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R Langs

Publications and source records attributed to R Langs.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The self-processing class and the psychotherapy situation: a comparative study.

This paper has introduced the distinction between the usual form of psychoanalytic effort at self-analysis and the communicatively founded approach, which has been termed self-processing. The paper also introduces a new teaching modality that involves the education of professional and nonprofessional individuals in how to engage in private self-processing. The ground rules or frame of the self-processing class have been described in detail. The classroom work includes a self-processing exercise developed primarily by an origination narrator or presenter with the aid of the other participants. The effort usually begins with a dream or other origination narrative, to which the narrator abundantly associates. The search is also made for signs of emotional disturbance--indicators--which include deviant frame impingements by class members. Finally, the stimuli or triggers that have evoked the unconscious processing and material conveyed in the exercise by the presenter are identified and clarified. The frame-related impingements by the instructor are among the most powerful triggers for the class's unconscious processing and responses. The exercise should culminate with a linking of triggers and associated images. In this light, psychotherapy and the self-processing class are compared in terms of their ground rules and role requirements, and especially in regard to the healing powers of each. Therapeutic holding is seen as the primary mode of cure in therapy, while the insightful linking of themes and triggers seems to play the main healing role in a self-processing class. The implications of these observations and ideas for the two healing modalities--therapy and class--and for our understanding of human emotional functioning and information processing are discussed.

Cognition↗
PubMed1992

The three modes of the science of psychoanalysis.

Three modes of the science of psychoanalysis are identified: (1) the domain mode is established when claim is laid for investigation of a distinctive area of nature for investigation. For psychoanalysis, this territory involves human adaptation, mentation, and communication in the emotional arena. This mode essentially is one in which a scientific spirit is central and gross, qualitative observation the source of data and theory; (2) the statistical mode is characterized by quantification (measurement), prediction, controlled study, and global correlational or probability methods. In general, this mode of science serves to confirm, refute, or revise postulates derived from domain-mode observations. An advanced aspect of this mode is termed stochastics, a form of science that deals with events that are both random and deterministic, and which introduces post hoc mathematical equations that are probabilistic in nature. (3) the formal mode is grounded in moment-to-moment observations (time-series data); its results are defined entirely through mathematical treatments of quantified data. The unique quest in this mode is for laws of nature. Each mode of the science of psychoanalysis is discussed for its actual and potential contributions to the field and for its limitations and pitfalls. Finally, the paper discusses aspects of recent research that has, we believe, established a heretofore absent formal mode of science for the field of psychoanalysis.

Female↗
PubMed1992

Three quantitative studies of gender and identity in psychotherapy consultations.

This paper details the application of three distinctive approaches to the analysis of line-by-line scores for themes of gender and identity in recorded psychotherapy consultations conducted by three male analysts with a female patient. The first method involved commonly used statistical comparisons of the frequency with which gender subthemes and allusions to identity appeared in each consultation session. The results of this study indicate three significantly different patterns of gender material in the communications from the patient with each of the analysts who interviewed her--and from each analyst and patient/analyst system as well. Therapist dominance in this area appeared to be quite strong. The second study involved measures of overall informational complexity for various aspects of the gender/identity sequence of communications. Here too, individual differences emerged. They not only add to the evidence for therapist dominance in these protocols, but also provide indications that sessions differ in respect to the extent to which the information they contain is ordered and repetitive or redundant, as compared to disordered, complex, and varied. The third study availed itself of stochastic methods in which the Box-Jenkins models were used to define mathematically and post hoc, the deeper structure of aspects of the vicissitudes of gender/identity expressions in the course of these consultations. The main finding was that change in speaker role in respect to these themes accelerated in response to random interventional shocks to the system that occurred at the time of measurement and inversely with shocks to the system sustained the previous second. This look into the deeper structure of these sequences revealed considerable sensitivity to recent shocks to the patient/therapist system, much underlying instability, and strong tendencies toward establishing stability or equilibrium when the system destabilized. Of note is the finding that all three consultations, by and large, followed the same configuration--itself a rarely seen model. The implications and promise of these methods are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Stochastic analysis of the duration of the speaker role in the psychotherapy of an AIDS patient.

This paper has presented a quantitative/stochastic research approach to aspects of a psychotherapy with an HIV-positive patient. The Box-Jenkins (ARIMA) method for time-series analysis was applied to the duration of speaker roles for a single male patient in his first three sessions with a male therapist. The results indicate a definitive underlying stochastic structure of order (1, 1, 1). This indicates that the sequence of speaker durations was nonstationary (chaotic), while the rate at which the sequence changed (velocity) showed a clear structure reflecting the influence on the system of the prior state, and of the prior and present shocks. The histograms of the frequency of utterances of varying time lengths revealed a second deep structure through the emergence of an exponential characteristic of a Poisson model. The Poisson rate constants--a measure of interruption and holding tendencies--were stable across interviews. Intervention analysis identified epochs in each interview that significantly altered the progression of the time series. A qualitative investigation of these periods of destabilization suggested that sudden allusions to highly charged topics, including the likelihood of a fatal outcome of the patient's illness, and especially unconscious criticisms of the therapist by the patient, created a large share of these interludes. Finally, there is a discussion of the limitations and implications of these findings, including a comparison with similar analyses for 6 psychotherapy consultation sessions.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1992

The formal mode of the science of psychoanalysis: studies of two patient/therapist systems.

