Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-11-09DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.1996264
Pia Backman-Nord, Patrik Söderberg, A. Forsman
{"title":"The happiest youth in the world? Exploring subjective well-being indicators among Finnish university students","authors":"Pia Backman-Nord, Patrik Söderberg, A. Forsman","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.1996264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.1996264","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examined characteristics of students who reported the highest level of happiness in “the happiest country in the world” (Helliwell et al., 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021), Finland. The study included 556 Finnish university students’ (of which 75% female) self-reported happiness level, relative to their self-esteem, social and academic competence, as well as demographic factors. According to the results, school success was not a condition for great happiness, whereas the students’ living situation proved to be an important factor. As predicted, a strong connection between a high level of happiness and high self-esteem was found, as well as a significant relationship between being socially skilled and very happy. The study also included an analysis of the students’ free self-descriptions, grouped into the McCrae and Costa’s (1991) Five-Factor Model of Personality. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the results are discussed.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48310902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-19DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.1989708
Greg Smith, N. Robertson, S. Cotton
{"title":"Transgender and gender non-conforming people’s adaptive coping responses to minority stress: A framework synthesis","authors":"Greg Smith, N. Robertson, S. Cotton","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.1989708","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.1989708","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people are frequently exposed to stigma, discrimination, and violence, with adverse impacts on wellbeing. The ‘Minority Stress Model’ and sources of gender affirmation both highlight the impact of social oppression and provide useful means to understand how TGNC people can develop their resilience and what may contribute to different ways of coping. While this stress has been explored in previous reviews, a limited focus on lived experiences constrained discussion of how coping approaches could be put into action in relation to gender affirmation. Therefore, the current review sought to better understand TGNC individuals’ opportunities for gender affirmation through their experiences of coping with minority stress. A systematic search yielded nine studies reporting qualitative data related to adaptive coping. Framework synthesis was applied through an a priori framework, based on minority stress and gender affirmation research, which generated eight themes: four themes privileging psychological affirmation comprised ‘defining one’s own gender identity’, ‘fostering self-belief’, ‘using information and knowledge’, and ‘drawing upon other identities’; and four themes offering social affirmation comprised ‘connecting with the TGNC community’, ‘cultivating allies’, ‘advocating for change’, and ‘asserting oneself’. Our findings augment established models and concepts with the delineation of coping responses for TGNC individuals that can support gender affirmation and mitigate minority stress.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47693607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-15DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.1986850
Y. Haukeland, K. Fjermestad, S. Mossige, T. Vatne
{"title":"Parent-child communication about emotions during SIBS: a joint intervention for siblings and parents of children with chronic disorders","authors":"Y. Haukeland, K. Fjermestad, S. Mossige, T. Vatne","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.1986850","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.1986850","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Quality of parent-child communication is associated with adjustment in siblings of children with chronic disorders. SIBS is an intervention aiming to increase parental listening, exploring, and validating behaviors while talking with siblings about their experiences. We examined parent-sibling communication during SIBS by describing: 1) Sibling-selected dialogue topics; 2) Parental responses to siblings’ emotional expressions, and 3) Associations between responses and demographics and parental psychological distress. Forty dialogues (M duration = 23 minutes) between siblings (10–16 years; Mage = 12.2 years; 52.5% boys) and one parent (62.5% mothers) were coded with the Verona Coding System for Emotional Sequences. Parents mostly provided space for further disclosure of siblings’ experiences (M = 66.9%). In average, 41.9% of parental responses were exploring, 16.4% were listening, and 8.5% were validating. Few associations between parental responses and background variables were found. Parental validation should be given more focus in further development and implementation of the SIBS intervention.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48761199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2001682
Ilonka Schwarzenfeld, Ruth Weissensteiner, Katrin Neubacher
{"title":"The use of prerequisite for treatment and structure axis of the OPD-CA in psychodynamic treatment: The difficult search for the coherent self","authors":"Ilonka Schwarzenfeld, Ruth Weissensteiner, Katrin Neubacher","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2001682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2001682","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The comprehensive diagnostic assessment using OPD-CA-2 in the case of a 16-year-old adolescent girl with a debilitating anxiety disorder provides clear psychodynamically relevant information for an individual therapy plan. After a thorough psychiatric evaluation, the Prerequisites for Treatment Axis was used to clarify and discuss the indication for a psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy and to evaluate the patients' motivation and capacity for treatment as well as her resources. The Structure Axis captured the severity of her ego-structural limitations. The Attachment Dimension revealed a very insecure inner base, adversely affecting the development of her emotional self-regulation. Her lack of comforting reliable internal objects led to overwhelming fears of abandonment underlying her anxiety disorder. Preserving a therapeutic alliance was a difficult and important task. The further therapeutic objectives focused on reflective functioning, identity development, and enhancing her self-regulatory abilities.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44873000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2003233
