British Journal of Psychotherapy最新文献

This paper investigates whether conspiracy theories arising during the COVID-19 pandemic are linked to early trauma or a specific organization of the mind. Using the Reptilian conspiracy theory as an example, the paper proposes that belief in conspiracy theories can activate unresolved memories of trauma and serve as a mediator between the psyche and intrusive content. Classic psychoanalytic concepts, as well as more modern ideas from Britton and Steiner, are explored to understand the role of early trauma and inner object relations dynamics in the development of Belief in Reptilian Conspiracy Theories (BiCT). The concept of après-coup is introduced to explain how newer responses to familiar psychic experiences may shape beliefs in conspiracies. Additionally, the paper proposes that belief in conspiracy theories can function as a psychic retreat. Two clinical cases are presented to illustrate these ideas while maintaining anonymity.

The objective of this study was to capture therapists’ experiences of delivering therapy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and how this experience impacted therapeutic alliance. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted on the responses to three surveys distributed to all UKCP members. The qualitative and quantitative analyses found significant variability in therapists’ feelings regarding the transition to online therapy, with overall perceptions continuing to be divided similarly throughout the nine months surveyed. While qualitative data highlighted positive perceptions of online therapy for some, quantitative results showed that most did not find online therapy to be as effective as face-to-face therapy. The pandemic and subsequent shift to online work had significant implications for therapists, including navigating unfamiliar changes to the therapeutic space resulting from experiencing a shared crisis, and holding the frame in relation to boundaries of safety. In the wake of the pandemic, as things shift increasingly towards a hybrid model of delivering therapy, it is important to reflect on what can be learned from this transition and how this influences future therapeutic practices.

This essay discusses the initial period of work in a clinical case undertaken by a first-year psychological therapies trainee. It describes the challenges of beginning such work in tragic circumstances, how the therapist and the institution managed that, and the emergence of creative possibilities alongside painful and deadening experiences. Developmental implications for the child are reflected on, as the themes of the work and the therapeutic relationship are described and illustrated with vignettes. The value of the psychological therapist's observant thoughtful presence, and naming and containing the child's emotional experiences is noted, and alongside a supportive network, considered to facilitate a more creative engagement with life for this young child.

This paper looks at the creation of narrative in the treatment of a 10-year-old girl. It will explore how psychodynamic, psychoanalytically informed work can help a child whose internalized narrative structure seemed built to harbour violent, unpredictable and psychopathic objects. It will examine how close and vigilant observation of a child's internalized storyline and choice of figurines/symbols can lead to more compassion and thoughtful personification in play, and how this in turn can lead not only to the facilitation of creativity around a more coherent storyline, but also the opportunity for the therapist to ‘co-author’ a different trajectory for the figurines, and outcome. Whilst the analysis will concentrate on the patient's internal world, it will extend to a discussion about the blurred lines between truth and play. The paper will present the examination and participation of symbolic play as a highly useful device for a therapist in shifting a child's interiority, in this case enough for the patient to be self-determining in their external world.

Humanity continues to experience serious violations of human rights, and the recent critical events, like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, seem to have directly or indirectly intensified the occurrence of violations of human rights like torture, enforced disappearances, human trafficking, gender-based violence and war crimes. Can analytical psychology make a significant contribution to the prevention, treatment, remedying such violations, from the individual level to the most macro level of socio-political systems? I will support the thesis that the Jungian concept of soul has a special role in such an endeavour. My proposal is that when a social terrifying threat, like in the case of widespread social violence, is perceived at the social level, the functioning of the individual Self and society may change dramatically. In particular, both lose their containing function and are subjected to an unconscious massive collective pressure to align themselves to a specific kind of functioning that I call monolithic functioning. It is the splintering of what I call the reflective triangle, which is illustrated here, and has an effect on societal, groupal, interpersonal and intrapsychic levels. Some vignettes from a clinical case of a patient who suffered torture and gender-based violence are presented to illustrate how these human rights violations affect the three levels mentioned.

This article considers the position of the female tattooed body within the context of the ‘caring professions'. Tattoos are increasingly popular within these workplaces, but a stigma persists. The limited psychoanalytic research on body modifications in the consulting room concludes that tattoos are either a superficial fashion choice or an indicator of deviance and/or self-harm. To initiate a conversation that can move away from the current pathologizing paradigm, I have considered the ways in which tattooing can be considered as a creative ‘working through’, distinct from an aggressive ‘acting out’. The research utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to examine the lived experiences of female therapists, with body modifications, in the consulting room. All participants focused on their tattoos as their significant body modification and experiences varied depending on the specifics of the client work, professional environment and beliefs about perceptions of tattoos from the wider population. Identified themes were: appearance of self in the consulting room; the perceived communication of one's inner world through inked skin and integration of the process of tattooing. Professionalism was emphasized as an integral consideration for revealing or concealing tattoos in the consulting room and specifically this was heightened in relation to being female.

The psychedelic state can be thought about as an interdependent intrapsychic, somatic, interpersonal and spiritual happening which encourages, perhaps both to the relief and dismay of those participating in the experience, the shocking and impressive emergence of one's unconscious desires and traumata's; a state which may be experienced as cathartic or healing, and as anxiety-provoking and confusing. Often, in clinical trials investigating psychedelics in mental health conditions, these go hand in hand. Amid a renewed, at times hyperbolic, interest in psychedelics as a potential treatment for mental ill health, significant gaps of knowledge remain. Additional studies exploring the impact of the extra-pharmacological factors and adjunct therapeutic models on treatment outcomes are needed. Drawing from psychoanalytic perspectives, this paper explores points of intersectionality between psychedelic therapy under investigation and psychoanalysis in the context of traumatic stress. To that end, the psychedelic state will be considered an attempt to make the unconscious conscious by immersing self in a bewildering waking-dream to better tolerate reality; immersing self in a wilful state of vulnerability, to develop trust in one's agency and capacity to trust others; immersing self in an indescribable experience to learn how to redescribe, to self and to others the traumatic past.