<p> Religion and spirituality has become a widely researched topic within the field of psychology, however most research studies focus on the quantitative measures of religion used as a coping mechanism for individuals undergoing difficulties and struggles. The terms religion and spirituality are often misunderstood in the field of psychology and used interchangeably. Individuals who share their religious/spiritual experiences are often dismissed and not taken seriously therefore exacerbating the stigma and creating even more distance between the field of science and religion. The goal of this research is to capture the lived experience of prayer for individuals moving through psychosis without enframing the experience in a negative way by placing labels or categories on them or their experiences, but rather by letting the experience show itself in its own unique way. Thus 3 participants who have experienced psychosis were asked about their experience of praying during a time that is typically understood as a psychotic experience. The purpose of this approach is to better understand how the practice of prayer in religion/spirituality is more than just an instrumental coping mechanism, and is, rather, lived out as a way of being in the world. This study uses an existential-phenomenological method to understand participants' experiences of this phenomenon in light of common, existential givens shared by the participants. This study will close with implications for further research and clinical care.</p>

<p> Despite the increase of attention in the counseling profession to spirituality, extant literature examining spirituality and adolescent mental health is limited (Powers, 2005; Van Dyke, Glenwick, &amp; Kim, 2009). Few studies were conducted related to the spirituality of adolescents in residential treatment settings (Dew, et al., 2008; Hawke, Hennen, &amp; Gallilone, 2005; Taylor, 2005). In particular, no studies were conducted to determine the relationship between spirituality and goal attainment or symptom change of adolescents in crisis residence. The purpose of the study was to identify the extent to which there is a relationship between spirituality and spiritual/religious coping, change of symptoms, and therapeutic goal attainment of adolescents in crisis residence. </p><p> A correlational design was used to examine the relationship between spirituality, spiritual and religious coping, goal attainment and symptom change of adolescents in crisis residence. A canonical correlation was conducted. The two sets of variables under investigation were spirituality (as measured by the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale and Brief Religious and Spiritual Coping Scale) and treatment outcome (as measured by the Goal Attainment Scale of Stabilization and the Target Symptom Rating Scale). </p><p> The participants in this study were adolescent clients from an acute care psychiatric facility in the southern gulf coast. Male (n = 47) and female (n = 37) adolescent participants ranged in age from 12 years to 17 years. Ethnicity and religious preference of the adolescents were reported. </p><p> Results of the study indicated that no statistically significant relationship existed between spirituality and treatment outcome for adolescents in crisis residence. </p><p> Spirituality may not be an essential component to crisis stabilization of adolescents. Rather, counselors should be aware that spirituality is a uniquely personal construct. Counselors who utilize spiritual principles as the primary tool for stabilization of adolescents may want to rethink their treatment protocols. For adolescent clients in crisis who place much importance on spiritual matters, addressing spirituality in treatment may be beneficial to attaining goals and reducing symptoms. However, adolescent clients who place no importance on spirituality may still achieve the same treatment outcomes in crisis residence. Additional studies that explore individual perceptions of spirituality, investigate the results of infusing spirituality into treatment strategies, and take into account individual diagnosis with this population would be useful.</p>

<p> The present investigation was developed with the purpose of identifying how the social determinants of health impact individuals' ability to cope with Chagas disease. Identifying coping methods was also a goal of this investigation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 Latino patients between the ages of 30 and 65 who were being treated for Chagas disease at a university affiliated medical center.</p><p> The results of this investigation revealed that individuals infected with Chagas disease are impacted by structural, intermediary, and sociopolitical aspects that affect their living, and working conditions, and make more difficult for them to cope with their illness. Although, concerned professionals are addressing some of these social barriers, there are still many difficulties faced by the population due to lack of attention to the illness and the conditions that cause inequalities in society. Despite the social barriers that individuals with Chagas face, they still thrive by finding ways to cope with their particular situations.</p><p> Findings from the study revealed coping strategies used by the participants, some of these include relying on family for support, staying active, believing in God, remaining optimistic, and minimizing or using denial.</p><p> From the investigation, several recommendations for practitioners, advocates, and policy makers were developed, as well as recommendations for future studies. Some of the major recommendations are increasing awareness about the illness among policy makers and advocates in order to fully attend to the needs of the population. This would lead to doing more research, investing in the development of better drugs, and providing support to address some of the social needs of the people infected so they can cope better with the illness. Some of the recommendations for future research include increasing the sample size in order to investigate the impact of demographic variables as well as their particular stage of the illness in their ability to cope, and assessing the impact of social determinants using quantitative research methods.</p>