C. Cropp, B. Claaßen
{"title":"The OPD-CA-2 axis interpersonal relations: A helpful tool for treatment planning? Relationship patterns of adolescent patients with persistent intrapsychic conflicts, structural deficits and trauma sequelae disorders","authors":"C. Cropp, B. Claaßen","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2003233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2003233","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The axis interpersonal relations of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis in Childhood and Adolescence (OPD-CA-2; OPD-CA-2 Task Force, OPD-CA-2. Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis in Childhood and Adolescence. Theoretical Basis and User Manual. Hogrefe, 2017) allows to describe how children and adolescents handle relationships both with relevant attachment figures (e.g., parents) and with the examiner in a standardized way. In the current study, the axis interpersonal relations was used in an inpatient adolescent sample. The aim of the study was to identify typical relationship patterns depending on the patients’ structural level. By inspecting the relationship patterns of all ratings, we identified three groups of patients: The first group included patients with a limited structural level and clearly recognizable intrapsychic conflict dynamics (“focus: conflict”), the second group included patients with a low structural level (“focus: structure”), and the third group included patients who had been exposed to severe traumatic experiences with relevant attachment figures (“focus: trauma”). The relationship characteristics of these three groups were described and illustrated by prototypical cases. Conclusions for clinical practice were discussed as well.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45513919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2001681
Aslı Akın, I. Seiffge-Krenke, A. Obbarius, M. Reitzle, Lea Sarrar
{"title":"Parenting behavior and psychodynamic conflicts: Cross-sectional findings in a normative sample of adolescents and their parents","authors":"Aslı Akın, I. Seiffge-Krenke, A. Obbarius, M. Reitzle, Lea Sarrar","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2001681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2001681","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present study aims at determining the associations between various dimensions of parenting behavior and the predominance of psychodynamic conflicts. Psychodynamic conflicts are described as non-integrated, temporally persistent, contradictory perspectives of experience and action. The OPD Conflict Questionnaires for children and adults, as well as both the children’s and parents’ versions of the Zurich Brief Questionnaire for the Assessment of Parental Behaviors were used to assess psychodynamic conflicts and parenting behavior in a sample comprising 221 healthy adolescents, 132 mothers, and 76 fathers, respectively. We found that a) controlling parenting behavior decreases with increasing age of adolescents, that b) girls tend to have passive identity and self-worth conflicts, while boys more often have an active oedipal conflict, and that c) girls perceive more maternal warmth and support than boys do. While perceived parental psychological control, especially by mothers, was positively associated with psychodynamic conflicts in adolescents, parental warmth and behavioral control were negatively associated with psychodynamic conflicts in adolescents. The reports from the parents on their parenting dimensions were partly associated with their own psychodynamic conflicts as well as with the conflicts of both their partners and children, respectively. Our findings show that psychodynamic conflicts and psychologically controlling parenting behavior do not only exist in families in which members suffer from mental illnesses but also in “healthy” families. Furthermore, the strong interrelations between psychodynamic conflicts and perceived parenting behavior of both parents and adolescents underline the need for integrated family therapy when adolescents become mentally ill.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47084258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2001678
F. Escher, Lea Sarrar, I. Seiffge-Krenke
{"title":"Differences in psychodynamic conflicts between healthy adolescents and adolescent patients: Results with the conflict questionnaire","authors":"F. Escher, Lea Sarrar, I. Seiffge-Krenke","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2001678","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2001678","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Unconscious conflicts are characterized as temporally persistent, contradictory perspectives of feelings and experiences, which the individual tries to integrate by using an active or passive mode. According to OPD-CA, seven conflict issues can be measured: Closeness versus Distance, Submission versus Control, Taking care of oneself versus Being cared for, Self-worth conflict, Guilt conflict, Oedipal conflict, and an Identity conflict. This study investigates one of the premises of the OPD-CA, that unconscious conflicts occur in healthy children and adolescents just as they do in patients of the same age, but to a much larger extent in patients, so that they downright may lead to symptoms. 299 healthy adolescents and 283 patients (mean age 17.10, SD = 1.94) were examined by using the self-rating of the conflict questionnaire (OPD-CA-CQ). The results indeed show significantly higher conflict levels in the clinical group with a comparable ranking of the most important conflicts in both samples. Of note, the passive processing mode prevailed in both groups. Conceptually, this signifies, that topics such as loyalty towards parents, insecurity, and disorientation with regard to identity and sexuality concern all youth but impair the patient much more than the healthy youth. In conclusion, one of the premises of the conflict axis of the OPD-CA that the topics occur in all adolescents with substantially higher mean levels in the clinical group was confirmed.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41977750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2001683
