How People Change: Inside and Outside Therapy

223 Pages·1991·24.51 MB·English

by  Rebecca Curtis (auth.)

HOW PEOPLE
CHANGE
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THERAPY
THE PLENUM SERIES IN
SOCIAL I CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Series Editor: C. R. Snyder
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
HOW PEOPLE CHANGE
Inside and Outside Therapy
Edited by Rebecca C. Curtis and George Stricker
SELF-DEFEATING BEHAVIORS
Experimental Research, Clinical Impressions, and Practical Implications
Edited by Rebecca C. Curtis
SELF-HANDICAPPING
The Paradox That Isn't
Raymond L. Higgins, C. R. Snyder, and Steven Berglas
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new
volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information
please contact the publisher.
HOW PEOPLE
CHANGE
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THERAPY
EDITED BY
REBECCA C. CURTIS
AND
GEORGE STRICKER
Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies
Adelphi University
Garden City, New York
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA. LLC
Llbrary of Congrass Catalogtng-tn-Publtcatton Data
How people change : inside and outside therapy I edited by Rebecca c.
Curtis and George Stricker.
p. Cl. -- <The Plenum serles ln soclal/cllnlcal psychologyl
Includes blbliographlcal references and Index.
ISBN 978-1-4899-0743-1 ISBN 978-1-4899-0741-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0741-7
1. Behavlor therapy. 2. Change <Psychology) I. Curtls, Rebecca
C. II. Stricker, George.
[DNLM: 1. Behavior Therapy. 2. Personallty. 3. Psychology,
Cllnlcal. HM 425 H847)
RC489.B4H62 1991
616.89'142--dc20
DNLM/DLC
for Llbrary of Congress 91-2691
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4899-0743-1
© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1991
Softcoverreprint ofthe hardcover1st edition 1991
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, rnicrofilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To all of those who have taught us how people change,
especially our patients and clients
CONTRIBUTORS
ELLIOT ARONSON, Stevenson College, University of California, Santa
Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95065
BARBARA BENEDICT BUNKER, Department of Psychology, State Univer
sity of New York at Buffalo, New York 14260
SHEILA M. COONERTY, Department of Psychology, Long Island Univer
sity, Forest Hills, New York 11375
ALLAN COOPER, William Alanson White Institute, New York, New York
10023
JOEL COOPER, Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Prince
ton, New Jersey 08544
REBECCA CURTIS, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies,
Adelphi University, Garden City, New York 11530
JACQUELINE J. DELISLE, Department of Psychology, State University of
New York at Buffalo, New York 14260
MARVIN R. GOLDFRIED, Department of Psychology, State University of
New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794
LESLIE S. GREENBERG, Department of Psychology, York University,
North York, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
DIANA ADILE KIRSCHNER, Private Practice, Gwynedd Valley, Pennsyl
vania 19437
SAM KIRSCHNER, Private Practice, Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania 19437
OTTO KLINEBERG, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology,
Columbia University, New York, New York 10022
LEIGH MCCULLOUGH, Department of Psychology in Psychiatry, Univer
sity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
vii
viii CONTRIBUTORS
ESTHER MENAKER, New York University Postdoctoral Program, New
York, New York 10003
RENE H. RHODES, Program in Clinical Psychology, Teachers College,
New York, New York 10022
CAROL M. RUBIN, Private Practice, 20 Claremont Street, Newton, Mas
sachusetts 02158
JEFFREY Z. RUBIN, Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Med
ford, Massachusetts 02155
GEORGE STRICKER, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies,
Adelphi University, Garden City, New York 11530
PAUL L. WACHTEL, Department of Psychology, City College of New
York, New York, New York 10031
PREFACE
In the myth of Daphne and Apollo, Cupid fired two arrows: one causing
flight from love, the other passionate attraction. Cupid aimed his first
arrow at Daphne, a beautiful nymph who loved her freedom; the next
struck Apollo, who lusted after Daphne. Daphne, frightened and intent
upon virginity, fled Apollo but was unable to run fast enough. When her
strength was almost gone, she sought protection in the familiar waters
of her father's river. He answered her prayers: Her hair became leaves,
and her feet, roots growing into the ground; she was transformed into a
laurel tree. Apollo, kissing the sprouting bark, pledged to honor
Daphne by placing a laurel wreath on the head of every hero who won a
victory. Unable to evade the consequences of the arrow that wounded
her, Daphne called upon the river, the creative power of both nature and
time-a symbol of fertility, but also of oblivion-to help her survive
when her strength was gone.
Daphne's inner triumph in the face of injury is an appropriate sym
bol for the types of transformation witnessed by psychologists. In his
book on symbols, Circlot (1962, p. 173) writes that the crowning of the
poet, artist, or conqueror with laurel leaves "presupposes a series of
inner victories over the negative and dissipative influence of the basest
forces." Further, the tree "denotes the life of the cosmos: its consistence,
growth, proliferation, generative, and regenerative processes" (Circlot,
1962, p. 328).
As I reflected upon the contributions to this volume, the image of
Daphne's transformation into a laurel tree came frequently to mind.
Although the changes that occur in Greek and Roman myths are some
times violent and rapid, the psychological significance of these "truths
of fiction," as Horace Gregory (1958, p. xii) tells us in his introduction to
The Metamorphoses, is "more convincing than any document or 'case
history' can hope to be." Sometimes it is impossible for people in the real
ix
X PREFACE
world to make changes in their actual life circumstances. Like Daphne,
when the obstacles people are facing are assessed and the brute power
and cruelty of others are experienced, the most that people can hope to
change is their perception of their situation and/or themselves.
Hearing the life stories of patients, I have often tried to imagine how
I would have endured the series of abuses that patients had described. I
have also wondered how change might take place so that in many of
these cases a patient would not try to commit suicide again soon after
leaving the hospital. Very rapid transformations are required in such
circumstances if patients are to avoid long-term hospitalization. And
although the metamorphoses of these people, when they occur, are less
dramatic than those in fiction, their extremes of passion are not-for
these people are ready to die if their desires remain so unfulfilled.
As a clinician with a background in social psychology, certain ques
tions inevitably arose when I became engaged in psychotherapy. For
example, are there any commonalities between theories of individual
change and theories of social change? Or, even more specifically, what
are the similarities and differences among theories of individual change
in naturally occurring settings and theories of individual change in
therapy?
With questions such as these in mind, a conference entitled "How
People Change: Inside and Outside Therapy'' was organized and held at
Adelphi University on October 1, 1988. The introduction by Curtis and
the chapters by Aronson, Goldfried, the Kirschners, Klineberg, Men
aker, Stricker, and Wachtel are based upon presentations at that confer
ence. Morton Deutsch, Harvey Horstein, and Hans Strupp also spoke
there, with the Strupp paper published in Journal of Cognitive Psycho
therapy and Research: An International Quarterly.
Hopefully, the ideas of the contributors will be of use to both scien
tists and practitioners. And knowing that political and social changes
affect the lives of many much more quickly and dramatically than does
individual psychotherapy, it is hoped that these ideas will be of use as
psychologists and other change agents attempt to help themselves and
others make interventions which will lead to a less destructive world.
Sometimes change seems so difficult that many of us believe any
efforts to make large-scale changes will be wasted. It is difficult, how
ever, to envision how a society can cope when at least 18% (Brazelton,
1990) to 43% (Blakeslee, 1990) of the babies born in major cities have
suffered the effects of substance abuse in utero and are possibly neuro
logically damaged for life. It is important, of course, not to make recom
mendations with insufficient knowledge, but it is irresponsible for
social scientists not to communicate that we know much more about