<p> The purpose of this dissertation was to explore whether training and clinical supervision were predictive of compassion fatigue when controlling for burnout and personal history of trauma. The study used quantitative methodology to analyze the relationships among the predictor variables training, clinical supervision, burnout, and personal history of trauma and the criterion variable, compassion fatigue as measured by compassion satisfaction and secondary traumatic stress. The sample was 217 mental health care providers serving traumatized persons in Washington State, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Maryland. Participants completed the ProQol and endorsed one of three levels of training (no trauma-specific training, some trauma-specific training or trauma certificate training), whether or not they receive clinical supervision, and whether or not they have a personal history of trauma. Sequential multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess whether the predictor variables predicted compassion fatigue. A multiple regression with interaction terms was performed to assess whether clinical supervision moderated the association between training and compassion satisfaction. The results show that, burnout was the best predictor of both secondary traumatic stress (<i>t</i>(215) = 13.60, <i> p</i> &lt; .001) and compassion satisfaction (<i>t</i>(215) = -15.51, <i>p</i> &lt; .001). Neither training nor clinical supervision were significant predictors of secondary traumatic stress when controlling for burnout and personal history of trauma. Training was a significant predictor of compassion satisfaction. However, clinical supervision was not a unique predictor of compassion satisfaction. None of the interaction terms were significant predictors of either secondary traumatic stress or compassion satisfaction. </p>

<p> This study explores C. G. Jung's theoretical and clinical approach to sexual phenomena as a potential means for re-visioning and improving mainstream treatments of sexual issues in psychotherapy. The research is intended to provide greater knowledge and awareness of Jung's work in this area and contribute a depth psychological perspective to the current treatment of sexual issues. Jung's writings and statements on sexual phenomena were analyzed using a qualitative hermeneutic methodology. The research brings attention to a large body of Jung's work on human sexuality, ranging from pioneering thoughts on sexual expressions of the soul, to contradictory statements on sexual phenomena. These writings comprise many important and complex perspectives on the sexual instinct and the diverse sexual expressions of the psyche. </p><p> Jung is not widely known for his views on sexuality or generally associated with the treatment of sexual issues. The research, however, finds Jung made extensive contributions to human sexuality and suggests reclaiming this knowledge might help address substantial problems in the treatment paradigm of sexual psychopathology. </p><p> This study also examines contemporary challenges in the treatment of sexual issues, including the growing movement toward diagnostic labeling, brief or symptom-focused therapies, and pharmaceutical interventions. Many in the field of sex therapy have serious concerns about the limited success and effectiveness of current approaches. These apprehensions are leading to calls for greater collaboration with diverse theoretical perspectives. The research identifies how Jung's interpretations of sexual phenomena could address concerns expressed by sex therapy practitioners and wider problems of pathologizing sexual human nature that result in untold violence and oppression around the world. </p><p> The findings and conclusions of the research suggest how Jungian and depth psychological perspectives could address gaps in sex therapy and respond to calls from sex therapists for greater collaboration. Depth psychologists have the opportunity to contribute an essential understanding of sexual phenomena and reclaim aspects of Jung's original and important contributions. The research also identifies the need for further elucidation of Jungian and depth psychological approaches to sexual issues. </p><p> Keywords: C. G. Jung, sex therapy, Jungian analysis, psychotherapy, sexual psychopathology, depth psychology, sexual disorders, sexual dysfunctions, sexuality.</p>

No description available.

<p>To survive and effectively interact with the environment, human sensorimotor control system collects sensory information and acts based on the state of the world. Human behavior can be considered and studied at discrete time or continuous time. For the former, human makes discrete categorical decisions when presented with different alternative choices (e.g. choose Left or Right at an intersection). For the later, humans plan and execute continuous movements when instructed to perform a motor task (e.g. drive to a destination). In this dissertation we examine human behavior at both levels. Part I focuses on understanding decision-making at discrete time using Bayesian Models. We start by investigating the influence of environmental statistics in a saccadic visual search ask, in which we use a dynamic belief model to describe subjects' learning process of the environment statistics cross-trials. Then we look at a special effect of decision- making, the sequential effect, and apply the dynamic belief model to explain subjects' cross-trial learning and a drift diffusion model to explain their within-trial decision- making process. Part II focuses on examining motor control at continuous time using Optimal Control Theory. We start by investigating the objective functions in oculomotor control (saccadic eye movement, smooth pursuit, and applications in eye-hand coordination) with an infomax model. Then we apply inverse optimal control model to study impaired motor behavior in depressed individuals. In particular, we present a framework based on optimal control theory, which can distinguish the effects of sensorimotor speed, goal setting and motivational factors in goal-directed motor tasks. Finally, we propose to use facial expression as another measure of the emotional state in depressed individuals, which can be used to provide further understanding of the behavior and model parameters estimated from the proposed inverse framework.

