people

Curriculum Vita
Research and Teaching Statement
Is IRT an Empirically Supported Treatment (EST)
Structural Analysis of Social Behavior - SASB

Research Interests

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) arethe 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 downby these early relationships and even when they believe they hate the original copy person. 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 friendlier (attached) and clearly defined (differentiated) in relation to current important people in his/her life.

Education

Ph.D. University of Wisconsin (Psychology, 1960)
A.B. Oberlin College (Psychology, 1955)

Selected Publications

Critchfield, K. L. & Benjamin, L. S. (2008) Internalized representations of early interpersonal experience and adult relationships: a test of copy process theory in clinical and nonclinical populations. Psychiatry: interpersonal and biological processes, 71, p. 71-92.

Critchfield, K.L., and Benjamin, L.S. (2006). Principles for psychosocial treatment of personality disorder: an integration of participant, relationship, and treatment domains. In L. Beutler and L. Castonguay (eds.) Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Karpiak, C. P., & Benjamin, L. S. (2004). Therapist Affirmation and the Process and Outcome of Psychotherapy: Two Sequential Analytic Studies. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60, 659-676.

Smith, L.T., Klein, M.H. & Benjamin, L.S. (2003). Validation of the Wisconsin Personaity Disorders Inventory IV with the SCID II. Journal of Personality Disorders, 17, 173-187.

Benjamin, L.S.& Karpiac, C. (2001). Personality Disorders. Psychotherapy: Theory/Research/Practice/Training, 38, 487-494.

Conroy, D. & Benjamin, L.S. (2001). Psychodynamics in Sport Performance Enhancement Consultation: Application of an Interpersonal Theory. Sports Psychology, 15, 103-11.

Brown, P.C., Smith, T.W., Benjamin, L.S. (1999) Perceptions of spouse dominance predict blood pressure reactivity during marital interactions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 20, pp. 294-301.