Biomedical subjects

R H Tuch

Publications and source records attributed to R H Tuch.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Questioning the psychoanalyst's authority.

Sources of the trend to question not just the analyst's authority to interpret, but the analyst's use of authority in general, are explored. Out of a wish to circumvent the potentially detrimental effects an analyst's interpretations can have on patients, certain psychoanalysts have modified their analytic techniques with an eye to downplaying the role of their authority. When taken to extremes, this has led analysts to act as if they have little to offer patients in the way of an alternative point of view, and to privilege patients' accounts and interpretations by treating them as if they were objectively true. It is argued that one need not go so far in order to protect patients from the analyst's less than careful use of authority. It is argued further that the judicious use of authority remains an indispensable tool in helping to ready the patient's mind for a consideration of constructs different from those on which the patient has always relied. Finally, becoming comfortable with the aggressive aspect of the use of one's authority may determine the extent to which one is willing to employ one's authority with patients.

Authoritarianism↗

PubMed1999

The construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of memory in the light of social cognition.

Psychic trauma results when the ego is overwhelmed by intolerable affect. Some childhood experiences are directly traumatic, requiring no intervening interpretive process to render them traumatic. Troublesome affect that falls short of being truly traumatic, in the strict sense of the term, may nevertheless exert a psychopathogenic effect on the child's psychic development. Whether a child is troubled by an experience depends on what that experience meant to the child. Accordingly, the psychopathogenic effects of childhood experience are a function of the child's general level of cognitive sophistication and specific ability to appreciate the subtle nuances of social interactions. If a child's cognitive capabilities are not up to the task of providing the necessary explanations for a given social interaction, the child is left to fall back on fantasy to fill in the gaps. The field of "social cognition" proves particularly helpful in understanding what a child is capable of gleaning from an experience. Research in this area helps psychoanalysts understand how experience becomes constructed and reconstructed in the form of memories. Social cognition also helps psychoanalysts understand when and how a lived experience ends up being psychopathogenic or, alternatively, ceases any longer to exert an ongoing psychopathogenic effect on an individual's psyche. A review of social cognition research leads to a reconsideration of such psychoanalytic concepts as repression, dissociation, reconstruction, and resistance. It also directs attention to the concept of developmental (as opposed to psychoanalytic) reconstruction and deconstruction.

Child↗

PubMed1997

Beyond empathy: confronting certain complexities in self psychology theory.

Empathy is often a poorly understood concept. While some feel its value to psychoanalysis cannot be overstated, others feel it has been overemphasized as has the value of properly managing empathic failures that arise during an analysis. This paper will attempt to (1) demonstrate how patients sometimes resist empathy and erect barriers to being understood; (2) illustrate how empathy may sometimes be unachievable due to the difficulties encountered when one tries to empathize with the various aspects of another's experience that are in conflict with one another; and (3) propose that analysts may need to go beyond the common definition of empathy in order to help patients question and discard certain cherished beliefs they hold about themselves.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship between a mother's menstrual status and her response to illness in her child.

From over 1500 women who brought children to the Los Angeles County--U.S.C. Pediatric Outpatient Department during a 1 month period, 140 were randomly selected and interviewed to determine whether a woman's menstrual status (her position within the menstrual cycle) affects the way she responds to illness in her child. The study found that paramenstrual women (those who were about to have or who were having their period) were more apt to bring their children to the Pediatric OPD than women between periods (intermenstrual women). Children brought in by paramenstrual women were considered to be less sick, to be suffering from different types of illnesses, and to have been sick for a shorter period of time than children brought in by intermenstrual women. The study presents evidence suggesting that paramenstrual and intermenstrual women have different motivations for bringing their children to the doctor.

Attitude to Health↗