This paper has introduced three mathematically based models that are part of a burgeoning new formal mode of the science of psychoanalysis: (1) The Power Spectral Density Function, which investigates the vicissitudes of cyclical power; (2) Work and Force, which lead to measurement of the instantaneous power of a session; and (3) Entropy or Complexity, a measurement of the accumulated complexity or redundancy of the communications from patients and therapists in the course of a therapy session. An additional statistical measurement was included, that of the Measure of Linear Influence or Cross-Correlation Function, which was used with a ten-minute window. Each of these measurements were applied to quantitative data that involved ratings of five variables of emotional communication: Newness of Themes, Extent of Narrative/Imagery, Positively Toned Themes and Images, Negatively Toned Themes and Images, and Continuity of Dialogue within a therapy. The paper compares two psychotherapies using these four measurements. They differentiated the two treatment situations, revealing distinctive properties of each. The implications of these preliminary results are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Clinical consequences of a formal mode of science of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

The paper has presented some ways in which existing formal-mode science results are of importance to the practicing clinician. Stress was placed on the quantification and mathematical identification of countertransference difficulties. Formal science results allow for deep insight into the effects of various approaches to doing psychotherapy that have not been previously available. By adding a new dimension to psychoanalytic observation and understanding, formal science studies of the deeper nature of the human mind and of the therapeutic interaction should help in time to lead to major revisions in clinical theory and practice.

Communication↗
PubMed1991

A measure of linear influence between patient and therapist.

This paper describes the application of the cross-correlation function (CCF) to four quantified dimensions of the therapeutic consultation dialogue: newness of themes, degree of narration, and positive and negative thematic tone of images. A 10-min. window was used to study lag relationships in both directions of effect--from therapist to patient and the reverse. This measure of linear influence was applied to six psychotherapeutic consultation sessions carried out by different well known psychoanalysts with two women patients. Analysis showed a range of significant CCF effects that totaled from zero to 1360 sec. depending on the consultation. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in the context of viewing the present study as part of a program of investigations into the nonexperimental nature--the underlying laws, structures, and transactions--of therapeutic and everyday emotional dialogues.

Communication↗
PubMed1976

The misalliance dimension in Freud's case histories: i. The case of Dora.

This paper presents an effort to identify sectors of therapeutic misalliance between Freud and his patient Dora based on modifications in the framework of the analytic relationship and situation. Use is made of a template based on the current ground rules and boundaries of the patient-analyst relationship, and three deviations from this template are identified in Freud's analytic work with Dora. The intrapsychia and interactional sequelae of these deviations in technique for Dora and for the course of her analysis are traced out. The consequent sectors of misalliance are identified and the participation of both Dora and Freud is described, as are their respective, largely unconscious efforts to modify these areas of unconscious collusion. Stress is placed on Dora'a unconscious preceptions of the actual implications of Freud's modifications in the frame. The role of Freud's failure to rectify these deviations and to analyze their implications for Dora are considered, including their influence on the patient's premature termination of her analysis.

Attitude↗
PubMed1976

On becomine a psychiatrist: discussion of "Empathy and intuition in becoming a psychiatrist," by Ronald J. Blank.

Using the data from Blank's (1976) description of his clinical efforts with his first patient, selected tissues on becoming a psychiatrist and psychotherapist are explored. Considered among the motives for entering this profession are opportunities for the therapist to projectively identify into his patients, and to introjectively identify with and contain his patients' psychopathology. The relationship between empathy and intuition on the one hand, and projection and projective identification on the other, is also studied, as is the need for the application of the validating process in confirming all so-called empathic and intuitive responses on the part of the therapist. Counter-transference influences on the experience and use of empathy and intuition are also investigated. The development of therapeutic misalliances and framework "cures," the distinction between transference and nontransference, the constructive elements contained in essentially countertransference-based interventions, the mastery of countertransference difficulties, and the choice of insight-oriented versus noninsightful therapeutic modalities are discussed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Responses to creativity in psychoanalysts.

A discussion of "Concerning Transference and Countertransference" by Harold Searles, M.D. Searles's study, written and rejected for publication in 1948-49 contains six original contributions to these subjects. They include the definition of determinants of transference in the immediate analytic interaction, the role of projection in transference and its evocation by the analyst, its basis in actual traits of the analyst which are exaggerated, and its expression as an effort to elicit confirmatory responses. Searles also details the fullness of the analyst's participation in the therapeutic interaction and the constructive usage of countertransference reactions. The negative responses to Searles's creativity prompt the thesis that every professional has a wish to both accept and destroy the innovator and his innovations. Factors include envy, a dread of inner turmoil, impingements on countertransference defenses, and deviations in the conditions of training analysts. These reactions are paralleled by refractoriness to the patient's unconscious creativity and efforts to cure the analyst. The manifestations of these hostile reactions and the innovator's responses to them are discussed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Some communicative properties of the bipersonal field.

This paper delineates three major types of communicative bipersonal fields: Type A, the symbolic field of illusion and play; Type B, the field of action in discharge and projective identification; and Type C, the static field characterized by impenetrable barriers, falsifications, destruction of meaning, and a rupture of the link between patient and therapist or analyst. The development of this conceptualization is traced through a review of the author's prior contributions and the relevant literature. Several illustrative clinical vignettes are presented. A number of major implications of the basic formulation are discussed, including their relevance to individual communicative styles, the nature of contents and defenses in each field, the distinctive interventions required, and the interaction between patient and therapist in each of the three communicative modes.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