Caregiving spouses’ experiences of relational uncertainty and partner influence in the prolonged relational transition of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias cause gradual cognitive and communicative decline over a period of several years creating a prolonged transitional period in the lives of people with the disease and their spouse. Relational turbulence theory served as a lens to examine 18 in-depth interviews with caregiving spouses regarding their experiences of relational uncertainty, and interference and facilitation from their partner throughout this prolonged relational transition. Counterintuitively, the experience of relational uncertainty was greatly influenced by the certainties of relational change and termination (death) that shifted the temporal focus of uncertainty to the future. Communicative symptoms and aggressive behavior were a main source of interference. Despite the impairment of the disease, caregiving spouses recognized their partners’ expressions of gratitude, moments of recognition, and simple expressions of love as facilitation.

A New Computer Application for Innovation and Evaluation in Counseling

To measure the effect of counselling, outcome measures are obtained after completion of a counseling session because measuring outcomes and changes that occur during and within the counseling session itself is problematic. This problem was addressed by a new method demonstrated with medical students.1 Rarely has a counseling session been documented by clients.2 Using the UfaceME® method, Clients or people acting as clients responded to a series of statements which were repeated every four minutes as they watched video-audio replay of their session. They then observed by viewing and rating a comparison of their responses with those of their counselor. This study shows the benefits of the UfaceME method as an application to measure change that occurs within a counseling session. Significant positive changes were demonstrated in clients’ perception and feelings towards the end of the session compared to the beginning. Implications and results to date include further counseling engagement, healthy behavioral and relational change, improved mental health, and improved self-awareness.

Relational dialectics: researching change in intercultural families

Purpose This paper aims to adopt a relational dialectics analysis approach to provide qualitative depth and insight into the ways intercultural families manage intercultural tensions around consumption. The authors pay particular attention to how a relational dialectics analysis reveals a relational change in the family providing evidence to demonstrate how a family’s unique relational culture evolves and transitions. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative insights from a relational-dialectic analysis on 15 intercultural families are used to illustrate the interplay of stability with instability in the management of intercultural dialectic tensions within these families. Findings Intercultural dialectical interplay around food consumption tensions are implicit tensions in the household’s relational culture. Examples of dialectical movement indicating relational change are illustrated; this change has developmental consequences for the couples’ relational cultures. Research limitations/implications This study provides qualitative insights on relational dialectics in one intercultural family context and reveals and analyses the dialectical dimensions around consumption in the context of intercultural family relationships. The research approach could be considered in other intercultural and relational contexts. Practical implications Family narratives can be analysed within the context of two meta-dialectics that directly address how personal relationships evolve; indigenous dialectic tensions within a family can also be identified. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the qualitative value of a relational dialectics analysis in revealing how food consumption changes within families are the result of reciprocal or interdependent learning, which has consequences for relational change.

Acceptance of the Muslim Brotherhood Transnational Social Movement in Turkey Post-Arab Spring

This article discusses the acceptance of the Muslim Brotherhood (IM) movement in the middle of Turkish society after the Arab Spring. After the turmoil of the Arab Spring, this movement has been banned in various countries, ranging from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, to Saudi Arabia. On the contrary, IM continues to grow in Turkey. This article analyzes this phenomenon by using the concept of three categorization of the emergence of transnational social movements until they are accepted in a country, namely environmental change, cognitive change and relational change. Environmental change in Turkey shows that Turkey is currently controlled by the AKP Party and it begun to look at the strategic Middle East region. Cognitive change explains the IM appreciative attitude towards the current Turkish government. Relational change shows that IM, which faces restrictions many countries, needs to look for other political opportunities so that its movement continues to exist, so in this case of IM, it chooses Turkey. Relational change categorization found the connection between a social movement and the elite in government which can be explained by the concept of elite alliances, where social movements and the ruling government share interests on the basis of ideological similarities and views.

Attachment-based, relational, psychoanalytic music therapy: the significance of musical moments of attunement with adoptees after trauma, and how this may influence broader reparation with attachments

This article summarises the author's clinical experiences over recent years of evolving a modality for music therapy with adoptive families. It frames the multi-agency context that adoption happens within as it is helpful for therapists to be aware of context, process and procedure when working within the adoption community. The author's model developed as process and procedure changed and were incorporated into legislation initially during 2015, and as the author witnessed ensuing practice developments during 2016 to 2018. The article explores significant relational and musical moments as they occurred in music therapy with children and young people who had experienced significant trauma prior to being adopted. It forms part of the author's current research which highlights the importance of both client and therapist in the intersubjective relationship, where attunement and attachment are central. It emphasises the long-term nature of such work and why this is deemed essential for relational music therapy with complex attachment issues. The author did not set out with the intent of researching her work formally, but it was apparent that experiences in the therapy room were "speaking" stories that needed sharing. Families were valuing music therapy as a modality for relational change and wanted to share their experiences so that others may benefit. The article is envisaged as providing a guide to the world of contemporary adoption for all psychotherapists unfamiliar with this territory and incorporates current theory alongside case examples from practice to highlight the relevance of music therapy within contemporary adoption. It offers an introduction to how music therapy as a sensorial and affect-laden medium might be a helpful choice of intervention with families who may struggle to describe the impact of traumatic early life experiences on children. All clients have been made into composites and there has been consent to this process.

Changing

Chapter 7 extends the analysis to questions of how becoming a member has affected women’s and men’s sense of self, relationships with family and friends, and, for some, was associated with experiences of personal and relational change that eventually led them to no longer attend. We find that experiences of change vary across congregations, with greater sense of change among those joining congregations that have higher subcultural boundaries or whose teachings emphasize change as a goal of religious life. We find gender differences in the experience of change, and the degree and direction of change across congregations—underscoring, in particular, the broadening of gender experience for men within these congregations.

Loss and change: The challenges of mothering an adult child with schizophrenia

A qualitative narrative and cross-narrative research method was used to explore how six mothers of adult children with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder experienced personal growth and change. Twenty-four largely unstructured interviews were conducted over the course of two years. The following eight common themes emerged across the narratives: Enduring sadness and loss, Distress and struggle, Fluctuations in hope, Feelings of guilt and regret, Concern about their child’s future, Impact of their child’s mental illness on their other children, Commitment to helping/action, and Personal and relational change. The changes reported by these mothers were set against the backdrop of the nonfinite losses that characterized the realities and uncertainties of their lives since the onset of their child’s mental illness. Implications for mental health practice are addressed based on these findings.

Couples Therapy and Empathy

Empathy is directly related to one’s satisfaction with a romantic partner, and therefore, most approaches to couples therapy explicitly address empathy as a means for creating positive relational change. Imago relationship therapy (IRT) is practiced extensively worldwide yet lacks research validating its effectiveness. Given IRT’s focus on developing empathy within the members of the romantic partnership, it is important to examine how empathy contributes to change in relationship satisfaction. This random and controlled study examined the impact of 12 weeks of IRT treatment on individual ( N = 60) empathy levels. Results showed a significant interaction between time and condition and found significant increases in treatment group empathy levels at each of three assessment points. These findings begin to emphasize the impact of IRT on couple empathy levels and highlight the potential benefits of using this particular therapeutic modality to promote positive relational change within romantic relationships. The research would have benefited from greater diversity within the sample and a greater understanding of the specific therapist interventions that impact client couple empathy levels.