Identity confusion, bisexuality, and flight from the mother

This paper deals with the effects of an oral-sadistic annihilating mother on her male and female offspring. The all-powerful nature of these mothers, and the corresponding helplessness of the fathers, produce in their offspring a sense of identity confusion, a struggle with their bisexuality, and a need to distance themselves from their mother. Everything unwanted in the mother is externalized onto and into the child, particularly suffering and pain, which are necessary for the maintenance of the (pathological) mother-child relationship. Positive movement (i.e., success) on the child's part threatens the balance of this relationship, is perceived by the child as a hostile and destructive triumph over the mother, and causes the Negative Therapeutic Reaction in therapy. The child's inherent masochism acts to preserve the early infantile omnipotence and leads to his/her assumption of all responsibility for the mother's affective states. The child's self-destructiveness also functions as a release for unconscious aggression toward the mother, due to the lack of boundary differentiation between the two.     

The impact of hearsay testimony on conviction rates in trials of child sexual abuse: Toward balancing the rights of defendants and child witnesses.

The authors examined how mock jurors respond to the testimony of hearsay witnesses in trials of child sexual abuse. In Experiment 1, participants watched a highly realistic videotape of a sexual abuse trial. In one condition, the child victim/witness testified on her own behalf, in the hearsay condition, the child's mother testified in lieu of her daughter. Conviction rates were significantly higher in the child condition versus the hearsay condition. In Experiment 2, participants read a trial summary of a sexual abuse case where either the child testified on her own behalf or the child did not testify and hearsay testimony was given by either the child's mother, doctor, teacher, or neighbor. Conviction rates were significantly lower in the child condition versus each of the hearsay conditions but not when the neighbor testified as the hearsay witness. The impact of hearsay testimony may depend on the perceived credibility or prestige of the hearsay witness. Several theoretical reasons are given to resolve the discrepancies in these and other studies that examine the impact of hearsay testimony in trials of child sexual abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Caring for children affected by disaster

The child and adolescent psychiatrist must play an essential role in the wake of disaster. The focus of the community and the world understandably turns to the physical devastation wrought, and emergency and medical efforts take center stage. Physical evidence of the past may be lost, but the child psychiatrist is able to maintain focus on what cannot be seen. He or she may be the only one to advocate the child's emotional needs. It may be too difficult for others who lack the specialized expertise of mental health training to attend to both the child's physical and emotional needs, and it may be impossible for those without medical training to impress on medical personnel the importance of emotional issues. The child and adolescent psychiatrist, with his or her understanding of medical, mental health, and developmental concerns, is well positioned to support the child, the child's community, and the helpers whose own responses may complicate recovery.     

Using the Marschak Interaction Method Rating System for Chinese families: Relationship between parent-child interaction pattern and child's social behavior.

This study investigated the use of the Marschak Interaction Method Rating System (MIMRS) in assessing parent–child interaction patterns and its relationship with preschool children's social behavior in a Chinese sample. Fifty-two preschoolers and their parents (either mother or father) participated in the study. The MIMRS demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency. There was also a moderate positive correlation between the MIMRS and the Kinship Centre Attachment Questionnaire (Kappenberg & Halpern, 2006). With reference to parent–child interaction and the child's social behavior, a negative relationship was identified between child anger/aggressive behavior and parent's nurturing toward his or her child. In addition, a child's demonstration of exploratory behavior, reciprocity with parent, and regulatory capacities were positively related to that child's social competence and negatively related to the child's anger/aggressive behavior. The practical uses of the MIMRS as a screening tool for working with parents and children in a non-Western culture are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family structure and the mental health of children. Concurrent and longitudinal community-wide studies

This study provides a map of variations of families and some of the core relationships between types of family and the mental health of children. Family types in a poor, black urban community were defined in terms of the adults present at home. The resulting taxonomy is based on two populations: half of the community's 1964 first-grade children and families and the entire 1966 first-grade children and families. Eighty-six family types were found, falling into ten major classes. Family type was found to be strongly related over time to the child's social adaptational status (SAS) and his or her psychological well-being. The results suggest that (1) mother alone families entail the highest risk in terms of social maladaptation and psychological well-being of the child; (2) the presence of certain second adults has important ameliorative functions--mother/grandmother families being nearly as effective as mother/father families, with mother/stepfather families similar to mother alone in regard to risk; and (3) the absence of the father was less important than the aloneness of the mother in relation to risk.     

