Thesis (doctoral)--Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-175).

Movement intervention in a Gestalt therapeutic setting using structured activities and free improvisation is a successful method in creating awareness of contact-making styles for late adolescents. An overview of the existing literature regarding the theoretical aspects of the interrelatedness of movement therapy, awareness, contact-making styles and the use of movement as a therapeutic intervention within a Gestalt context was presented. This included a description of the meta-theoretical assumptions that underpinned the research. A case-study consisting of eight late-adolescent females using the exploratory and descriptive nature within the qualitative research model was applied. All participants reported growth and awareness within themselves. The researcher concludes that movement intervention within a Gestalt therapeutic context can support an approach that adapts itself to the developmental phase of the individual and is a creative way of maintaining interest and focus. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

See title file for abstract / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Historically the trend in health care has been the domain of health care professionals such as doctors, nurses and other professionals from the medical fraternity. This created the separation between the mind and body, due to the diagnostic and treatment origins being segregated. This thesis addresses the idea that psychological processes have significant impacts on our physical health {and visa versa). It establishes the notion that health care needs to be understood holistically, from a broader systemic perspective, expanding the working model of health. The second chapter of this thesis addresses the power of the mind and the connection between the mind and body. It establishes the importance of beliefs and perceptions and the huge effect this has on people and their lives. How we choose to perceive a situation will give that situation meaning. The meanings that we give to events usually depict how we will see and respond to that event, sometimes more than the actual event itself. It explains the importance of the mind (psychological issues) as well as the body (physiological issues) when understanding and dealing with health and wellbeing. The following chapter discusses the historical developments of physical and mental health; from Hippocrates and Descartes to a modern holistic approach and attitude. Behaviour Medicine6, explicitly recognises that mind and body are intimately interconnected and that an appreciation of these interconnections and their scientific study is an interdisciplinary field, uniting the behavioural sciences with the biomedical sciences; in the hope that the cross fertilization will yield a more comprehensive picture of health and illness. The 'biopsychosocial model'7 provides a theoretical framework, explaining how an awareness of biological, psychological and social process are all important in understanding disease and recovery, supported by systemic principles. The scientific research and practical implications of psychoneuroimmunology8 (PNI) takes this biopsychosocial model one-step further. It describes how thoughts, perceptions and emotions have interchangeable influences with brain chemistry, which in turn influences the body and neurological systems1 particularly immune system functioning. The concept that we all have an inner ability /intelligence to heal ourselves is also detailed. Miller (1997: 350) discusses this notion, stating that we all have "a healer within." He states that this inner healer can be awakened in order to participate in "our deep healing.11 He claims, "This vital essence has been with us since birth ... Its function is to maintain homeostasis (internal balance). As humans, we can1 through our ability to change our images and beliefs, enhance, or inhibit the power of this inner healer." The concepts discussed thus far in the thesis are then demonstrated practically. The relationship between stress and health is examined and practical ways to maintain a healthier lifestyle is detailed. The researcher then introduces a South African company that is currently working in the field with the concepts of mindbody medicine and psychoneuroimmunology. This led the researcher to find a philosophical container in which to hold the holistic mind body theories and concepts. Anderson & Carter (2003: 222) states, "Social work distinguishes itself by exploring the 'person-environment fit'. This is an area in social work where constructivism may prove supportive. Such an emphasis increases the likelihood that diverse voices and points of view are integrated in social work theory and practice." Therefore/ a constructive epistemology/ philosophy in which meaning is intimately connected with experience, is expanded upon. The mind/body theory and concepts are then linked to Constructivism and Personal Construct Theory (by George Kelly). Constructivism postulates that we all create and interpret our own meaning systems, which become our subjective realities. The link to mind body medicine is pertinent in that both constructivism and mind body medicine share similar ideologies about how realities are construed, and how this in turn effects treatment of disease and maintenance of wellbeing. Cybernetic complementarities then expand our understanding of the mind and body connection in a monolistic framework, where mind and body are recursive partial arcs of