Co-creating secure attachment imagery to enhance relational healing

All treatments for adult attachment insecurity include in some form a set of principles and methods that can be termed therapist-as-good-attachment-figure. This relational context is widely and appropriately accepted as a foundation for any attachment-focused therapy. After highlighting some of the principles of this approach, this article describes a therapeutic model that includes using patient-and-therapist co-created imagery of positive attachment experience. This imagery method is intrapersonal, in that it focuses on the patient's inner experience of mental representations of attachment relationships; it is interpersonal, in that the process calls upon the therapist to be highly attuned and responsive — as a good attachment figure — to the patient experiencing the imagery; and it is metainterpersonal, in that the patient experiences the imagined interaction with the positive attachment relationships in the context of the therapist supporting and participating in the process. The use of imagery in this way can be a valuable contribution towards relational healing and adult earned secure attachment.

Experiential training during COVID-19 pandemic: a virtual attachment experience from a college of pharmaceutical sciences in the United Arab Emirates

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic compelled the traditional higher educational institutions to make a quick transition to the virtual instruction model. Considering the COVID-19 restrictions, the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology at Ras Al Khaimah College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, United Arab Emirates restructured their original onsite experiential training for final year Bachelor of Pharmacy students as a virtual online experience to ensure educational continuity. Evaluation: The virtual experiential training was conducted over two weeks and was imparted employing different virtual platforms like Google Classroom, Google Meet, Google Forms, Google Docs, etc. As a part of the community pharmacy training, the students were given different e-activities and tasks like e-case scenario analysis and interpretation, e-prescription screening, virtual patient education and were shown various 3-D animated videos related to community pharmacy. For the hospital training, the students were given different e-cases for developing pharmaceutical care plans, e-case scenario analysis, e-drug information query and were shown different animated videos related to rounds of different hospital departments. Conclusion: The virtual experiential training was successfully conducted achieving the desired learning outcomes and was well received by the students. Based on this experience, it is recommended that efforts should be made to develop an integrated model for experiential training in the future, which can be an amalgamation of online tools and traditional experiential methods.

Parent-child relationship in psychogenesis of female psychogenic infertility (psychoanalytic perspective)

Horney, D. Pines, T. Benedek, M. Bydlowski, F. Tyson and R. Tyson, K. Brisch. The object of this research is the phenomenon of psychogenic infertility in female development. The subject is the parent-child relationship in the context of women with psychogenic infertility. The article reveals the unspecified features of development of women with infertility: personality traits, leading mental conflicts, fixations, defense mechanisms, type of attachment, experience of object relationship. The article traces the dependence of woman’s reproductive function in symptom cluster of infertility on her psyche, as well as influence of object relationship and attachment pattern on the occurrence of mental conflicts that lead to infertility. The following possible factors of psychogenic infertility are determined: 1. Pathological fixation in the early infantile period. Inability to separate from the mother, 2. Inability to identify with the mother. 3. Infertility as defense against regression, i.e. fear to encounter internal conflicts.  4. Hatred and ambivalent attitude towards the mother. Unwillingness to pass on the “mandate of life”.  5. Confusion of identity, improper gender-role identification with the mother due to improper distribution of roles in family, disturbance of personal boundaries,  and pathological symbiosis. The article reveals similar prerequisites for the formation of psychogenic infertility: type of attachment, disturbance of early object relationship, leading mental conflict, basic defense, and the impact of transgenerational experience. Defensive strategies that are intended for coping with intense inner anxiety create an unconscious compromise between mental state and body, which leads to psychogenic infertility.  

Balint-style reflective practice groups in a year 4 undergraduate general practice attachment: experience of the first two years

Background and aims Many undergraduate medical curricula include reflective practice sessions based on traditional Balint-groups. Those sessions can help students to acknowledge that experiencing ‘negative’ feelings in relation to patients is normal and may contain important information about the clinical encounter. They may also help to protect students from some of the emotional challenges of studying medicine. The Edinburgh University scheme provides all students in their first clinical year with two dedicated reflective practice sessions. Here we report on experience of the first two years. Methods Students’ attitudes to the sessions were ascertained using a questionnaire, and views of the group leaders were assessed using a questionnaire and through informal verbal and email discussions. Practical difficulties were recorded as they arose. Results Students generally rated the sessions positively with regard to exploring relationships and self-reflection, and they found the sessions interesting and helpful. The sessions did not seem to affect career choice. The free-text comments suggested four positive themes and four areas for future modification. Conclusion We have succeeded in providing all undergraduate students with an opportunity to take part in a reflective practice. We have highlighted aspects which have been successful and suggested future improvements.

BONDING AND ATTACHMENT EXPERIENCE AMONG POSTNATAL MOTHERS WITH SPONTANEOUS CHILDBIRTH

Background: Bonding is an emotional bond between a mother and a baby that develops gradually and immediately after birth until it is formed into an attachment. Bonding is considered important to ensure the baby’s protection. However, bonding remains challenging for mothers with spontaneous childbirth because they are most likely to focus on themselves.Objective: To explore the bonding and attachment experience among postpartum mothers with spontaneous childbirth.Methods: This was a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach. Data were collected from nine participants using semi-structured interviews and observations. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s analysis method.Results: Five themes emerged, namely 1) feeling relieved and happy with the birth of the baby, 2) bonding and attachments are important, 3) stimulating the baby’s sense, 4) the need of social supports in bonding and attachment, and 5) internal and external factors of bonding and attachment.Conclusion: Bonding and attachment are very important that should be done by the mothers to the baby. However, it takes time and needs the supports from the husbands, parents, relatives, and health workers. Therefore, nurses or midwives should pay attention to this process to create the better bonding and attachment between the mothers and the babies.

Commentary on Place Spirituality

If Place Spirituality is considered as an attachment experience to a geographic place or an “object,” for Muslims this concept can be explained by the sharia or Islamic law. However, in the highest level of experience as a Muslim, one may attach to God everywhere and at all times, without consideration of any place, time, or object. This experience can clearly be understood with the explanation of the three levels (spiritual path) for Muslims: (1) sharia or “conceptual knowledge,” (2) tariqa or “experiential knowledge,” and (3) ma’rifa or “divine spiritual experiences” or “spiritual consciousness”. At the first and second levels, one may have a Place Spirituality, while at the third level the understanding of and connection to God might be enhanced, and the experience to connect to God can be everywhere, all the time.