Dr. X's Free Associations

The Therapeutic Container

Cheryl Fuller posted a pair of meditations on the psychotherapeutic environment as a containing vessel.  She raises an interesting point about the patient's responsibility to maintain the therapeutic container:

A proper container needs to be intact, without holes or cracks. What does this mean in terms of doing therapy? We all know about confidentiality -- the therapist is constrained from discussing the patient with anyone without permission. But how often is the patient made aware of her responsibility for also maintaining the integrity of the vessel? How often do patients tell their partners or friends in detail about their sessions? When this happens, the vessel of that work develops a crack and some of the energy leaks out, energy that if it stayed in the vessel would be available for the work of the therapy. [...]

It took me a long time to really get this more than intellectually. For me it had to do with needing to be willing to risk being alone in the therapy with my analyst. This work is intense and the pressure to punch holes in the vessel is always there. And holes and cracks will inevitably occur. Discovering them and patching them is part of the work. It took me a long time to get all of that on a feeling level.

As a patient, I didn't discuss my sessions with anyone, except at one point when something very distressing occurred several years into our work.  The disturbing event was a breach of privacy which was subsequently symbolized in a dream I had about a glass door on the office.  I had some discussions about this with a friend.  I came to see these conversations as a form of retaliatory acting out, and yet my own breaches of privacy (talking with my friend) were still an attempt to protect the therapy(ist) by defusing my anger outside of the therapy relationship.

Otherwise, from the start, it just didn't feel right to share what was happening in therapy.  In my case, I had the feeling that something very intimate was transpiring between us and I felt protective of that intimacy.   What we were doing didn't belong to anyone else.  Thinking back on it, my friends generally kept the happenings of their therapies to themselves, although that wasn't true in every case at all times.

Dr. Fuller's comment about "getting this more than intellectually" is an important one.  There is a great deal about therapy that is difficult to really appreciate if one hasn't done therapy for a long time.  A construct like the therapy as a container can be difficult enough intellectually.  It takes much longer to really get it with palpable conviction.

I highly recommend both of Dr. Fuller's posts, The Vessel, and Thinking Some More About the Vessel. 

James Hillman

Perhaps my feelings are unwarranted, but whenever James Hillman comes up, I immediately bristle.

He's supposed to be a genius.  Okay, so he's a genius.  I've known a few geniuses.  They're fascinating, but they can be a little dangerous if you swallow them whole--if you don't roll your eyes every now and then.

The truth is I really don't know much about Hillman or his beliefs, but I can't shake the feeling that there is something cultish and a bit sinister in play--like he's a guy who dazzles in a way that makes people lose contact with their inner bullshit-o-meter.

But I could be totally wrong.

Another Food Post

A shop in London is selling a frozen dessert made from breast milk

The dessert, called Baby Gaga, is churned with donations from 15 women who responded to an advertisement on an online mothers’ forum. One of the women, Victoria Hiley, 35, said if adults realised how tasty breast milk was more new mothers would be encouraged to breastfeed. Each serving of Baby Gaga at Icecreamists costs £14. Mrs Hiley’s donation was expressed on site and pasteurised before being churned with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest.

That's US$22 a serving.  It probably tastes just fine, but I think I'll stick with peanut soup.

Peanut Soup

Rarely do I post a recipe, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy posts about food from my blog friends.  NMissC's food posts frequently leave me with a hankering to try something I've never had before. Sometimes I think I should go to Mississippi just to try out some of the restaurants in his posts.

Today Retriever has posted a diabolical recipe for Virginia Peanut Soup that I feel compelled to link.  It's something that noone trying to keep their weight in check should ever eat (don't even think about it if you have heart disease), but I believe this simple recipe is going to prove irresistible for me.

I'll report back if I do cook up a batch. 

Student Cheating: The Dark Triad of Personality Factors

Researchers led by Delroy Paulhus, PhD (developer of the Paulus Deception Scales) identified three trends in personality that predict student cheating:

College students who admitted to cheating in high school or turned in plagiarized papers ranked high on personality tests of the so-called Dark Triad: psychopathy, Machiavellianism (cynicism, amorality, manipulativeness), and narcissism (arrogance and self-centeredness, with a strong sense of entitlement). Of the three dark personality types, psychopathy was most strongly linked to cheating. These findings appear in the September Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

Is this a bit like saying that cheaters cheat?  Actually it does matter if we're interested in the respective roles of disposition and situational factors driving behavior.  Situational factors may indeed increase or decrease motive to cheat, but these findings suggest that personality does matter as well.

