Note: The following articles have been published and are copyrighted by the journals in which they appeared. You may make copies for individual and educational use. For other uses, please contact the publisher.
Co-Narcissism: How We Accommodate To Narcissistic Parents (2005)
People who have had narcissistic parents commonly work hard to please others, defer to other's opinions, find it hard to know their own views and experience, and are often depressed or anxious. They fear being considered selfish if they act assertively. A high proportion of psychotherapy patients are co-narcissistic. This article discusses the nature of this problem and how people work in psychotherapy to overcome it.
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How Psychotherapy Works: The Concepts of Control-Mastery Theory (2002)
At the heart of Control-Mastery theory, formulated by psychoanalyst Joseph Weiss, are two concepts: that people have unconscious
control over their defenses, and that they have a wish to
master their problems and unconsciously organize their behavior in an attempt to do so. In psychotherapy, the therapist's task is to understand the patient's unconscious plan to solve his or her problems and to help the patient to do so.
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The Patients' Search For Safety: The Organizing Principle in Psychotherapy (1997)
According to Control-Mastery theory, patients organize the process of their psychotherapy in their search for psychological safety with the therapist. Understanding how patients' activity in psychotherapy is organized by their search for safety can simplify the treatment process for the therapist and help to guide the therapist's interventions.
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The Structure of Psychotherapy (1996)
The view that psychotherapy patients unconsciously organize their therapy process in the service of their treatment goals has been advanced and empirically supported by Control-Mastery theory proponents. This article discusses the patient's plan according to Control-Mastery theory and shows how it is made explicit in the Diagnostic Plan Formulation.
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Freeing Oneself From Pathogenic Adaptations (1996)
Two main tenets of Control-Mastery theory are that psychopathology is caused by pathogenic beliefs, and that people attempt to disconfirm these beliefs by testing their validity in their interactions with the therapist. I suggest that pathogenic beliefs are more accurately and profitably seen as pathogenic adaptations.
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