Understanding the patient: the hermeneutics of psychotherapy.

This dissertation inquires into the problem of understanding as it pertains to the psychotherapeutic situation. It analyses- some of the ways in which the therapist's understanding of the patient has been conceptualised and uses concepts from hermeneutic philosophy in order to suggest possible resolutions to some of the problems identified in the discussion of the theory of psychotherapy. For heuristic purposes I start with the thesis that there are three distinct 'positions' a therapist can take up vis-ä-vis his patient, each of these positions opening up different avenues to coming to know the other person. I distinguish an empathic, a dialogic and an interpretive/explanatory position. The treatment of the concept of empathy by the various psychotherapy theorists serves me as a benchmark to draw out the different conceptualisations of the process of understanding. Starting from the predominantly objectivist stance of Freud who pursued an ideal of the analyst as scientist I show how Ferenczi presented an early subjectivist challenge to this position. Following this theme through some of the analytic literature I show that this objectivist-subjectivist tension concerns not only the scientific status of analysis; it goes to the heart of the therapeutic enterprise and has deep implications for the nature of the relationship between a therapist and her patient. Humanistic alternatives to psychoanalysis are also considered. With intersubjectivist formulations gaining more and more ground in the recent past, the therapist becomes a personally involved participant and hermeneuticist, rather than remaining a detached observer-scientist. A conception of understanding as a conjoint giving meaning to an experience has largely replaced an ideal of knowledge as discovery of underlying realities. Within philosophy the problems of understanding have been addressed by hermeneutics which analyses the contingencies of the place of the interpreter in the process of interpretation. I take the German philosopher Gadamer, whose philosophical hermeneutics emphasises the dialogic structure of all understanding, as my main source for the discussion of the problem of clinical understanding. Understanding is here revealed as an open-ended process of interpretation which unfolds dialectically between two participants in a conversation. The three positions which served as the starting points for this inquiry, rather than demanding a choice of one over the others, can be seen as, together, constituting a 'field' in which understanding becomes possible. It is suggested that only the therapist who can 'move' between positions and, by the same token, entertain multiple points of view can hope to understand his patients

The Viscoelastic Behavior of Pigmented Latex Coating Films

The mechanical properties of paper coatings are essential for use performance of coated paper (e.g. calendering, printing degradation during printing operations, pick). This study investigates the microscopic and macroscopic mechanisms that determine the viscoelastic behavior of pigmented latex coating films. Pigmented coating layers were prepared with different microstructures. This was achieved by using different pigment types and shapes (polystyrene plastic pigment - spheres, precipitated calcium carbonate - rhombs, clay - plates), and changing pigment volume concentration (PVC). Two styrene-butadiene latices with different degree of carboxylation (acidic level 0.3% and 4.5%) were evaluated to determine effect of adhesion. The viscoelastic material response of the coating films (film thickness between 25µm to 35µm) was determined by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis in tensile mode. Changes in viscoelastic response over entire pigment volume concentration range was found to be distinct for the three different pigment systems. Storage and loss modulus were strongly related to the thermal softening of the coating latex. Reinforcement through pigment was found to?be depending on pigment volume concentration, pigment type as well as temperature/frequency range. Above latex glass transition region the coatings showed for all pigments with increasing pigmentation an increase in storage modulus depending on the storage modulus of the pure pw-tent (Eclay\u3eECaC03\u3eEplastic pigment ) Below glass transition region calcium carbonate pigment showed an increase in storage modulus, leveling off at 7O%PVC. Clay pigment coatings performed a maximum in storage modulus at 5O%PVC. For polystyrene plastic pigment coatings the storage modulus decreased with increasing pigment volume concentration. For clay a depression behavior was observed coinciding with the latex glass transition region. For SO%PVC the depression behavior was reversible, whereas for lower pigment volume concentrations the behavior was irreversible resulting in a common transition for repeated scans. The maximum in tan Delta (damping factor) decreased for all pigments with increasing pigmentation. Glass transition temperatures determined by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis were consistently higher than measured by differential scanning calorimetry. Master curves were calculated with time-temperature-superposition and William-Landel-Ferry-theory. Tensile tests were performed in an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope. A LWC-base-paper was coated and then analyzed to observe the influence of the coating layer

Graduate With UNNRA in Greece

Dear Friends: I scarcely know where to begin. I left the States September 14 and arrived in Cairo October 20

Homemaker as Citizen

Contrary to the belief of many people, Child Labor is not a new problem resulting from the factory system. Rather, it is an age-old custom and since child labor is cheap labor it will therefore be in existence so long as no laws forbid