Sibling status effects: Adult expectations.

Investigated expectations or beliefs held by 278 adults (average age 25.3 yrs) about a child based on his or her sibling status alone. Ss were asked to describe what they would expect a child without brothers or sisters, a child who was the oldest in his or her family, and a child who was the youngest in his or her family to be like. Ss seemed to have higher expectations for and give more positive ratings to oldest children than to only or youngest children. The ordinal position and parental status of the S also had an effect on the ratings given. Ss who were youngest children and Ss who were only children tended to show some bias toward their own sibling group; Ss who were oldest children actually gave their own sibling status lower group ratings than did other Ss. Ss with children tended to give higher ratings to all 3 sibling groups than did Ss without children. Results are discussed in terms of how these expectations may develop and their effects on the child's development. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' beliefs about their children's cognitive abilities.

Examined mothers' judgments of their children's cognitive abilities and the relation between such judgments and the child's developmental level. 49 1st-grade children responded to tasks drawn from either the Piagetian literature or the Stanford-Binet IQ tests. Ss also completed a vocabulary test drawn from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Subsequently, each S's mother was asked various questions about probable response, both for her own child and for children in general. Results reveal that mothers were more accurate in predicting their child's success or failure on the IQ items than on the Piaget items. In both conditions, overestimations of ability were more common than underestimations. Estimates of age of mastery also showed overestimation, in some cases by several years. Data collected from 12 fathers indicate that fathers' patterns of response were similar to those of their wives. The correlations between accurate predictions by the mother and correct answers by the child were .85 in the Piaget condition and .49 in the IQ condition. Findings are compatible with the match hypothesis, which posits that the mother's knowledge of her child enables her to create an optimally challenging environment. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identity of two: The phenomenology of shame in borderline development and treatment.

Describes the identity of borderline individuals as being shame-based. Shame underlies anger as the major affective state, and shame creates an "identity of 2": bad self and good mother. Shame brings into focal awareness both the self and the other, with the imagery that the other rejects the self. The factors in the mother–child relationship that favor shame as the interactive matrix are discussed. Shame represents a complete mother–child system. It disallows firm boundaries between mother and child because the image of the self cannot be detached from the image of the other. There is no stable sense of self, defined by secure boundaries, and no ability to trust perceptions of self and the world. The therapist must provide the route out of shame by providing a new paradigm of nurturance that includes insistence on separation and forgiveness, as well as the identification of the system of shame. The therapist must be vigilant about his or her own shame and must be able to forgive the client's parents for the damage they have caused. The therapist's avoidance of shame, particularly as evidenced in the routine substitution of guilt as the problematic phenomenon, serves to protect him or her from powerful, painful feelings but acts as a disservice to the client who profoundly suffers shame. The goal for borderline clients is not to become shame-free, but to live lives undetermined by shame. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' interactions with normal and conduct-disordered boys: Who affects whom?

