Must Internal Working Models be Internalized? A Case Illustrating an Alternative Pathway to Attachment

Internal working models of attachment are conceptualized as internalizations of interpersonal dynamics involving attachment—schemata derived from secure therapeutic relationships if not established in childhood. The potential for developing internal working models in the absence of adequate attachment history is demonstrated by the case of a dismissing (avoidantly-attached) client with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) abandoned in early childhood. Using the Collective Heart model (Krakauer 2001)—which targets posttraumatic misattributions of power and quickly challenges the client’s perceived brokenness and helplessness—the client formed an intimate bond with a formerly unconscious inner guidance resource experienced as a maternal attachment figure long before a robust therapeutic relationship was established. Verbatim case material illustrates autohypnotic interventions potentiating this “Wise Mother’s” guidance of the client’s identity development and mastery of relational tasks by mining and augmenting fragmentary attachment experiences. Theoretical and clinical implications of the evolution and function of the Wise Mother are discussed.     

Can the Public Trust Doctrine Save the High Seas?

Abstract

The high seas is one of the last remaining commons on the planet, but comprehensive efforts to save this area beyond national jurisdiction have not been successful. This article examines the feasibility of applying the public trust doctrine to the high seas by first evaluating tools that are currently in place to protect biodiversity then analyzing the public trust doctrine in its traditional application in the United States and other countries. With this foundation, the article examines the possibility and methodology of applying the public trust concept to protect the high seas.     

‘Monsters don’t bother me anymore’ forensic mental health service users’ experiences of acceptance and commitment therapy for psychosis

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for psychosis (ACTp) is an approach that aims to change the relationship an individual with psychosis has with difficult thoughts, emotions and experiences. It promotes the use of acceptance, defusion, mindfulness and focussing on valued outcomes as opposed to struggling with psychotic experiences. This service evaluation project explored service users’ experiences and meanings of ACTp within a medium secure mental health service. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interviews with 10 male service users. Four main themes emerged from the data: ‘Recovery’, ‘Insight’, ‘Developing Skills’ and ‘Accessibility’. Overall, service users viewed their experience of ACTp positively and identified encouraging therapeutic outcomes. These findings suggest that ACTp is an approach that should be considered a therapeutic option within forensic mental health contexts. These outcomes were compared with previous research findings. Limitations of the study, clinical implications and ideas for future research have been discussed.     

Towards a Decolonial Critical Political Economy of the Media: Some Initial Thoughts

Abstract

How the media are organised and funded has implications on who gets to speak and the stories that are told or silenced. The critical political economy of the media approach allows an understanding of the ideologies and power structures that influence media operations, ownership, and funding. Although the critical political economy of the media remains central in understanding these issues, the approach needs to be decolonised to address the dynamics of media power from the perspective of the global south. In this paper, we explore what the theoretical contributions of decoloniality can make to the project of rethinking political economy of the media. We argue that the critical political economy approach, whose core vocabulary is Marxist, contains inherent limitations in understanding conditions of media-state relations in Africa. Decolonial thought and its recent engagement with Marxism has produced new thinking and fresh ways of reflecting the relationship between Western capitalism and modernity. We contend that this approach allows us to foreground issues of modernity, coloniality, and race and their impact on contemporary media systems in Africa.     

Driving Legislators' Policy Preferences: Constituent Commutes and Gas Taxes

Understanding differential policy costs across constituencies, and how they link to legislators' policy preferences, can facilitate policy changes that solve pressing problems. We examine the role of policy costs on constituents by studying legislator support for taxing gasoline. Analysis of survey responses from US state legislators, as well as of their voting records, shows that legislators whose constituents would be most affected by an increased gas tax—those whose constituents have longer commutes—are more likely to oppose higher gas taxes. Separately estimating the impact of time spent driving to work versus using public transit shows that the effect of commute times comes from those who have long drives, not from those who ride public transit, highlighting how the policy costs to constituents is a major driver in legislators' considerations. We finish the article by discussing the implications of our findings for combating climate change and for understanding policy feedbacks.     

What Determines Ethical Behavior in Public Organizations: Is It Rules or Leadership?

Leadership is widely seen as having an important role in fostering ethical conduct in organizations, but the ways in which the actions of leaders intersect with formal ethics regulation in shaping conduct have been little researched. This article examines this issue through a qualitative study of the operation of the “ethical framework” for English local government, which entailed all councils adopting a code of conduct to regulate the behavior of local politicians. Studying local government provides an opportunity to examine how personal and managerial factors combine to influence ethical conduct and to analyze the ways in which ethical leadership is exercised through multiple people in leadership roles (politicians and managers). The article finds that organizations that exhibit consistently good conduct have multiple leaders who demonstrate good conduct but also act to preempt the escalation of problems and thereby minimize the explicit use of ethics regulation.     

Displaying Garbage: Installations as Spaces of Domination and Resistance

Abstract

Contemporary artistic installations presenting the detritus of everyday life are an increasingly popular method of raising awareness of what we produce, consume, and throw away. As social critique, these displays examine the political and economic causes and consequences of waste production and resulting ecological degradation. Drawing on Herbert Marcuse’s conceptions of aesthetics, liberation, and ecology in capitalism, this article attempts to discern where we might find hope, encouragement, and active imagination of another possible future through artistic installations. This article cautions that garbage art may both open and close off creative and imaginative spaces for transformation to a liberated society. Differentiating between two categories of art installations, this article explores how installations can reflect back to us our complicated relationship with waste and consumer culture, raising questions as to how the aesthetic realm might serve as a springboard for critique of capitalism.