<p> A traumatic and life-altering event, such as sexual assault, can adversely affect a survivor&rsquo;s psychological well-being. In conjunction with an individual&rsquo;s natural resources, religious and/or spiritual resources can provide additional and critical support as the realities of the Interpersonal trauma come to fruition. However, many mental health professionals do not feel comfortable or prepared to include spiritual or religious issues, within the therapeutic relationship. The objective of this research study was to examine the connection between a female sexual assault victim&rsquo;s perceived God-image, attachment to a perceived God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, when processing Interpersonal trauma. This study employed Bowlby&rsquo;s attachment theory and Rizzuto&rsquo;s God-image theory. A convenience, nonprobability sample of 132 women, 18 years or older, who had experienced a sexual assault (but not within the past two years), completed a demographic questionnaire, Froese and Bader&rsquo;s God Questionnaire, and Lovibond and Lovibond&rsquo;s Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Data was analyzed using a MANOVA. The data concluded a lack of significant difference between the participant&rsquo;s perceived God image, her attachment to a God-image, and her selfreported levels of psychological distress due to the traumatic, Interpersonal experience. In the future, qualitatively analyzing this population would further explore valid themes and personal perspectives on the relationship between perceived God-image, an individual&rsquo;s attachment to a God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, which may further be used to inform mental health professionals on the most conducive treatment for sexual assault survivors. </p>

<p> Conventional studies of veterans&rsquo; longitudinal mental health approach the topic through the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) lens. This qualitative study shifts the focus from a PTSD psychosomatic-centric approach to a psycho-spiritual examination of the sequela of war in the veteran psyche: this approach has been named in recent literature, <i>moral injury</i>. Utilizing a methodological approach situated in the philological region of hermeneutics, a Reductionist dialectic was selected. This study illustrates that the quotidian war poetry read by this researcher exhibits psycho-spiritual moral injury. The relevant emergent themes of the study include: (a) the function of memory, of not-forgetting, (b) the psychological torment of psychic dismemberment, (c) the acknowledgment of suffering in archetypal salt, and (d) the not-forgetting component of psychic re-memberment necessary for resolving moral injury. Reorienting the focus from PTSD to moral injury, this study finds critical implications to helping war veterans with their sequela of war. For instance, conventional treatments for PTSD such as prolonged exposure (PE) or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), while effective for treating the co-morbid symptoms of PTSD, do not address the profound insights which can be gleaned from re-examination of the phenomena in terms of moral injury. Most importantly, moral injury as a psycho-spiritual dilemma is something for which the veteran must embrace primacy in seeking resolution, working outside of the typical evidenced-based therapies. This comports with the alchemists who cautioned: Only by working with intense focus on self-transformation can the lapis philosophorum be achieved. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of healing and transformation that occurs for wounded healers who brings their ancestral story and related traumas and resiliencies to consciousness. The primary research questions guiding the study were: What is the journey of healing that occurs for wounded healers exploring their ancestral story and related intergenerational traumas and resiliencies? What is the transformation that happens in the course of this healing? </p><p> Using narrative and art-based methodologies, the study involved interviewing six healing professionals who had consciously addressed the wounding passed down to them from previous generations. Themes of healing and transformation were identified using Riessman&rsquo;s (2008) coding and narrative analysis, Lieblich&rsquo;s (1998) holistic-content approach to narrative, and art-based inquiry. </p><p> The findings indicate that on the journey of bringing ancestral story to consciousness the participants experienced healing and transformation in the following ways: breaking ancestral patterns, receiving support from the ancestors, reclaiming ancestral heritage, deepening awareness of the healing power of nature, acquiring a new sense of identity, and finding purpose. Additional research comparing the particular types of modalities involved in healing and transforming ancestral trauma would be of benefit.</p><p>