Compared the reactions of 16 mothers of 6–11 yr old conduct-disordered (CD) boys with those of 16 mothers of normal boys. The dyads in the 2 groups were matched pairwise on age and sex of the child and education of the mother. Each mother interacted with her own child (CD or normal) and with 2 other children of the same or different classification over 3 tasks in a laboratory. Mothers' positive, negative, or requesting behaviors and the children's compliance were counted. The 2 groups of mothers did not differ in the 3 behaviors, but they all addressed more negatives and requests to CD than to normal children. CD children were less compliant, irrespective of type of mother. The type of mother?×?type of child interaction did not produce a significant effect on either mothers' or children's behavior. Findings suggest that the child's, and not the mother's, behavioral tendency is the major influence in CD. Mothers of CD children were also more coercive toward their own children than to other CD children, indicating the operation of transactional effects arising from cumulative past interactions. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Binocular rivalry and the study of identification in asthmatic and nonasthmatic boys.

Describes a method for studying motivational properties of identification in a group of 55 8-11 yr. old asthmatic and nonasthmatic boys. Selective attention of a child toward his mother or father was measured by the child's resolution of a binocular rivalry test in which the competing stimuli were photographs of the child's own parents. Perceptual dominance scores derived from this test were then examined in relation to certain other perceptions of the child. Split-half reliability of perceptual dominance scores was .84. Perceptual dominance of the father was positively related to perceived power of the father among nonasthmatic boys (r = .37, p     

Review of A child analysis with Anna Freud.

Reviews the book, A child analysis with Anna Freud by Peter Heller (see record 1990-97274-000). The tension between remembering and forgetting is the daily experience of the psychoanalyst. This takes place not only in the consulting room, but applies to our sense of ourselves and the history of psychoanalysis. Anna Freud died in October 1982. For almost 60 years she had been the heir apparent and then the leader of the international psychoanalytic movement. Yet, not even 10 years after her death, her name seems to have disappeared from psychoanalytic discourse and the contributions of her work and of child analysis to the body of psychoanalytic theory and technique are not discussed. As much as one can learn about the history of child analysis from this book, one must bear in mind the peculiar circumstances surrounding Peter Heller's analysis. Five of his classmates, including his future wife, and his teacher were also in analysis with Anna Freud. He vacationed with the Burlinghams and Anna Freud and wished to have Dorothy Burlingham as his mother. Peter's nanny later became a psychoanalyst and there was talk of Peter's father marrying Anna Freud. Given the multiplicity and complexity of these interrelationships, how could a termination have taken place? This book may be Peter Heller's continuation of his analysis, the exercise of his self-analytic function, and thus finally a termination of his child analysis with Anna Freud. In sharing his termination with us, Peter Heller gives us access to important aspects of our own history and so enables us to shape our future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on deep-seated social values and countertransference in mother-infant dyadic psychotherapy.

Presents an example of countertransference in mother–infant dyadic psychotherapy based in the value expressed as "A mother takes care of her child." Once this social value is brought to conscious awareness, the interfering nature of this countertransference is recognized. The therapist is freed to work with the mother toward her underlying treatment goal, which is to "be a good mother." If she is not emotionally capable of being the child's primary caretaker, the objective of enhanced attachment can be abandoned and "being a good mother" can be translated into "allowing the child to have a competent caretaker." The treatment objective can become the mother's emotional separation from her infant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mental health and adjustment of immigrant and refugee children

Although parents may make decisions to leave their homes, either willingly in the hope of improving their lives or involuntarily to escape danger and seek safety for themselves and their families, it is never a voluntary decision for the child. The economic, political, social, and other contextual issues associated with migration are as significant in predicting the child's adjustment to his or her new circumstances as his or her physical and psychological endowment. This article addresses these issues and suggests that particular consideration be given to children whose migration was punctuated by life-threatening danger or whose families were overwhelmed by the stresses of migratory experiences. Child and adolescent psychiatrists and other well-trained mental health professionals can further the understanding of the interactions among the child, family, and new community, which can promote or hinder the process of adaptation to the new setting.     

Advancing mental health in political places.