The Muslim Brotherhood

Frontline is airing  Revolution in Cairo this week.  It's a documentary about the fall of the Mubarack government.  One part of the program looked at the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  They certainly talk a good game, but some Egyptians are wary of their intentions.  The entire program is worth watching, but if you're short on time you can skip directly to the part about the Muslim Brotherhood.  Just to the right of the screen, click the fifth thumbnail from the top.

I still don't know what to make of this group.  They seem to have a genuine desire to be respected rather than feared in the West, and the youth wing definitely comes off as modernist.  Even so, comments made by the leader of the youth wing are not good news for Israel.  They say they are committed to upholding all the existing treaties with Israel, but, clearly, they regard Israel as an illegitimate state.

Sorry, the video is unavailable outside the US.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

While Muammar Gaddafi was murdering his political opponents, Chicago elected a new mayor, Rahm Emanuel.   In Daley-esque fashion, Emanuel defeated his opponents in every part of the city and among every demographic group.  While I would have preferred a Gery Chico or Miguel del Valle victory, recent events in the Middle East should remind us that losing elections and peaceful transitions of power are inevitable and desirable aspects of the political process in a free and democratic society.  Defeat at the polls certainly beats imprisonment or being shot by dictators.

Exactly why Emanuel won such a decisive victory isn't clear.  He did enjoy a huge financial advantage over his opponents, but that's no guarantee of success.  And as much cash as Emanuel raised, we did not see wall-to-wall television advertising.  What Emanuel did do is campaign tirelessly, visiting every precinct in the city and 110 L stops.  No demographic group was neglected in his campaign.

It also seems that Chicagoans like tough mayors with rough edges.  Although Emanuel grew up on the upper class North Shore of Chicago, he comes across as a guy who grew up in an ethnic Chicago neighborhood.

But perhaps the decisive point in Emanuel's campaign was the hearing to remove him from the ballot because of a residency question.  Having every crackpot and knucklehead in the city question him for days on end may have backfired on his opponents.  Not only did Emanuel have a strong case for remaining on the ballot, but the ballot challengers really did come off as fools.  And maybe voters just plain resented the effort to deprive them of the option to vote for Emanuel.

Mob Madness

I wasn't going to write anything about Lara Logan.  I've written about the madness of mobs before, but I just don't feel like getting into that right now. And as if the savage attack on Ms. Logan wasn't bad enough, we must now endure those who can't make political hay out of it fast enough.

Suffice it to say that I am horrified and deeply saddened for Lara Logan, her husband and her family.

Now here is the reason I decided to post something.  Take a little time to read the comments.

Mayor Emanuel on Twitter

One of the many Chicago mayoral election side shows involves a fake Rahm Emanuel Twitter account.  Everyone is dying to know the Tweeter's real identity, even the real Rahm Emanuel who just offered a $2500 charitable donation if the faker identifies himself.  But the real Rahm doesn't want the faker to out himself until after the election because he's enjoying the Tweets and doesn't want the faker to stop.

Some of the Tweets are very funny.  Perhaps real Rahm believes that letting voters in on the joke about his legendary temper and alleged constant use of the F-bomb makes his rough side less of an issue.  

Real Rahm made the charitable offer a few minutes ago during an interview with Roe Conn and Richard Roeper.  Within seconds, fake Rahm responded to real Rahm on Twitter.

I must say that hearing Emanuel interviewed informally over the past couple of weeks reveals a likable, funny side to his character.  There had to be something more to explain his success.  Swearing at people only goes so far.

And though Emanuel is not my first choice, he's running away with the election.  The latest poll shows him leading in every demographic and geographic category.  I underestimated him.

Extreme Brains ctd

Last month I had a brief post on the subject of extreme male and female brains.  Now comes a study that lends a bit more support to what is known as the androgen theory of autism.

New research conducted by scientists from the Utrecht and Cambridge Universities has found that an administration of testosterone under the tongue in volunteers can negatively affect a person’s ability to “mind read”, an indication of empathy. Moreover, the effects of testosterone administration are predicted by the 2D:4D foetal marker of prenatal testosterone.

The study findings bear important implications for the androgen theory of autism, as testosteron is an androgen, and confirms previous rodent research findings showing that testosterone in early brain development organizes the activation of the hormone in later life. The study was designed by Professor Jack van Honk at the University of Utrecht and Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge, and was conducted in Utrecht. contd

Is anyone shocked by this finding?