The Utility of Therapeutic Assessment Style Fables During the Termination Stage of Psychotherapy

Stories, fables, and myths have been used for a long time in human history. They serve as a way for cultures and people to communicate, preserve important cultural values, and create meaning. The use of narratives has been recognized as a helpful technique in the field of psychology and can be found in many orientations and intervention techniques (Dwivedi, 2006; Roberts, 2000). Narrative therapy, bibliotherapy, trauma narratives, and Therapeutic Assessment (TA) are some of the areas in which the benefits of using written stories are incorporated into work with clients. In this paper, the clinical utility of using Therapeutic Assessment style fables in the termination phase of psychotherapy is explored. The termination phase is a challenging time for both therapists and clients. The use of rituals in the process of termination has been found to have a positive impact on the experience (Gutheil, 1993). This paper presents several case studies and examines the subsequent impact and clinical benefits of using termination fables in psychotherapy.

Eits: Combinatorics, Potential and Genre

Eits is a work of fiction, a non-traditional novel whose structure is largely determined by an Oulipian-style constraint. The constraint in Eits is culled from the album names and song titles of the band Explosions in the Sky. Each album corresponds to a chapter in the novel, and the language of each album title must be used in some way as an introduction to each chapter. Within each chapter (album), song titles correspond to numbered sections where each title must appear as is in the first sentence of that section. This not only dictates, to some degree, the direction of the text that will follow, but, looking ahead, the title of the next section will dictate where this section must arrive. From this, a narrative naturally takes shape. Albums/chapters appear chronologically, according to each album's release date, and within each album/chapter, songs/sections appear in the order they do on the album. This is, perhaps, the most straightforward way of ordering the received language of the constraint, the possibilities beyond this exponential. Eits is a novel that shifts in form, providing a texture to the space and reading experience of the novel, all in hopes of creating a space in which content and form inform and push each other to new limits. Eits is never satisfied to settle on one form for too long, and it is in the movement between forms that the narrative develops in interesting ways. Eits demonstrates the combinatoric possibilities inherent in language, and this exploration of potential highlights the reciprocal relationship between writing and reading. As Eits builds upon a limited language set, it explores and exploits the combinatory possibilities that language allows for both writer and reader. It demonstrates that all combinatoric potentialities, visible or not, always co-exist in the same time and space, and in this infinite space, individuals are invited to be writers and readers in simultaneity.

Resilience through Adversity: A narrative case study of students' experiences of expulsion from school

Expulsion from school is life changing. This single event can alter the trajectory of a student's life--for better or for worse. How life changes is unique for each individual student. Risk and protective factors that impact an individual student's resilience determine the level of positive or negative outcomes experienced as a result of expulsion. Educators have the opportunity to take advantage of this disruption in students' education to improve the trajectory of students' lives. However, without thoughtful intervention from caring educators, this interruption in students' education may have an irreparable destructive impact on students' future. The purpose of this study was to understand the expulsion experience from the point of view of the student in order to represent this critical stakeholder group in future policy and program development, implementation, and decision-making. Students' narratives are a means for members of the educational community to access students' experiences and perceptions in order to understand the impact of expulsion on students' lives. Students' perspectives are presented through thick description in this narrative case study. The experience of these eight students is evidence that expulsion can change students' lives in a positive way. Knowing this, responsible educators must develop interventions for expelled students that channel the positive life-changing potential of this experience. Educators must develop interventions focused on bringing forth protective factors that are documented to increase resilience and to make students less susceptible to the risks inherent in removing them from school. Recommendations for educators and policy-makers are presented to assist educators in preventing expulsion and improving educational and socio-emotional outcomes for expelled students.

The Perks of Playing Dress-Up: Psychological Impressions of Fashion and Feminism.

Research on the psychological impact of women's fashion has focused on fashion's negative influence over how women think and feel about themselves. Several studies have examined the relationship between fashion and women's self-appraisals (Martin & Gentry, 1997; Pinhas, Toner, Ali, Garfinkel, & Stuckless, 1999; Tiggemann, Polivy, & Hargreaves, 2009), although few investigations have explored the range of viewpoints that arise when women interact with their own personal style or with other forms of fashion media. This paper presents a narrative review of what has been written about fashion in clinical research. I briefly discuss why this is an important topic and why fashion has psychological meaning. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered in the exploration of fashion's impact on conjuring unproductive and productive schemas (Beck, 1976; Wright, Basco, & Thase, 2006). This discussion includes a presentation of interviews with female consultants, hypothetical examples, my own accounts, and feminist perspectives. While emphasizing the potential biases of women's interactions with fashion, I discuss matters of gender performance and reflections on clinical work. The purpose of this article is to present a pro-social defense of fashion. I do this by acquiring personal chronicles, applying those findings to the current body of research, and adding to the continued investigation of why women's fashion is still important in a postfeminist world.

Adult Attachment Style on the MMPI-2: Does an Elevated Scale 4 Predict Dismissing Attachment?

This study examines some aspects of Caldwell's (200 I) hypotheses about the adaptations associated with elevations on the clinical scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Assessment-2 (MMPI-2). The argument is made that the adaptation to early rejection and neglect, which he attributes to Scale 4, parallels the adaptation represented by a dismissing attachment. Archival data of 72 individuals who completed assessment batteries that included both the MMPI-2 and that Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) were analyzed to determine if there was a relationship between elevations on Scale 4 and classification as dismissing attachment. No significant relationship was found for the primary hypothesis; however, some small effects were noted in related exploratory analyses. Possible reasons for the lack of a significant result are discussed a well as directions for future research.

Narrative Therapy and Stigma Management: Restorying the Patient Experience of Being Told, “You have MS

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the way patients are informed of the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) affects their feelings about themselves as people with MS. Building on illness narrative, I hoped to examine how patients “storied” their experience of being informed of the diagnosis of MS and whether this “storying” had a lasting impact on their self-concept. The alternative would be that no connection exists between how a neurologist informs a patient of the diagnosis and how a person makes sense of their diagnosis and life with MS. Due to study limitations (e.g., small sample size, threat of response bias), the results are unclear about whether the way in which the news is broken has a lasting effect on patients' perceptions. However, review of the literature and patient responses indicate that there is a need for psychological intervention when patients are diagnosed with MS.

Reinterpreting Coatlicue : the Sculptural Narrative of Defeat at the Shrine of Huitzilopochtli

"Images of the decapitated, dismembered female warrior Coyolxauhqui, a main character in the Mexica mythology of Huitzilopochtli, figured prominently in Imperial Mexica sculptural campaigns at the Templo Mayor. However, monoliths of a terrifying, dismembered female from the shrine have traditionally been identified as Huitzilopochtli’s nurturing mother Coatlicue, or permutations of goddesses. Such studies do not adequately address why these sculptures depict mutilated beings whose characteristics are antithetical to Coatlicue’s appropriate female behavior depicted in myths and images"

Sex, sin and salvation : a case study of the narrative pictorial cycle of Saint Mary the Egyptian at Bourges Cathedral

This paper studies the narrative stained glass cycle of the Life of Saint Mary the Egyptian at Bourges Cathedral within the context of prevailing—and often conflicting--civil and ecclesiastical attitudes toward sex, sexual sin, and prostitution in early thirteenth century France. Although the Church maintained that sexual sin was mortal sin, civil records suggest the public was skeptical. Through the example of a penitent harlot, this window, both structurally and in thematic content, attempts to map a doctrinally appropriate path from sexual sin to purity of spirit—and salvation—through complete submission to the Church and its clergy.