ANZJFT Volume 19 Number 2
June 1998Contents
| Editorial - The Unconscious of the Individual and the Unconscious of the System | Hugh Crago |
| Object Relations Family Therapy: Articulating the Inchoate | Ingeborg Stiefel, Poppy Harris and Julie A. Quinn |
| Body Talk: Some Thoughts on Anorexia | Sally Young |
| 'So Much we Still Don't Know': An Interview with Averil Earnshaw | Hugh Crago |
| Of Apes and Infants: The Cutting Edge of Psychoanalytic Thought? | Carmel Flaskas and Brian Cade |
| Psychoanalysis: A Traveller's Guide for Family Therapists | Jolyon Grimwade |
| The Research Debate | Olav Muurlink and Simon Kennedy |
| Consultation with (a) Difference in the Medical Field | Bengta Hansen-Magnusson, Ernst Hansen-Magnusson and J?rgen Hargens |
| Family Therapy and the Unconscious [Network News] | Janet Roth, Akivra Bouris and Sarah Jones |
| Letter from Britain | John Hills |
| Reviews | |
| In Brief: Coming Events, Jottings and Announcements |
Abstracts & Sample Articles
Editorial - The Unconscious of the Individual and the Unconscious of the System
by Hugh CragoView article. [PDF format - 100KB]
Object Relations Family Therapy: Articulating the Inchoate
by Ingeborg Stiefel, Poppy Harris and Julie A. QuinnView article. [PDF format - 189KB]
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in psychodynamic ideas within the family therapy literature. While some authors have explored the usefulness of psychodynamic concepts in the systemic context (Byng-Hall, 1995; Flaskas, 1993, 1996; Luepnitz, 1988, 1997), others have argued that psychodynamic models of family therapy should be given more credence in systemic work with families (Guttman, 1991). This paper describes Object Relations Family Therapy (ORFT), a psychoanalytic model of family therapy, in plain English in order to minimise the obscurity of some of the existing terminology and to emphasise the utility of more contemporary formulations. ORFT addresses the interface between psychoanalytic and systemic theories. It offers a way of conceptualising complex family dynamics at both the interpersonal and intrapsychic levels. It also integrates an understanding of nonverbal, unstated and often implicit processes in its formulation of problem development. The unique contribution of ORFT is elaborated using a clinical example.
Body Talk: Some Thoughts on Anorexia
by Sally YoungView article. [PDF format - 153KB]
In this paper, I will attempt to address questions about the dynamics of anorexia within family relationships, the ways in which anorexic thinking encapsulates itself in the mind, and how it can leave both the therapist and the family feeling 'starved out'. I will also address some organisational issues, in the ways the therapeutic agency can come to mirror the anorexic dilemma. How does the metaphor of 'growing' and 'growing up' join with the anorexic crisis? I will discuss the cases of both a boy and a girl with anorexia, in order to think about the dynamic differences in the 'becoming of a man' and the 'becoming of a woman'.
'So Much we Still Don't Know': An Interview with Averil Earnshaw
by Hugh CragoView article. [PDF format - 353KB]
I was independently told about Averil Earnshaw by three different people in the same six month period. Each of them had heard, or heard of, Averil's presentations on the theme of time-linked intergenerational repetitions, and knew of my own interest in repeating patterns in families. Averil very willingly granted me the interview that follows, and in the course of talking with her, I began to realise that Averil's was yet another story of someone who had formulated an original hypothesis based on repeated clinical observation, and had the courage to present it to gatherings of her peers, only to encounter skepticism, lack of interest, or charges of 'idiosyncrasy'. Despite Averil's best efforts to show that her hypothesis was consistent with the direction of Freud's own thinking, the psychoanalytic movement had greeted it lukewarmly, and it seemed to me that perhaps it might be of more interest to readers of this Journal, since the older and more psychoanalytically-influenced generation of family therapists (e.g. Bowen, 1978; Skynner, 1976) recognised the general principle of repeating patterns across generations, although not the very particular temporal law that Averil has suggested. The Earnshaw hypothesis is simply enough stated: the emotional and intellectual crises of adults' lives (including onset of mental and physical illnesses, creative breakthroughs and creative blocks) are time-linked to major events in the lives of their same-sex parents at the same age. Often, though not always, says Averil, one experiences a crisis when one is the same age as one's same-sex parent was at the time of the birth of one's next sibling, or even when one is the same age as one's parent was at one's own birth. Averil's short book Time Will Tell (1995) illustrates this hypothesis with some fifty brief case studies based on biographical data from the lives of famous individuals, as well as with a number of cases from her clinical practice, and examples from her own life. Averil herself recognises that her hypothesis needs to be rigorously tested on a wider sample, but to date, those who have criticised it as 'merely anecdotal' have not been willing to undertake such a study.
Of Apes and Infants: The Cutting Edge of Psychoanalytic Thought?
by Carmel Flaskas and Brian CadeView article. [PDF format - 170KB]
Carmel Flaskas and Brian Cade were asked to read and comment on two recent publications which, in very different ways, seem to be taking the field of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in new directions, Robert Langs' "The Evolution of the Emotion-Processing Mind" and Daniel Stern's "The Motherhood Constellation". What follows is a slightly edited version of their individual reactions to the books, to each others' views, and to a question posed by the editors.
Psychoanalysis: A Traveller's Guide for Family Therapists
by Jolyon GrimwadeView article. [PDF format - 214KB]
ROLL UP, ROLL UP! AirFreud is pleased to announce a special and spectacular Around-The-World Package for Down Under Family Therapists. Psychoanalytic ideas are being rediscovered in your field and you may like to encounter these first hand, in the places and spaces where the ideas arose. Visit first Vienna, the city of Freud's love-hate and his adopted home: see Freud's apartment, in a fashionable Viennese suburb, home now to the Sigmund Freud Museum.<br />
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Then on to Paris, La Rive Gauche and the Sorbonne. Hear the echo of Jacques Lacan's Seminar resound along the famous boulevardes. Experience the stirrings of 1968. Then to London and feel the tension that still exists between the Anna Freud Clinic and the Tavistock, just as in the days of Miss Freud and Mrs Klein. Then whisk across the Atlantic to New York and then on to Los Angeles. Follow the footsteps of the psychoanalytic diaspora from Hitler's Germany to the security and comfort of forward-looking middle-class America. Along the way friendly tour guides will provide you with plenty of information. In the Handy Travel Pack, there are useful summaries of major theoretical writings, a map, and a splendid bound journal is included for your own notes and observations. No prior knowledge is assumed; take an open mind and enjoy the journey.
The Research Debate
by Olav Muurlink and Simon KennedyView article. [PDF format - 135KB]
Family Therapy and the Unconscious [Network News]
by Janet Roth, Akivra Bouris and Sarah JonesView article. [PDF format - 200KB]
Reviews
View article. [PDF format - 191KB]In Brief: Coming Events, Jottings and Announcements
View article. [PDF format - 111KB]