The author describes his career as a psychologist serving in elected office. He found that by his attending to individual concerns, supporting community consensus on key issues, playing the outsider role, leading an issue individually, and calling media attention to a problem, city hall could be moved to action. In the state legislature, the author serves in the minority but has made an impact by amending legislation, sponsoring less controversial bills, or generating enough public support for a bill that the majority advances its own similar bill. He identified the following mental health needs in Ohio: better understanding by legislators of the nature and impact of mental illness, adequate funding, mental health parity legislation, and more effective advocacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The challenge of creative children: Implementing their divergency in the service of therapy.

Treatment of creative children in therapy is quite challenging because they are often unresponsive to traditional approaches, especially if the therapeutic techniques limit their sense of self-control and divergent thought. A strategy is suggested, based upon the premise that the child's creativity should be employed in the service of his or her own therapy. The meaning of the gift of creativity is discussed throughout the therapy process by the examination of four principal themes. The child's divergent thinking is employed in designing the therapeutic milieu through application of five preferred clinical techniques. The strategy is then exemplified in an extended case study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Terrestrial passage theory of the moon illusion.

Reviews theories of the celestial, or moon, illusion and asserts that they have neglected geometric characteristics of movement along and above the surface of the earth. It is suggested that the illusion occurs because the characteristics of terrestrial passage are attributed to celestial passage. In terrestrial passage, the visual angle subtended by an object changes discriminably as an essentially invariant function of elevation above the horizon. In celestial passage, by contrast, change in visual angle is indiscriminable at all elevations. If a terrestrial object gains altitude, its angular subtense fails to follow the expansion projected for an orbital course: Angular diminution or constancy is equivalent to distancing. On the basis of terrestrial projections, a similar failure of celestial objects in successive elevations is also equivalent to distancing. It is argued that the illusion occurs because of retinal image constancy, not—as traditionally stated—despite it. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Berlyne Memorial Lecture: Acquiring the uses of language.

Early language use begins with a transactional dialog, which is initially both nonverbal and dependent on shared knowledge. As the adult caretakers update their interpretation of the child's competence and make more sophisticated demands on his/her production the child takes a more active role. Two formats provide examples of this development: (a) "Bookreading" traces the child's development from the establishment of joint reference through pointing (through the development of turntaking) to eventual introduction of words in appropriate places in the dialog. (b) "Requesting" explores the production of pragmatic and semantic features in the child's language development. Three types of requests are examined: requests for objects, for joint role enactment, and for supportive action. In each type, the child's developing knowledge of the real world determines the way he or she guides the request and aids in making more complex requests. Both examples are taken from a study of 2 mother–infant dyads in which videotape recording of free play sessions were taken at fortnightly intervals in the child's home. One child was studied from 3 to 18 mo, the other from 5 to 24 mo of age. (French summary) (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Treatment Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ): An instrument to assess beliefs about children's mood disorders and concomitant treatment needs.

Parent and child beliefs about the child's mood disorder and need for treatment may affect the willingness of the patient and his or her family to participate in and adhere to treatment recommendations. Such beliefs may also affect mental health treatment outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research in this area, which is further reflected in a lack of assessment instruments. The present study describes the creation and initial psychometric evaluation of parent and child versions of the Treatment Beliefs Questionnaire (TBQ) in a sample of 8- to 11-year-old children with a primary mood disorder and comorbid psychiatric conditions. Preliminary results support the reliability and validity of these scales in this population. The role of health beliefs in mental health treatment adherence and treatment outcome is addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clues to the cognitive organization of reading and writing from developmental hyperlexia.

Controversies regarding the organization of the cognitive systems used for processing written language were investigated in a case study of a mentally retarded hyperlexic child. Despite severe impairments in semantic processing, this child demonstrated intact phonological and orthographic processing. Detailed assessments of his nonword reading abilities provided support for the hypothesis that phonological processing of written words was accomplished by using lexical representations instead of applying nonlexical grapheme-phoneme transcoding rules. Longitudinal investigation of the hyperlexic child's development of writing supports the notion that reading and spelling rely on common mental representations rather than separate input and output mental lexicons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)