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Biomedical subjects

Jesse D Geller

Publications and source records attributed to Jesse D Geller.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Pity, suffering, and psychotherapy.

Every day psychotherapists are called upon to assuage and give meaning to human suffering. This report examines the ways in which therapists' and patients' attitudes towards giving and receiving "pity" can advance or interfere with the realization of these goals. Clinical observations, introspective analyses, interviews, and questionnaires are used to investigate the following questions: What feelings and thoughts are encompassed by the state of pitying a person or an aspect of a person? What are the similarities and differences between pity and compassion? How do pity and empathy interact in the therapeutic situation? When is taking and showing pity therapeutically beneficial? Is pity a force that brings people together, or is it a way of distancing ourselves from those whom we regard as "other"? Based on the phenomena brought to light by investigating these questions, the author proposes that pity is an inevitable and integral component of our reactions to the ordeals suffered through by individuals facing tragic situations. As a background, an overview of the two radically different conceptions of pity that coexist in our culture is presented.

Attitude↗
PubMed2003

Self-disclosure in psychoanalytic-existential therapy.

This article is an effort to integrate contemporary psychoanalytic and existential perspectives on intentional therapist self-disclosure. It offers a two-stage decision-making model that considers self-disclosure from the vantage points of style and internalization. Clinical and research findings are presented to support the notion that the meanings a patient attributes to a particular self-disclosure, and its power to move him or her towards greater health, is the product of a fluctuating matrix of interpersonal and intrapsychic variables. Special consideration is given to the challenges that arise during the early and termination stages of treatment and to the psychotherapy of therapists.

Decision Making↗
PubMed2003

[The Intersession Questionnaire--an inventory for the measurement of patients' processing of psychotherapy between sessions].

In the intervals between psychotherapy sessions, patients often make use of the experiences that they have during sessions with their therapists, but these "intersession processes" (ISP) have been largely neglected in psychotherapy research. This study presents a German version of the Intersession Experience Questionnaire (IEQ, Orlinsky et al. ) called the Inter-Session-Fragebogen (ISF). The ISF was used to study a total of 3.778 intersession intervals in 249 therapy episodes involving 229 patients. The factor structure of the ISF appears to be stable over therapy (up to 25 or even 50 sessions), and also over therapy settings (outpatient, day clinic, inpatient). Just as in the original American samples, there were evidently cross-culturally invariant factors like "Recreating the therapeutic situation", "Applying therapy," and "Relationship fantasies". The emotional qualities of ISP are assessed by two independent factors, called "Remoralizing emotions" and "Negative emotions" (regarding therapy). Differences between therapy settings are evident concerning intensity and trajectories of the factor scores over time.

Emotions↗
PubMed2003

Representations of therapists by patients with personality disorders.

The purpose of this study was to investigate attributes of mental representations of therapists by patients with specific personality disorders (PDs), schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), and obsessive-compulsive (OCPD), and a comparison group with Major Depressive Disorder and no PD (MDD). The Therapist Representation Inventory-II (TRI) measured characteristics of participants' extra-session thoughts about their therapists. Results showed that patients with STPD had the highest level of mental involvement with therapy outside the session, missing their therapists and wishing for friendship, while also feeling aggressive or negative. Patients with BPD exhibited the most difficulty in creating a benign image of the therapist. Variables such as gender, co-occurring Axis I disorders, and amount of individual psychotherapy received were significant covariates for a number of analyses. The importance of understanding the internal dynamics of patients' thoughts about their treatment relationship was underscored.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Psychotherapists' representations of their patients.

Using a new measure, the Patient Representation Inventory (PRI), this study investigated the nature of psychotherapists' working clinical models of their patients. The data provided by 73 therapists suggest that, regardless of experience level or theoretical orientation (cognitive-behavioral or psychodynamic), therapists tend to evoke such representations by accessing the words spoken during sessions and by recreating visual images of their patients' nonverbal contributions to the therapeutic dialogue. These representations tend to be in the service of more deeply understanding patients; their affective tone is suggestive of empathy, authenticity, and involvement. More-experienced therapists tend to evoke representations that rely largely on bodily sensations and the emotional atmosphere reflective of clinical interactions. Apparently, similarities and differences among therapists can be studied not only at the manifest level of clinical work, but at the representational level as well.

Adult↗