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Lorna
Smith Benjamin, Ph.D. |
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Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Utah |
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Contact Information |
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Lorna
Smith Benjamin, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Utah
380 South 1530 East, Room 502
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112 -0251
Office: 1405 Social And Behavioral Science Building
Office Phone: (801) 581-4463
E-mail: LSB_3@msn.com
Fax: (801) 581-5841 |
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Education |
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| Ph.D. |
University
of Wisconsin (Psychology, 1960) |
| A.B. |
Oberlin
College (Psychology, 1955) |
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Reseach Interests |
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Combining
clinical intuition and research discipline through the use of Structural
Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB)
Mental health and disorder emerge from an interaction between nature
and nurture. My interest is in enhancing understanding of the nurture
side of the equation. Rather than "blaming families", this perspective
gives families and individuals more effective choices when a stricken
member seeks to heal. The "lens" I use to focus on quintessentially
relevant transactions is culled Structural Analysis of Social Behavior
(SASB). Questionnaires, coding systems, and software permit reliable
descriptions of relevant interpersonal and intrapsychic interactions.
The resulting data provide operationalized, reliable, and clinically
valid descriptions of the person's view of self and others. Using
the same metric, the system also provides a description of the person
from the perspective of an objective observer.
The SASB methodology has been used by many different investigators
to study a wide range of subjects. The system has been or is being
translated into 12 different languages. My own applications include
the study of: mother-infant interactions, psychotherapy transactions,
marital interactions, psychiatric diagnosis, depression, the nature
of hallucinations, personality disorders, and more.
My current emphasis is on identifying and transforming "the heart
of darkness" in personality disorder. The key diagnostic issue is
to discover how problem patterns (described in SASB language) are
the result of one or more of three copy processes started in relation
to an important early caregiver (parent, sibling, others having close
contact- like a babysitter). Those are (1) Be like him/her (identification);
(2) act as if he/she is still around and in charge (recapitulation);
(3) treat yourself as he/she did (introjection). Sometimes the copying
is in negative image (e.g., be the opposite - as defined by opposing
points on the SASB model). These three copy processes are three different
forms of internalization. The purpose of the copying is to seek reconciliation,
approval, love of the internalized representation of that original
object. People unwittingly act accordingly to the "rules" laid down
by these early relationships and even when they believe they hate
the original copyperson. Every psychopathology is a gift of love.
The treatment implication is that the relationship with the internalizations
of these early experiences needs to be updated and transformed so
that the person is free to choose his or her way of being in the present.
The developmental and therapy goals are for the person to become both
more friendly (attached) and clearly- defined (differentiated) in
relation to current important people in his/her life. |
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Selected Publications |
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Benjamin,
L. S.
(1974). Structural analysis of social behavior (SASB). Psychological
Review, 81, 392-425.
Humphrey, L.L., & Benjamin, L. S. (1986). Using
Structural Analysis of Social Behavior to assess critical but elusive
family processes: A new solution to an old problem. American Psychologist,
41, 979-989.
Benjamin, L. S. (1993). Interpersonal diagnosis and
treatment of personality disorders. New York: The Guilford Press.
Second Edition: 1996.
Benjamin, L. S. (1993). "Every psychopathology
is a gift of love." Presidential address to the International
Society for Psychotherapy Research, reprinted in Psychotherapy Research,
3, 1-24.
Benjamin, L. S. (1994). "SASB: A bridge between
personality theory and clinical psychology." Target article in
L. Pervin (Ed.), Psychological Inquiry, 5, 273-316.
Benjamin, L. S. (1994). Good defenses make good neighbors.
In H. Conte and R. Plutchik (Eds.), Ego Defenses: Theory and Measurement.
New York: Wiley Interscience.
Benjamin, L. S. (1996). Introduction to the special
section on Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB). Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1203-1212.
Benjamin, L. S. (2003). Interpersonal Reconstructive
Therapy: promoting change in nonresponders. New York: Guilford Press.
Benjamin, L. S., 2005. Interpersonal Theory of Personality
Disorders: The Structural Analysis of Social Behavior and Interpersonal
Reconstructive Therapy. In M. Lenzenweger and J. Clarkin. Major Theories
of Personality, Second Edition. New York: Guilford Press |
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Research and Teaching Statement