Dr. Szasz will present a brief historical review of drug controls in the United States; a critical analysis of the transformation of the trade in drugs from a free market at the beginning of the century to a tightly statist system of controls today; and a market-oriented analysis of the "drug problem."
The concept of the Self has come to imply a consistent cluster of characteristics which are often given fixed and universal attributes, such as the narcissistic self, topdog and underdog, false and true self, etc. This paper will expand the concept to include the versatility and unique aliveness of the individual's many selves and show how these selves help people make sense of their lives. Special attention will be given to broadening the concepts of introjections, transference, and gestalt formation, showing how these may be instrumental in harmonizing alienated selves.
Accepted thinking about non-polar, non-psychotic depression has been impaired by ignoring crucial research. This shows that some cases are masked endogenous depression; others are anxiety-based in several ways. Therefore, each case must be investigated to decide appropriate treatment and thus surpass the mediocre results typified in the "Collaborative Study."
Evidence that the hourly and daily variations in our consciousness are related to the wavelike flow of messenger molecules operating on all levels from mind to gene will be reviewed. Stress, psychosomatic problems, and their resolution are a function of how we manage this wave nature of our consciousness. How do we create a new psychotherapy for the future that utilizes these natural windows of the mindbody?
The field of psychotherapy is moving toward an integrative approach, both in terms of theory and practice. Meichenbaum will discuss how Cognitive-Behavior Modification attempts to integrate, on the one hand, the clinical concerns of psychodynamic and interpersonal/systems approaches with the technology of behavior therapy on the other hand. He will trace the history of Cognitive-Behavior Modification and examine its future directions. Common clinical treatment issues, such as client resistance, patient noncompliance, and treatment nonadherence that all psychotherapists face will also be considered.
Today and in the immediate future, short-term therapy is a major available treatment for most clients. In this paper, I will discuss the use of Short-Term Redecision Therapy in the resolution of major childhood traumas, such as physical, sexual, and mental abuse. In Redecision Therapy, the client remembers, re-enacts, uses therapeutically, and then discards these early traumatic scenes.
The theoretical concepts of family therapy have evolved since their beginnings in the 1950s. If we look at the political landscape of the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s, we see that family therapy parallels the political ethos of the time.
This workshop will demonstrate the clinical application of developmental, self and object relations theory to psychotherapy with borderline and narcissistic patients- both shorter and longer term. After brief orienting remarks by Dr. Masterson, the participants will present their clinical material for discussion. This material can vary from single interactions to vignettes to longer presentations. Particular attention will be paid to the role of therapeutic neutrality and countertransference.
The criterion of reality adaptation as a measure of mental health or pathology is a totally fictitious one, since what reality "really" is remains an arbitrary definition which, in turn, leads to a reification. However, out of these reifications can grow very important practical consequences - both positive and negative ones.