The aims in this Straussian grounded theory inquiry were to gain better understanding of the meaning of spirituality and of the process of spiritual development in people living with HIV/AIDS in the Thai context. In Western contexts, spirituality has been described as the essence of human existence. However, in the Thai context, where Buddhist teachings underpin the understanding of life as body and mind, rather than as body, mind and spirit, the concept of spirituality is little understood by lay people. This gap in understanding called for an inductive approach to knowledge generation. HIV/AIDS is a life-altering and deeply stigmatized disease that results in significant distress and calls into question the meaning and purpose of life for many who are diagnosed with the disease. Nevertheless, some Thai people living with the disease successfully adjust their lives to their situation and are able to live with peace and harmony. These findings raise questions firstly as to the process by which those participants achieved peace and harmony despite the nature of the disease and the limited access to ARV drugs at the time of that study; and secondly as to whether or not the peace and harmony that they described could be linked to the Western concept of spirituality. Data were gathered from 33 participants from the South of Thailand, who had lived with HIV/AIDS for 5 years or more, were aged 18 years or older, and were willing and able to participate in this study. Purposive, snowball and theoretical sampling techniques were used to select participants. Data collection using in-depth interviews and participant observation methods was undertaken over a nine-month period in 2006. The process of data analysis was guided by Strauss and Corbin’s grounded theory and resulted in the development of a substantive theory. The substantive theory of Achieving Harmony of Mind comprises two categories: struggling to survive and living life. Each category has two subcategories: encountering distress (tukjai) and overcoming distress (longjai), and accomplishing harmony in oneself and discovering an ultimate meaning in life respectively. The metaphor of ‘an eclipse’ was used to describe the process of the development of mind of people living with HIV/AIDS and represents the extent to which the individual’s mind is overshadowed by the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and its consequences. Diagnosis of this disease turns participants’ lives upside down. Yet selective disclosure of one’s HIV status, resulting in the receiving of support and connectedness with others, enables participants to find meaning and purpose in life that enables them to recover the will to live and to attempt to stabilise their lives by learning to live with HIV/AIDS. Most participants were able to adjust their mind to accept their new situation and find new self value enabling them to feel free from the shadow of HIV/AIDS and live life with HIV/AIDS as normal. Fewer participants found an ultimate meaning in life – consistent with Buddhist teachings about suffering and uncertainty, and the impermanence of life that links with an understanding of ‘nonself’ – that enabled them to obtain peace and harmony of mind (kwarmsa-ngobjai). It is this latter stage that represents spirituality in Buddhist terms. This form of spirituality differs significantly from that found in other religions because it does not involve an engagement with a divine and transcendent reality. The findings of this study enhance knowledge about spirituality in the Thai context, and provide a guide for health professionals and education curricula with the aim of achieving more holistic care for patients.

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar as possibilidades que a música oferece para promover a saúde e o equilíbrio das relações sociais no ambiente escolar. A pesquisa inicia com a conceituação de música e de musicoterapia, bem como indicando suas aplicações. A seguir, as dificuldades enfrentadas pela escola no século XXI são abordadas, para em seguida serem apresentadas contribuições da música e da musicoterapia, que podem modificar esse cenário, trazendo o equilíbrio e estímulo da espiritualidade através do fazer musical. Por fim, a partir da nova legislação, que torna obrigatório o ensino de música em todos os níveis da educação básica, está uma proposta curricular que inclui aquisição de conhecimentos e desenvolvimento de habilidades, visando a formação integral e continuada dos estudantes. / The purpose of this work is to present the possibilities that the music offers to promote health and balance of social relations in a school environment. The research begins with the concepts` definition of music and music therapy, pointing their applications. Next, the difficulties faced by the school in the XXI century are discussed, then the contributions of music and music therapy, in order to change this scenario, are presented, showing the balance and stimulus of spirituality through the music. Finally, supported by the new legislation, that makes compulsory teaching of music at all levels of basic education, this is a new curricular propose that includes knowledge and skills development, aiming the full e continuing training of the students.