Publications

Repairing Links: Building Attachments in the Preschool Classroom, Published in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association Aug 10, 2011

Abstract.
A psychoanalytic model of preschool consultation is presented, born of the conviction that psychoanalysis has powerful tools with which to tackle some of our most difficult and entrenched community problems. Since trauma is known to impact our ability to think reflectively and symbolically (Fonagy, Moran, and Target 1993), the clinical methods of psychoanalysis—drawing on the ideas of container/contained, the capacity to hold alternate points of view, and the capacity to reflect empathically (here with teachers in the face of their at times harsh and insensitive treatment of students)—are crucial to success in work with cumulatively traumatized staff (Khan 1963). The strongest resistances to consultation arise from an anti-attachment system developed as a result of cumulative trauma and operating at multiple levels in the preschool. Consultation services are organized around an understanding of this anti-attachment system. At various levels of the system, including staff, parents, and children, consultants work to facilitate secure relationships in the preschool setting. These relationships foster recognition of children’s emotional complexities and build cooperative links between staff and parents, in an atmosphere that otherwise might often push adults into fearful, self-protective states that interfere with their contact with children’s states of mind.

Ponette: A Child Mourns Written and directed by Jacques Doillon. Music by Philippe Sarde. Produced by Alain Sarde. Released by Arrow Releasing, 1996, 92 min. fortda (2010) 16 (1), 107-110.

Discussion: View of the Foster Child. J Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy. (2008) 7:115-120.

“Invisible Victims: Family Violence in Medical and Psychiatric Emergency Rooms,” Bulletin of The Menninger Clinic. V. 60 (1),Winter, 1996, 1-21.

Abstract
Violence against women by their male partners is widespread and infrequently identified as a causal factor in multiple physical and psychological problems of female patients in medical and psychiatric settings. Three main countertransferences that interfere with accurate identification of battered women are described: (1) counter- identification, (2)countertransference rage, and (3) countertransference helplessness. Battering men and battered women are found in all levels of society, although younger, lower income, less-educated men who have observed parental violence in their own home are at higher risk of abusing their spouses. Additionally, antisocial personality disorder, depression, and/or alcohol and drug abuse increase the risk of male violence in the home. Contrary to popular belief, the husband-to-wife violence is usually motivated by his need to control her rather than a result of his loss of control. Battered women show no consistent prebattering risk markers, except for a history of parental violence in their family of origin. Violence against women by their male partners is a serious public health problem that has not been adequately addressed by the medical and psychiatric professions. Myths and clinical realities of battered women are described and detailed recommendations for clinical inquiry and evaluation of level of danger are given.

Review of Contemporary Kleinian Psychoanalysis, in Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 1994, 14(3). fort da, #2, 1995.

Substance Abuse As Symptom: A Psychoanalytic Critique of Treatment Approaches and the Cultural Beliefs That Sustain Them, by Louis S. Berger. Reviewed in Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, V. 57, N. 1, Winter, 1993.

"Addiction As a Form of Perversion" Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, Volume 56, Number 2, Spring, 1992, pp. 221-231.

Abstract
Psychoanalytic treatment of addiction is often ineffective because therapists fail to recognize addiction as a discrete disorder. The author reviews psychoanalytic theories of addiction and presents an alternative concept comprising biological, behavioral, and psychological characteristics. She compares the structural similarities between addiction and perversion and describes the use of the addictive substance as a fetish object. Finally, she discusses the implications of psychoanalytically oriented treatment and advocates a multimodal treatment approach.