The Somatic Symptom as One's Object: Applying Fairbairn's Theory of Internal Object Relations and Winnicott's Conceptualization of the Psyche-and-Soma

The author discusses Winnicott's theory (1949/1975) of the psyche-soma and Fairbairn's (1944) theory of internal object relations, bringing them together to enrich our perspective of one's somatization. By focusing on how the patient takes care, attends, experiences, and feels toward the symptom, the analyst can better understand the patient's early object-relations. This allows analyst and patient to rethink the symptom in terms of the patient's early traumas and one's capacity to mourn the loss of the love-object. Fairbairn's conceptualizations of the “rejecting,” “alluring,” and “addictive” object-relations are combined with Winnicott's understanding of the split between psyche and soma, following the ill-adaptation of the mother to the baby's earliest emotional needs.

Managing Countertransference in the Treatment of Personality Disorders

The clinical and technical difficulties presented by patients with personality disorders are well documented. This article focuses on the challenges faced by therapists when managing their emotional reactions, that is, their countertransferences, to patients with personality disorders. While leaving room for therapists' unique and idiosyncratic countertransferences to the patient with personality pathology, Kernberg emphasized the role of a more general form of countertransference, one reflective largely of the patient's conflicts and defenses, in the treatments of personality disordered individuals. Here, the nature of the patient's internal and external functioning can be seen to lead to similar reactions among different therapists, opening the possibility of utilizing countertransference to better understand the patient's difficulties. In transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), countertransferences arising in the patient–therapist interaction are first identified and contained by the therapist and then utilized to clarify and explore how the patient's internal object relations are being enacted in the clinical process. This article describes this process and how TFP therapists work with their countertransference to help illuminate the patient's split representational world, paving the way for interpretation and integration.

Multi-Frequency Magnetic Induction Tomography System and Algorithm for Imaging Metallic Objects

Magnetic induction tomography (MIT) is largely focused on applications in biomedical and industrial process engineering. MIT has a great potential for imaging metallic samples; however, there are fewer developments directed toward the testing and monitoring of metal components. Eddy-current non-destructive testing is well established, showing that corrosion, fatigue and mechanical loading are detectable in metals. Applying the same principles to MIT would provide a useful imaging tool for determining the condition of metal components. A compact MIT instrument is described, including the design aspects and system performance characterisation, assessing dynamic range and signal quality. The image rendering ability is assessed using both external and internal object inclusions. A multi-frequency MIT system has similar capabilities as transient based pulsed eddy current instruments. The forward model for frequency swap multi-frequency is solved, using a computationally efficient numerical modelling with the edge-based finite elements method. The image reconstruction for spectral imaging is done by adaptation of a spectrally correlative base algorithm, providing whole spectrum data for the conductivity or permeability.

Lift observation conveys object weight distribution but partly enhances predictive lift planning

Observation of object lifting allows updating of internal object representations for object weight, in turn enabling accurate scaling of fingertip forces when lifting the same object. Here, we investigated whether lift observation also enables updating of internal representations for an object's weight distribution. We asked participants to lift an inverted T-shaped manipulandum, of which the weight distribution could be changed, in turns with an actor. Participants were required to minimize object roll (i.e. 'lift performance') during lifting and were allowed to place their fingertips at self-chosen locations. The center of mass changed unpredictably every third to sixth trial performed by the actor and participants were informed that they would always lift the same weight distribution as the actor. Participants observed either erroneous (i.e. object rolling towards its heavy side) or skilled (i.e. minimized object roll) lifts. Lifting performance after observation was compared to lifts without prior observation and to lifts after active lifting, which provided haptic feedback about the weight distribution. Our results show that observing both skilled and erroneous lifts convey an object's weight distribution similar to active lifting, resulting in altered digit positioning strategies. However, minimizing object roll on novel weight distributions was only improved after observing error lifts and not after observing skilled lifts. In sum, these findings suggest that although observing motor errors and skilled motor performance enables updating of digit positioning strategy, only observing error lifts enables changes in predictive motor control when lifting objects with unexpected weight distributions.

Intersubjective approach to intentionality and internal objects

Intentionality — the orientation of mental states to objects (things, properties, states of things, events) — has been considered a hallmark of the psyche since Brentano’s time. In this article, we consider the problem of intentionality from the second-person approach, or the standpoint of intersubjectivity. Our analysis shows that intentionality is intrinsically projective. The projective nature of intentionality is related to internal objects that play a crucial role in fixing the person’s subjective experience and serve as a fulcrum in the development of the person. The internal object can be treated as a set of properties and tropes. The logic of intentionality proposed by Graham Priest and the theory of primary (that is, belonging to the Freudian system «unconscious») psychological attitudes developed by Linda Brakel created the preconditions for seman- tical analysis of projective intentionality. In the article, we rely on the logic of projective intentionality that reorients the resources of modal logics and semantics of possible worlds to the investigation and formalization of primary thinking. Considering the problem of mental existence within the framework of the second-person approach, we show that Wittgenstein’s reasoning about the «beetle in a box» does not refute the thesis of the privacy of mental meanings. Finally, involving the possible world semantics, we develop a neo-Aristotelian approach to the ontology of mental objects.

Can the “internal couple” be our faithful lifelong partner?

