Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mentalized Affectivity Among Adolescents In Wilderness Therapy: An Initial Exploration, William Holland

Dissertations and Theses

Mentalized affectivity (MA) blends emotion regulation and mentalization in a single construct that underlies psychopathology and is a target of psychotherapeutic intervention as a mechanism of change. Little research has investigated MA’s role in psychopathology and treatment for adolescents. Change in MA has yet to be investigated. Wilderness therapy is a non-traditional treatment model for “hard-to-reach” adolescents; its mechanisms of change have not been robustly researched. This study aims to investigate change in adolescents’ MA capacities over the course of wilderness therapy, in order to explore the role of MA components (Identifying, Processing, Expressing) in adolescent psychopathology; the relation between …

Early Adversity, Emotion Regulation, Object Relational Functioning, And The Moderating Effect Of Gender Identity: A Community Sample Study, Victoria Schilder

Dissertations and Theses

Introduction: Clinical and social psychological literature have long demonstrated group status, culture, and social support as equally integral and influential factors which contribute directly both to the quality of one’s lived experience, and to the development and experience of one’s sense of identity or selfness. For example, acceptable norms regarding behavior, dress, and emotional experience – particularly when an individual does not live up to societal standards – have been demonstrated to contribute to deleterious internalizations surrounding self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem. More specifically, the social and cultural implications of being identified as “female” versus “male” have been found to be …

Joint Laughter Between Patient And Therapist: Exploring The Function Of These Moments And Their Relationship To The Working Alliance In Short-Term Psychotherapy, Molly Rappaport

Dissertations and Theses

Laughter emerges in infancy and reflects mutually aroused and regulated positive affect within the caregiver-infant relationship and repeated cycles of shared, co-regulated positive arousal have been shown to play a critical role in fueling secure attachment bond formation and laying the groundwork for the infant’s capacity for affect regulation (Schore, 2003). Throughout life, laughter continues to function as an attachment behavior with the possibility of promoting interpersonal closeness or creating distance. Attitudes toward the role of laughter in psychotherapy vary among psychodynamically-oriented clinicians and research has mostly focused on the kinds of humor and interventions that provoke laughter rather than …

The Contribution Of Adverse Childhood Experiences To The Interplay Between Insecure Attachment Characteristics, Trait Emotional Intelligence, Difficulties In Emotion Regulation, And Personality Organization, Kseniia Gvozdieva

Dissertations and Theses

There are well-established connections between unfavorable attachment experiences and subsequent personality pathology. Individuals with adverse attachment experiences and those with personality pathology have been found to have difficulty with emotional awareness and emotion regulation. Attachment characteristics inform emotional intelligence and emotion regulation, while emotional intelligence and emotion regulation capacities can be protective against personality pathology and serve as a potential mechanism of positive change in one’s attachment. Complex trauma disrupts attachment and the subsequent development of emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, as well as personality structure.

In this dissertation, we examine the ways in which individual attachment patterns can be linked …