a holistic health care system. Constructivism therefore integrates eastern and western concepts, cementing all the concepts used in this thesis, in a holistic manner. It also helps us to understand how some of the mind body techniques may be working within the mind body realm. Given the unique needs of a changing and developing society, as found in South Africa, there is a need to be creative and find alternative ways to cope with our societal stresses and daily occurrences. This is where the researcher feels that the social work profession needs to be involved in working and contributing to our health care services. The development of medical social work is detailed and the latest social work definition discussed. It is reveals how contents of the definition of social work are relevant and are a pertinent fit with mind-body approaches to health and wellbeing. The researcher debates the role of social workers in this field of health care. It is then proposed, in the detailed discussion, that social workers practising in this field should be known as Health Care Social Workers. This field of holistic health care has many proposed strengths and implication, for both Health Care Social Workers and other health care professionals. It will naturally also present challenges that need to be considered and contemplated. The final chapter of this thesis examine these strengths and challenges and their therapeutic implications. The researcher concludes by demonstrating that the literature study on holistic mind and body approaches matches her objectives from the first chapter. / Social work / M.A. (Social Science with specialisation in Mental Health)

The regular practice of meditation has been shown to reduce stress and increase well-being. However, there is limited information on how meditation feels or is subjectively experienced by the meditator. This naturalistic inquiry uses a phenomenological approach to explore the phenomenon of meditation as lived experience with a group of novice meditators taking part in a 4-week mindfulness meditation program. Nineteen college students were divided into 4 groups. Each group met once a week for a 30-minute guided meditation session followed by a 30-minute focus group during which participants shared their experiences. Individual interviews were conducted at the end of the study. The focus groups and individual interviews were audio recorded. Analysis of the transcribed data revealed 12 key constituents of the experience of meditation occurring at different stages of the meditation process. The key constituents were then placed along a timeline of a typical 30-minute session. A diagrammatic representation was created to illustrate the general "shape" of a meditation session. The variable nature of the meditation experience was also revealed: no two meditation sessions were experienced in the same way by the same meditator, and no two meditators had identical meditation experiences, although there were inherent similarities. A sample of the language novice meditators use to describe their experiences was also documented. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) was administered pre-study and post-study to measure changes in perceived stress over the course of the study. Reductions in perceived stress were measured in 76.5% of the participant group, or 13 of the 17 students who completed the study. These results were significant, t (16)=3.49, p=0.003. The findings in this study show meditation to have the distinctive characteristics of an altered state of consciousness. Meditation may be regarded as a self-induced, adaptive, altered state of consciousness that enables the meditator to relax and effectively reduce levels of perceived stress. These findings provide a new perspective of meditation, particularly with regard to how meditation is subjectively experienced by novice meditators. This information may help to demystify meditation and encourage those considering this healthful practice. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:26:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Geder P Friedrich Cominetti.pdf: 1360851 bytes, checksum: f57b49982d341a630b5b9800d36c6e69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-06 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Descartes did not write a philosophy of language. A few quotes about this topic generate many interpretations. Most of the language studies in Descartes produce anachronisms or are originated by comparisons with other conceptions, without being led, primarily, by an analysis of the thought about the Cartesian language concept. However, the topic proved to be productive in speculations about the interaction between the human mind and body, which is very discussed by specialists and aggressively attacked by his opposers. Characterized as a Cartesian dualism essay, this study dares to separate the language in two parts, analyzing singly its material aspect, and then its immaterial aspect. This new approach turns the reader s attention to the importance of the material aspect of the language, substantiating the objectivity of the language in the extended substances. The communication only becomes possible because there is, among two or more men, the extension. This concept is classified as the objective aspect of the language, because it is generally in the area of the sensitive experience, apart from the individual and perceptible thought of the men. Concerning the subjective aspect, each individual has a free will and he can make his own