The Relational Dimension

The damaging consequences of solitary confinement in prison indicate the importance of relationships for human flourishing. Loneliness affects a high proportion of people, especially as they get older. The health consequences of loneliness can be severe. Our early relationships within our family and with others are crucial for our well-being. There are many species where the parents effectively abandon their offspring early in life but humans don’t normally do that. As a species we produce few offspring and parents can invest in them heavily. We are a social species. At the same time, the more people we know, the more difficult it becomes to maintain social relationships with them. Married people are generally happier than unmarried people. Helping is at the heart of most positive relationships. Human relationships need not be restricted to other humans.

Extended Example of TFPP Treatment

This chapter provides an extended case example of a 21 session treatment of a patient with TFPP. Pablo, a 27-year-old mixed Latino male Army Veteran who served in Afghanistan, presented with generalized anxiety, severe separation anxiety, and PTSD. In addition to his severe anxiety, panic attacks, hypervigilance, nightmares, and intrusive memories, Pablo complained of being in a “fog.” Symptoms began when a Humvee exploded next to Pablo. The therapist noted the patient’s description of feeling “trapped in a foxhole” with his painful memories of abuse and neglect in childhood and anger in current relationships. The therapist helped Pablo understand that he directed this anger toward himself, seeing himself as bad or inadequate, accepting his attackers’ view of him. The therapist linked the emotional impact of the Humvee explosion to a familiar set of anxieties and concerns following certain childhood experiences, and helped Pablo see how the pain of his early relationships and losses shaped his current fears and relationship choices. In the course of TFPP, Pablo became more comfortable expressing his anger and fears about his childhood, his military trauma and his current relationships. Symptoms and defenses and their origins and meanings were understood in the context of the relationship Pablo’s with his therapist (the transference). At termination Pablo was significantly improved; he no longer met DSM criteria for PTSD or other anxiety disorders. He felt much less affected by the “fog” and more capable of addressing problems in his life and moving forward with his goals and desires.

What Does It Take for Early Relationships to Remain Secure in the Face of Adversity?

Attachment relationships as bipersonal, dynamic systems of interaction and meaning-making, can be understood as a resilient mechanism, a level of resilience in itself. A resilient early attachment relationship may facilitate resilience across development and interact with other factors to promote healthier, more resilient societies at different ecological levels. In this chapter, first, the concept of attachment resilience and its constituent factors are developed within the framework of resilience literature. Second, the ecological nature of attachment resilience is posited, and a set of four principles for the ecological study and enhancement of attachment resilience is presented and applied to a case study. Finally, a discussion of the implications of these ideas for interventions with families is developed.

Bridging the Divide: Marriage Politics across the Caucasus

The early relationships between the polities of Armenia and K‘art‘li in the South Caucasus and their neighbours in the North Caucasus is a central, but underappreciated, factor in the development of the South Caucasus’ social and political world in the Hellenistic period. Typically, only military aspects of these interactions are considered (e.g., Alan raids and control thereof). Hazy evidence of cross-Caucasus marriage alliances preserved in both the Armenian and Georgian historiographic traditions, however, hints at a far wider sphere of interaction, despite the inherent challenges in gleaning historical reality from these medieval accounts. This paper contextualizes two stories of cross-Caucasus marriage related to foundational dynastic figures in the Armenian and Georgian traditions, Artašēs and P‘arnavaz respectively, within a wider body of evidence for and thought about North-South Caucasus interaction. Taken as a whole, this consideration argues that North-South relationships should be seen as integral to the political development of the South Caucasus.

From Paleolithic Wild Boar to Neolithic Pigs

Wild boar are dangerous animals that Paleolithic peoples hunted infrequently for the first million years of human-suid contact. Projectile weapons, nets, and the domestication of dogs allowed Natufian hunter-gatherers (12,500–9700 BC) to find in wild boar a reliable source of food. By the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (9700–8500 BC), human populations had developed close relationships with local wild boar. Intensive hunting or perhaps game management took place at Hallan Çemi in Anatolia, and the introduction of wild boar to Cyprus by at latest 9400 BC indicates the willingness of humans to capture and transport wild boar. At the same time, the presence of sedentary villages and the waste they produced likely attracted wild boar to human habitats. These early relationships between people and suids—game management and commensalism—evolved over the course of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic into full-fledged animal husbandry that, by around 7500 BC, had selected for domestic pigs.

Arab networking and relationship marketing: Is there a need for both?

Purpose This study aims to examine the Arab practice of wasta (personal networks) and its potential interface with relationship marketing to enable firms to optimize their recruitment and retention of customers in societies where personal ties drive business relationships. It explores whether relationship marketing influences customer retention when a personal contact leaves. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data were gathered from 305 customers introduced to Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises via wasta. Multiple-item scales were adopted, drawn from previous empirical studies. Quantitative analysis was used, including confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships posited. Findings Wasta plays a significant role in attracting customers, nurturing early relationships and enhancing relationship quality, but does not influence the retention of customers. Practicing relationship marketing post wasta can enhance customer loyalty, even if the business was developed through the wasta contact who left to join a rival firm. Research limitations/implications Potential limitations arise from cultural differences in other Middle Eastern countries. Future studies could also validate the results in different sectors/industries and explore managers and employees’ perspectives. Practical implications Several recommendations emerge for managerial practitioners, including the use of wasta to attract business, but more significantly, the need for the effective use of relationship marketing to retain business. The study suggests that if relationship marketing is practiced well, customers are likely to remain loyal to the firm, even if the business was developed through a personal wasta relationship with an employee who subsequently moved to a competitor firm. Originality/value This study is the first to develop a unified model connecting the Eastern notion of wasta (personal ties) with relationship marketing. The study enhances the knowledge of wasta and relationship marketing. It is among the first to suggest that should employees with personal connections to customers leave to join a competing firm, there is still a strong likelihood that if relationship marketing is effectively practiced, then customers will remain loyal to the firm (rather than to the former employee).

All Possible Spaces

This chapter emphasizes how Jonah never had friendships with other children, even after being taken to toddler playgroups, Gymboree, and Sally's Music Circle. It notes Robert Selman's five-level theory of friendship that is based on neurotypical development. It also examines that the author's assumptions about what friendship looks like were based on the interactions of her children and memories of her own early relationships. The chapter describes Jonah's most meaningful relationships, which have been with paid caregivers who have worked with him at home or school. It refers to philosophers who have wrestled with the definition and significance of a friendly relationship since Aristotle observed that without friends no one would choose to live.