For over fifty years the concept of the “internal couple”, as a composite internal object co-constructed in intimate relationships, has been fundamental to a psycho-analytic understanding of couple relationships and their contribution to family dynamics. Considerable societal change, however, necessitates review of how effectively and ethically the concept meets practitioners’ and couples’ current needs. Does the concept of an internal couple help psychotherapists to describe and consider all contemporary adult couples, whether same-sex or heterosexual, monogamous, or polyamorous? How does it accommodate online dating, relating via avatars, and use of pornography? Is it sufficiently inclusive of those experimenting in terms of sexual and gender identity, or in partnerships that challenge family arrangement norms? Can it usefully support thinking about families in which parents choose to parent alone, or are absent at their children’s conception thanks to surrogacy, adoption, and IVF? These and other questions prompt re-examination of this central concept’s nature and value.

Lift observation conveys object weight distribution but partly enhances predictive lift planning

Observation of object lifting allows updating of internal object representations for object weight, in turn enabling accurate scaling of fingertip forces when lifting the same object. Here, we investigated whether lift observation also enables updating of internal representations for an object’s weight distribution. We asked participants to lift an inverted T-shaped manipulandum, of which the weight distribution could be changed, in turns with an actor. Participants were required to minimize object roll (i.e. ‘lift performance’) during lifting and were allowed to place their fingertips at self-chosen locations. The center of mass changed unpredictably every third to sixth trial performed by the actor and participants were informed that they would always lift the same weight distribution as the actor. Participants observed either erroneous (i.e. object rolling towards its heavy side) or skilled (i.e. minimized object roll) lifts. Lifting performance after observation was compared to lifts without prior observation and to lifts after active lifting, which provided haptic feedback about the weight distribution. Our results show that observing both skilled and erroneous lifts convey an object’s weight distribution similar to active lifting, resulting in altered digit positioning strategies. However, minimizing object roll on novel weight distributions was only improved after observing error lifts and not after observing skilled lifts. In sum, these findings suggest that although observing motor errors and skilled motor performance enables updating of digit positioning strategy, only observing error lifts enables changes in predictive motor control when lifting objects with unexpected weight distributions.New and noteworthyIndividuals are able to extract an object’s size and weight by observing interactions with objects and subsequently integrate this information in their own motor repertoire. Here, we show that this ability extrapolates to weight distributions. Specifically, we highlighted that individuals can perceive an object’s weight distribution during lift observation but can only partially embody this information when planning their own actions.

Bentuk-bentuk Akronim yang Digunakan di Unit Pelaksana Teknis Dinas (UPTD) Balai Peralatan dan Perbekalan Dinas Pekerjaan Umum Provinsi Sulawesi Utara

Language is a means of human communication through social interaction with others. According to Chomsky, language is a collection of sentences, each with a certain length and built by a set of specific elements. Language is a regular system from various forms of sounds used in expressing thoughts and feelings of the users of the language. Indonesian language was born on October 28, 1928, grew and developed from the Malay language since ancient times, and has been used as a lingua franca not only in the archipelago, but also in almost all of Southeast Asia. This study examines the language based on the internal object of linguistic study; micro linguistic and one of its sub-discipline is morphology, focused on forms of acronyms used in UPTD Balai Peralatan dan Perbekalan Dinas Pekerjaan Umum Provinsi Sulawesi Utara. The research focus is on the forms of acronyms used in UPTD Balai Peralatan dan Perbekalan Dinas Pekerjaan Umum Provinsi Sulawesi Utara. There are three forms of acronyms used by the Aparatur Sipil Negera (Civil Servant) and Tenaga Harian Lepas (Intern) on UPTD Balai Peralatan dan Perbekalan Dinas Pekerjaan Umum Provinsi Sulawesi Utara, which is acronym whose form is determined by the formation process based on the theory of O'Grady, Dobrovolsky, theory of Kridalaksana. H., and one of the form does not follow the two existing theories. Of the thirty two acronyms found, twenty nine are formal acronyms in Indonesian language and the other three are informal acronyms.

Relationally based psychodynamic psychotherapy in prison: processes of control, shame, and dissociation

The scant literature relative to the application of relationally based and psycho-dynamic therapies within correctional settings clearly illustrates the contextually driven challenges to employing such approaches (Haley, 2010; Huffman, 2006; Kita, 2011; Stein, 2007, 2009). Stein (2001, 2004, 2007, 2009) in particular has written extensively about the psychotherapeutic needs of the high concentration of severely developmentally traumatised and dissociative individuals in our prisons, who are unlikely to receive psychodynamic therapies due to resource constraints. Such acute treatment needs can be exacerbated by the operational design of correctional settings—which are predicated on the maintenance of safety and security through the exercise of behaviour management and controlled access to personnel and resources. The over-representation of relationally traumatised individuals within prison populations is confounded by the structural parallels of the controlled environment that inadvertently trigger these inmates. The counterproductive results are not necessarily unexpected given how trauma is routinely re-enacted (Chefetz, 2015; Kupers, 1996; Van der Kolk, 1989, 2014; Van der Kolk & McFarlane, 1996). Nonetheless, this reactive cycle represents an unfortunate re-enactment of relational control both intrapsychically and environmentally. Discussion of the dynamics of control inherent within correctional settings, followed by a case study of an inmate suffering from traumatic exposure to an austerely narcissistic and abusive father, is illustrative of this cycle. The isomorphism of coercive internal object relations and institutional control is striking and will be illustrated.