K. Weitkamp, Sandra Claassen, S. Wiegand-Grefe, G. Romer
{"title":"Operationalized psychodynamic diagnosis in childhood and adolescence (OPD-CA): Changes across psychodynamic child and adolescent therapy","authors":"K. Weitkamp, Sandra Claassen, S. Wiegand-Grefe, G. Romer","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2001683","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2001683","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Psychodynamic therapies are effective in reducing mental health symptoms. However, little is known in terms of changes in the core psychodynamic concepts, like the structural level, interpersonal relatedness, and intrapsychic conflicts. The current study focused on these psychodynamic concepts – measured with the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis in Childhood and Adolescence (OPD-CA) – over the course of therapy and its relation to therapy outcome. Additionally, the OPD-CA axis treatment prerequisites was tested as a predictor of outcome. Therapists assessed the OPD-CA as well as the level of psychosocial impairment of 146 patients (aged M = 12.7 years, 62% female) at the beginning and end of therapy as part of a larger study on the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Structural level, interpersonal relations, and conflicts improved significantly over the course of therapy. Positive outcome was predicted by communicative abilities, positive self-relatedness and a high conflict level at the beginning of therapy as well as the improvement of these variables during therapy. Among the treatment prerequisites, only the subjective level of psychosocial impairment and the intrapsychic resources were predictive of outcome. Psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents may improve central psychodynamic concepts like structural level, interpersonal relations, and conflicts.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42681247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2012107
I. Seiffge-Krenke, S. Hau
{"title":"The Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostic for Children and Adolescents (OPD-CA-2): a new diagnostic method to determine psychodynamic constructs","authors":"I. Seiffge-Krenke, S. Hau","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2012107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2012107","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue deals with a new diagnostic system, the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostic for Children and Adolescents (OPD-CA-2). It has been an established instrument in the clinical context in German-speaking countries for several years. With the English version of the manual published in 2017, the Spanishand Turkish language version published in 2020 and 2021, the concept of operationalized psychodynamic diagnostics will spread even more widely internationally. We present in this special issue the initiatives and findings from contributors from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Sweden and South America. The question of symptom diagnosis versus structure and conflict diagnosis currently occupies many therapists. The OPD-CA can be seen as a supplement to conventional diagnostics with the ICD-11 or the DSM-5. A symptom diagnosis can in no way be dispensed; it is the symptoms from which the patients and their families suffer and which ultimately lead to a diagnostic examination and, if necessary, to counseling, psychotherapeutic treatment or another indication. However, the mere determination of the symptoms is not sufficient for an efficient treatment, because symptoms can often change spontaneously or different symptoms occur simultaneously, so that a purely symptom-specific treatment may not be very effective. The Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics in Childhood and Adolescence (OPD-CA) therefore strives for a complex recording of psychodynamic processes that caused the symptoms and embeds them in the developmental context. The development concept is central and affects all aspects of the process, from the type of findings to the selection of relevant diagnostic categories to the process of diagnostic assessment on various content-related axes and finally, a treatment recommendation.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46331653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nordic PsychologyPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/19012276.2021.2001679
I. Seiffge-Krenke
{"title":"One diagnosis—different conflicts: Using the OPD-CA conflict axis as tool for treatment planning","authors":"I. Seiffge-Krenke","doi":"10.1080/19012276.2021.2001679","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2021.2001679","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract OPD-CA has set itself the goal of collecting important information that goes beyond diagnosis and are helpful for the indication of therapy and the planning of the therapeutic process. The focus of this article is the Conflict axis of the OPD-CA. Using the example of two patients who have the same diagnosis, F93, it is demonstrated that the same symptoms can be based on very different psychodynamic conflicts. These should be dealt with in therapy so that the development-hindering function of intrapsychic conflicts is eliminated. In addition, it makes sense to use other axes of the OPD-CA, such as Prerequisites for treatment, which gives information about the motivation of the patient and his or her resources, and the axis Structure, which examines the structural requirements for long-term psychodynamic therapy. This is also discussed in the two cases and some information on how to proceed in therapy is given. This concerns also additional work with the parents of the patients.","PeriodicalId":51815,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47596870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}