thoughts. Indeed, it is in this way that Descartes conceives the language: having the men as the creator of the words meaning, which are represented and implemented by modification of the extension. In addition, he conceives the linguistics signs as representations of thoughts, as explicitness of the internal events of men. Their speech is the explicitness of their thoughts. Therefore, when looking at a set of graphic symbols that he produced, the individual realizes the movement of his thought. These revelations that the mind uses the body as a help in the searching for the truth, because, in the body, the memory can be used as a notebook of the mind demonstrate that the Cartesian dualistic conception of the language helped Descartes in his work on algebra and in his mathematical and scientific discoveries. In conclusion, it is possible to say that the topic has no end in the next pages, but it opens a new route for researchers devote their efforts to investigate the relations between mind and body. This study dares to be completely original in its approach, in the presented problem, but it does not want to bring the reader more than a deepening, at his limit, interpretation of one of the most commented writers in philosophy in the last three centuries. / Descartes não escreveu uma filosofia da linguagem. Algumas poucas citações acerca do tema dão margem a muitas interpretações. A maioria dos estudos sobre a linguagem em Descartes comete anacronismos ou é gerida por comparações com outras concepções, deixando de proceder primordialmente por uma análise do pensamento cartesiano sobre a noção de linguagem. Contudo, este tema se mostra muito fecundo em especulações sobre a interação entre corpo e alma, que é polemizada por especialistas e atacada com agressividade por seus opositores. Caracterizado como um ensaio sobre o dualismo cartesiano, este trabalho ousa seccionar a linguagem de maneira bifurcada, analisando separadamente o seu aspecto material, por um lado, e seu aspecto imaterial, por outro. Esta abordagem inédita volta a atenção do leitor para a importância do aspecto material da linguagem ao fundamentar a objetividade da linguagem na matéria extensa. A comunicação só se torna possível porque há, entre dois ou mais homens, a extensão. Esta é classificada como sendo o aspecto objetivo da linguagem, pois está comumente no campo da experiência sensível, independentemente do pensamento individual e perceptível do homem. Com relação ao aspecto subjetivo, cada homem possui um livre arbítrio e pode compor seus próprios pensamentos. De fato, é assim que Descartes concebe a linguagem, tendo o homem como autor da significação das palavras, representadas e objetivadas através de modificações da extensão. Ademais, Descartes concebe os sinais linguísticos como representações do pensamento, como explicitação das ocorrências internas do homem. O discurso deste é a explicitação de seu pensamento. Por isto que, ao olhar um conjunto de símbolos gráficos que produziu, o homem percebe o movimento de seu pensamento. Revelações como estas de a mente se utilizar do corpo como um auxílio na busca da verdade, já que no corpo a memória pode servir como um caderno de notas da mente mostram que a concepção cartesiana dualista da linguagem auxiliou Descartes em seus trabalhos de álgebra e em suas descobertas científicas e matemáticas. Em suma, é possível afirmar que o tema não se esgota nas páginas que seguem, mas ele abre uma nova via para que pesquisadores se detenham a investigar as relações entre alma e corpo. Este trabalho tem a ousadia de ser completamente original em sua abordagem, no problema que se coloca, mas não quer trazer ao leitor mais que um aprofundamento, em seus limites, da interpretação de um dos autores mais comentados em filosofia nos últimos três séculos.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Broken bodies litter the landscape of African American women’s literature. Missing limbs and teeth, paralyzed appendages, lost hair, and deformities appear frequently in the works of authors like Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Petry, Dorothy West, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Pearl Cleage, and Octavia Butler. While many white authors also include broken bodies in their works, Hemingway’s preoccupation with synecdoche in terms of body parts perhaps being the most notable example, the motif permeates the tradition of African American women’s fiction like no other genre, appearing in the work of almost every major African American woman author. In the case of some authors, Morrison and Walker for example, broken bodies appear in every novel of their corpuses. In fact, every story in Walker’s first collection of short stories, In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women, features a broken body. Several questions arise from the ubiquity of this motif in the texts of African American women authors: Where did the motif originate? Why does the motif persist? Do the authors use the motif in the same way? What does the trail of broken bodies reveal about how African American women authors interpret the relationship between body and self? Surprisingly, given the prevalence of the motif and the number of critical comments on one or another text, no critic has essayed a comprehensive examination of the motif in African American literature. While this paper does not have the scope to cover the African American canon as a whole, it will discuss the motif across the works of Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.

