, DSM-III provides diagnostic criteria that are simply arbitrary and of no more use than a number of other systems.
Defense Mechanisms↗
DSM-III and the diagnosis of borderline.
In order to achieve more understanding of the diagnosis of borderline personality, particularly as it relates to DSM-III, a historical review of influential diagnostic approaches is undertaken. DSM-III defines the borderline personality disorder in a simple way, enhancing reliability and research value. In comparison to other influential approaches, however, there is an overemphasis on affective disturbance, plus an obvious omission amongst the diagnostic criteria of the vulnerability to brief psychotic regressions under stress. The checklist approach of DSM-III greatly takes away from dynamic understanding and makes potentially valuable items such as defensive organization difficult to include. The DSM-III concept of the borderline personality as one of many distinct personality disorders seems unfounded. The concept of the borderline as a superordinate diagnosis under which more specific personality disorders would fall, appears more reasonable.
Borderline Personality Disorder↗
Multimodal treatment of a child with schizophrenia.
A case is presented of a five-year-old boy with schizophrenia who received both art and play therapy within a multimodal therapeutic program. The course of the two therapies is presented followed by a discussion of the similarities and differences of the techniques, but also noting the complementary and synergistic results.
Anger↗
The reality and the image of God in psychotherapy.
I have suggested that the plea for increased respect for the religious patient's perspectives demands a willingness on the psychotherapist's part to acknowledge the unique reality of the patient's relationships with religious objects, a reality which extends beyond the assumptions and predicates of standard interpersonal models of human behavior. At the same time, the psychotherapist can legitimately expect of the religious patient a willingness (notwithstanding the customary resistances) to expose his or her religious feelings and relationships to the type of analysis which attempts to clarify the nature and quality of the interpersonal or psychodynamic bases and implications of religious material. The psychotherapist can not arbitrate moral claims and decisions for the patient, nor rightfully present himself as possessing the single, "true" understanding of religious experience. Yet the therapist can invite the patient to examine the moral implications of his psychological experiences and the psychological impact and consequences of his religious experiences. What knowledge we as psychotherapists possess about human nature can be used to influence changes in the lives of our patients which they find useful and relevant for living in the world they have created for themselves. But we must, I think, humbly anticipate qualities of human nature and relationship whose ultimate meanings may defy every convention and paradigm.
Adult↗
The defense process in posttraumatic stress disorders.
The authors discuss the role of the subjective determinants in the premorbid personality and in the symptom-formation of patients who develop posttraumatic stress disorders. Such factors are assessed through a careful evaluation of the defense mechanisms. It is suggested that psychotherapists focus their attention on the dynamics of such mechanisms and shape their interventions accordingly.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Current dynamic thinking regarding the diagnosis of the borderline patient.
This paper succinctly discusses the current dynamic thinking regarding the diagnosis of the borderline patient. After a brief historical perspective, an ego-psychological diagnostic approach to the borderline patient is presented. Influenced heavily by Kernberg, yet quite simple, this approach provides an integrative summary of current diagnostic concepts of the borderline personality. That presentation is followed by introductory excursions into four current areas of focus regarding the diagnosis of the borderline patient.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
The role of therapist self-disclosure in psychotherapy: a survey of therapists.
The use of self by the therapist, generally referred to as therapist self-disclosure, and its potential impact on the therapeutic process, continues to be an important and contentious area of interest and inquiry. In contrast to most research in our field, which concentrates on the patient, in this investigation it was the therapist, and her/his beliefs, attitudes, and reported behaviors that served as the primary focus. The literature shows quite a few studies regarding the theoretical aspects of therapist self-disclosure but studies concerning actual psychotherapy are rare. The intent of this article is to focus on the practice of psychotherapy in an attempt to comprehend more fully one aspect of it: therapist self-disclosure.
Adult↗
The psychopathology of choice.
The important, often neglected factor of choice, learned in childhood, is examined in detail and illustrated by clinical examples. The primary etiological factors in psychopathology of choice are: (1) Too much choice allowed before integration is possible; (2) Too little choice allowed and (3) Distortions of choice due to racial, sexual, and religious prejudices or cognitive distortions.
Adolescent↗
The unbearable obscurity of being.
This cross-disciplinary study attempts to investigate the Being-question: what is the ultimate ground of everything there is? Psychotic solutions to this problem are compared with Kundera's literary approach (On the Unbearable Lightness of Being), and with famous metaphysical solutions. Special attention is given to Heidegger's attempt to grapple with this question, as exemplified in his four- (in the English translation) volume study of Nietzsche--who regarded Being as "a vapor and a fallacy." Psychoanalytic conceptions of the origin of the sense of Being in the mother-infant interaction, and in the ego's ongoing awareness of itself are examined, especially since in psychoses, borderline disorders, and other narcissistic disorders the sense of Being and the ego's experience of itself often are defective. Genetic and dynamic psychoanalytic considerations also clarify the historical preoccupation with the Being-question. It is concluded that only through consensual validation can psychotic solutions be distinguished form solutions having a general sense of validity. The methodology for exploring the validity of answers to the Being-question is contrasted with scientific method, and the necessity for clear exposition--limited by the inevitable boundaries of one's culture and language--is emphasized; for only through a historical process of dialectic can there be hope of eventual consensual validation on solutions to the problem.
Humans↗
Psychotherapy with the borderline patient: an introduction.
This paper serves as an introduction and orientation to six articles written by renowned experts on psychotherapy with borderline patients: Adler, Meissner, Chessick, Giovacchini, Kernberg, and Stone. Because the articles focus most explicitly on treatment and only touch on diagnosis, a brief excursion into diagnosis is provided. A section on conceptual framework for psychotherapy is presented, helping the reader to place the different authors' approaches into a continuum of exploratory psychotherapy. Finally brief summaries of this six articles are offered.
Borderline Personality Disorder↗
Psychosis after open heart surgery: a phenomenological study.
This brief self-reflective phenomenological study attempts to throw light on the inner mental processes that go on immediately following open heart surgery. The combination of organic assault, medication, post-traumatic stress, and psychological injury involved produces an abnormal mental state that can better be treated if it is understood from the point of view of the patient.
Atrial Fibrillation↗
Psychological treatment of adult psychiatric patients with traumatic frontal lobe injury.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Activities of Daily Living↗
Sociopathic adaptations in psychotic patients.
Many chronic psychotic patients make pathological adaptations to the environments imposed on them as a result of their illnesses, and those adaptations often distort the clinical picture and make it difficult for the psychiatrist to make a satisfying diagnosis and treatment plan. An example is the hospitalized patient who makes a dramatic recovery from his psychosis on the day his public assistance check is scheduled to arrive in the mail. The patient has developed the capacity to bend the course of his psychosis to his will, forcing it to serve his practical needs. The author presents several examples of patients who shift the focus of their activity from the manipulation and distortion of internal reality to the idiosyncratic manipulation of their external environments.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Homogeneous group therapy for acutely psychotic schizophrenic inpatients.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Acute Disease↗
Patients' accounts of stress and coping in schizophrenia.
Many current approaches to the management of schizophrenia emphasize the influence of environmental stress on the course of the illness. Relatively neglected is the internal experience of schizophrenic patients as a source of stress and anxiety. The author draws on a wide range of first-person accounts by patients with schizophrenia to identify four internal sources of stress--altered perceptions, cognitive confusion, attentional deficit, and impaired identity--and to reveal the wisdom and creativity with which patients have come to terms with their illness.
Adaptation, Psychological↗