Thèse (M.Ps.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2005. / "Mémoire présenté à l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi comme exigence partielle de la maîtrise en psychologie offerte à l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi en vertu d'un protocole d'entente avec l'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières." Comprend des réf. bibliogr. : f. [103]-115. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF.

Research in the field of attachment theory and object relations theory has indicated that early attachments between a child and his or her primary caregiver have significant implications for the development of that child. Early relationships begin to shape the child’s sense of self and other and healthy relationships lead to secure attachments. However, children who encounter early maltreatment or a disruption in caregivers are particularly vulnerable to developing insecure attachments and a disrupted sense of self and other, which has consequences for their subsequent psychological development. In the South African context, increasing numbers of children are being orphaned or placed in formal foster care with many children at risk for insecure attachments. This has implications for therapeutic work with an increased need to promote secure attachment relationships and a stable sense of self and other. The current case study aimed to describe the relational experience of play therapy that took place between a maltreated five year old female child and a female trainee therapist with this purpose in mind. The therapeutic process was embedded within a relational therapy framework which included object relations and attachment theory. The researcher made use of a qualitative descriptive dialogic research approach to conduct the research. The data were analysed using content analysis, where the play therapy sessions were analysed according to concepts relating to Fairbairn’s (1963) object relations theory as well as Winnicott’s (1965) object relations theory. Prominent themes that emerged included the role of the holding environment, splitting of good and bad objects and the presence of a false self versus a true self. In addition, the conflicting presence of two repressed ego structures, namely the libidinal and antilibidinal ego structure were noted throughout the therapeutic process.

No description available.

Research suggests that internalization of the therapeutic relationship promotes a continuation of psychological development in between psychotherapy sessions and after termination. This study explored whether clients being treated by therapists adhering to different therapeutic modalities internally represent their therapists in significantly different ways. The study consisted of an online survey of 212 individuals who had undergone therapy in the past two years, and included questionnaires regarding the nature of their internal representations of their therapists and working alliance with their therapists. The study provided evidence in support of the hypothesis that there are indeed some modality-informed differences in internal representations of therapists, particularly in the themes and affects associated with internalizations.

This dissertation intends describing and understanding my development as a therapist over a two year period. The question which prompted the research is to what extent the therapist directs change within the therapeutic process. It therefore considers the issue of intervention in therapy. The social constructionist theory is utilised to understand more fully the issues around intervention in therapy. A qualitative research methodology is followed, which has as its foundation an emergent design. The raw data takes the form of a journal, which is a case determined diary. The conclusions drawn at the end of the study are idiographic and reflective. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This study evaluated whether therapist terminations of social interactions would decrease social terminations and increase social initiations during play activities with a child with autism. The assessment took place in two conditions. The first condition, instructed involved social interactions with instructions delivered, and the second, uninstructed, involved social interactions without instructions delivered. These conditions were analyzed with a multiple baseline across-conditions design. Interaction duration, initiations, instructions, and child terminations were recorded. This study showed that the therapist-removal procedure resulted in a complete decrease in child terminations, and an increase in the number of initiations and the duration of the child-therapist interactions during the uninstructed condition. Similar effects were seen in the instructed condition, but to a lesser degree.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-99). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2002. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-99). Also available on the Internet.

This two-year qualitative clinical study investigates the intea-psychic (within a person) and inter-relational (between people) effect of maternal ambivalence in female psychotherapy relationships. The participants are five, low-income single mothers, and I am the therapist researcher. Ambivalence describes the co-existence of loving and hating feelings. In traditional psychoanalytic theory, ambivalence originates in the developing infant's relationship to the mother and forms the basis of all adult relationships. A mother's experience of ambivalence is viewed as a regressive return to an earlier emotional experience with her mother. Maternal ambivalence is a feminist psychoanalytic concept developed by Parker (1995, 1997). Parker expands the Freudian and post-Freudian object relations concept of ambivalence using the perspective of the adult mother. In Parker's conceptualization of maternal ambivalence, a mother experiences feelings of ambivalence towards her infant and child that are not simply regressive, but are part of her normal adult development as a mother. Each mother's experiences and expressions of maternal ambivalence are affected by her social and cultural context of mothering. Each woman is consciously and unconsciously affected by her psychosocial constructions of maternal ambivalence and brings her beliefs and experiences into the clinical relationship. Through highlighting the narratives and interpreting the transference and counter-transference material, this study shows the impact of maternal ambivalence on the therapeutic alliance of women working with women in clinical social work. The therapeutic alliance refers to the quality of the relational bond between the therapist and client. This population of mothers was selected because they represent a significant group of clients seen in various clinical social work Dangerous Connections settings, such as youth protection, non-profit counseling agencies, and community centers. In this manuscript-based thesis, I present two of my participants' cases as an indepth exploration of my research process, its analysis, and the applicable theories I used. This research process indicates that in seeking to develop a more culturally and gender sensitive clinical practice and therapeutic connections, social workers may benefit from reflectively challenging their internalized psychosocial idealizations and denigrations of motherhood.