Text in German / Many treatises and disquisitions concerning "Die Blendung" concentrate on the main character, Peter Kien, as well as on other protagonists. In contrast, this dissertation deals with Pfaff, the primitive force and his influence on Peter Kien, the "Brain", the masterspirit. Common traits of these di verse characters are highlighted and it is explained why Pfaff, the brute, manages to exult over Kien, the intellectual. Their interactions and their interdependence are dealt with and it is shown that insanity which is prevalent in both protagonists prepares the way to Kien's doom whereas it leads to Pfaff's survival. / Das Interesse zahlreicher Untersuchungen Uber "Die Blendung" konzentriert sich auf die Hauptperson, Peter Kien, sowie auf andere Protagonisten. Im Gegensatz dazu beschaftigt sich diese Arbei t mi t dem Hausmeister Pfaff, dem "Schadel", und mit dem EinfluB, den er auf Peter Kien, den "Kopf", den Geistesmenschen hat. Es wird versucht, Gemeinsamkeiten, die diese beiden so gegensatzlichen Charaktere aufweisen, aufzuzeigen und darzulegen, warum der Gewaltmensch Pfaff Uber den wirklichkeitsfremden Wissenschaftler Kien zu triumphieren vermag. Der EinfluB, den sie aufeinander nehmen, und die Abhangigkeit voneinander werden aufgezeigt, und es wird aufge fUhrt, wie der Wahnsinn, dem sie be ide verf all en, zu Kiens Untergang filhrt, wahrend Pfaffs Uberleben durch seinen Wahnsinn gesichert wird / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M. A. (German)

This dissertation focuses on the elements of performance that contribute to the actress's development of somatic practices. By mastering the art of articulation and vocalization, by transforming their bodies and their environment, these actors created their own agency. The female actors lived the life of the characters they portrayed, which were full of multicultural models from various social and economic classes. Somaesthetics, as a focus of sensory-aesthetic appreciation and somatic awareness, provides a pragmatic approach to understanding the unique way in which the woman of the early modern Spanish stage, while dedicating herself to the art of acting, challenged the negative cultural and social constructs imposed on her. Drawing from early modern plays and treatises on the precepts and practices of the acting process, I use somaesthetics to shed light on how the actor might have prepared for a role in a comedia, selfconsciously cultivating her body in order to meet the challenges of the stage. / by Elizabeth Marie Cruz Peterson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Background. A sizable amount of individuals in the community are presented with various kinds of physical and mental health problems which are either undetected, untreated or inadequately treated, due to the limitations on the availability and accessibility of the services in the existing health care system, or to other social and personal reasons. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a newly developed modality of health-enhancing treatment---the Mindfulness-based Dejian Mind-Body Intervention, as compared to that of a Group Psychoeducational Treatment, in alleviating depressive mood and improving physical health of adult individuals in the community. / Conclusions. Findings of the current study suggest that compared with the Group Psychoeducational Treatment, Dejian Mind-Body Intervention might be more effective in enhancing the emotional and physical health of community individuals presented with moderate to severe depressive mood and/or problems with bowel functioning. / Method. Forty adult volunteers with various degree of depressive mood and physical problems who expressed interest in receiving either Dejian Mind-Body Intervention or Group Psychoeducational Treatment were recruited in the current study. They were matched for gender, age, education and level of depression, and were randomly assigned to either treatment group. / Results. Both the Dejian Mind-Body Intervention and Group Psychoeducation Treatment were effective in bringing about a significant reduction in depressive mood iv among treatment completers. However, differential effectiveness emerged among those presented with moderate to severe depressive mood, where Dejian Mind-Body Intervention resulted in significantly greater treatment-related reduction in depressive mood compared with the Group Psychoeducational Treatment. Besides, Dejian Mind-Body Intervention brought about significant increase in an objective QEEG measure of positive affect, and improvements in physical health (i.e., bowel functioning) that were not evidenced in the Group Psychoeducation Treatment. / Tsui, Jin Ching. / Adviser: Agnes S.Y. Chan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3799. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-68). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.