This research began as an examination of the problem solving strategies of individuals who believe they can control reinforcements they recelve (internals) and those who believe that outside forces control reinforcements (externals) under different conditions of skill and chance. This developed into a study of the cognitive functioning of internals and externals in concept formation tasks. Internal and external persons were identified using the internal-external locus of control scale developed by J.B. Rotter and his colleagues. Three studies were conducted uSlng different tasks and groups of Subjects. The subjects of the first study were required to find a principle relating one of two response words to a list of five stimulus words. There were fifty trials using different sets of words. Three groups of subjects were used, each made up of internals and externals. The group under the skill condition was instructed that their performance depended primarily on their own skill; the group under the chance 1 condition (quasi chance) was instructed that their performance on the task would probably be no better than chance due to the extreme difficulty of the task; and the group under chance 2 (pure chance) were told that their performance on the task was totally controlled by chance as the arrangement of the words was purely arbitrary. It was expected that internals would perform better than externals under the skill condition while externals would perform better than internals under chance 2. Subjects' perception of, and reactions to, the task were measured by a post-task questionnaire. The results did not uphold the predictions. Externals, relative to internals, utilised, produced and changed significantly more solution hypotheses while working on the task. The two groups did not differ in the number of correct answers and both of them were unsuccessful in deciphering the principle. In terms of subjects' reactions to the task, it was found that the internals reacted differently to the skill and chance 2 conditions, while externals were stable across these conditions. Moreover, subjects construed the chance 1 condition as resembling a skill condition. The different ways ln which internals and externals handled their solution hypotheses was further investigated in the second study. Two groups, one of internals and one of externals, were asked to scan a list of characteristics describing an object, and then to scan another list containing objects, one of which was best described by the characteristics. The two lists were presented separately to the subjects in order to discover whether subjects needed to switchback between the two lists while attempting to identify the correct object. The subjects' reaction times in studying the characteristics (preparation time) and in naming the appropriate objects (solution time) were recorded. The subjects' perception of and reactions to the task were measured by a post-task questionnaire. The results strongly supported the predictions: the internals preparation and solution times were significantly faster than those of the externals who also used more switchbacks than internals. Moreover, both groups performed equally well on the task (in terms of naming the appropriate objects). Analysis of the subjects' perception of the task indicated that internals perceived the task to be more skill controlled than externals. The third study was conducted to clarify some methodological problems associated with the first study and to further investigate the problem solving behaviour of internals and externals. Subjects were presented with a series of sets one per trial for twenty four trials, each of which consisted of two letters and two numbers. Certain sets were constructed using a common principle and subjects were required to identify the principle. Subjects perception of, and reactions to the experiment were measured by a post task questionnaire. The results showed that more externals were successful at finding the principle than internals. Externals used less trials per solution hypothesis and guessed on more trials than internals. Both groups had similar numbers of correct answers. More internals than externals, however, employed complex solution hypotheses. It was also found that the internals confidence in finding the principle before commencing the task was higher than that of the externals. Taken in conjunction the three studies indicate that finding the solution per se to the tasks did not differentiate internals from externals as readily as their different approaches to the tasks. The internals were more cautious and systematic in handling their solution hypotheses and processed information more efficiently and thoroughly. The externals, on the other hand, adopted a &quot;butterfly&quot; approach to testing their solution hypotheses, readily switching between them and returning to previously rejected hypotheses. They were less able than internals to process simultaneously two aspects of the task. It was concluded that the different problem solving behaviours of internals and externals resemble distinctive cognitive styles. Whether these cognitive styles are effective in terms of identifying the solution to a problem seems to depend largely on three main factors: the skill element of the task, the type of task, and the level of task difficulty.

<p> Although there have been studies on the nocuous effects caused by human destruction of nature and the oppression of the man-made environment, there is scarce mention of the subliminal dimensions of this ecological alienation, or the dissociation or lack of self-reflexivity regarding one's embodied responses to the surrounding world. This inquiry explores the dissonance between documented psycho-physiological responses and psycho- emotional disconnection. It bridges the registers of the pre-reflective and reflective; conscious and unconscious. The study is of mixed method design and was conducted in Mumbai, India. Data gathering occurred by recording psycho-physiological responses to experimental stimuli consisting of randomized images of normalized ecological destruction with the aid of physiological monitoring, and through semi-structured interviews using the hermeneutic phenomenological method. It was found that often, individuals defensively organize around being unaware and split off from their psychesomas, when confronted with ecological destruction.</p>

<p> This study investigated the effects of the Trauma, Recovery, and Empowerment Model (TREM) on the female offender population in a community setting. The TREM intervention is a 33-topic model that focuses on trauma specific to women through psycho-education and cognitive-behavioral methods. This quasi-experimental study with an intervention and treatment-as-usual (TAU) group used the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, Modified Posttraumatic Symptom Scale, Addiction Severity Index, the Daily Living/Role Functioning and Relation to Self and Others Subscales (BASIS 32), and Trauma, Recovery and Empowerment Profile (TREP) to determine whether the group receiving the TREM intervention had reduced PTSD symptoms, general mental health symptoms, substance use, increased social role functioning and increased relation to self and others, as well as increased trauma-related coping skills. T-tests, correlations, and effect sizes were used to assess outcomes from baseline to post-intervention or 3-month follow up within the intervention group, and between the intervention and TAU group. Results of the t-tests ns between variables of interest failed to reach statistical significance, however significant correlations and non-significant medium to large effect sizes were found on the BASIS-32 Subscales and Modified Posttraumatic Symptom Scale, small to medium effects were found on the Global Severity Index (BSI-18), with small to no effect for the Trauma, Recovery and Empowerment Profile, and the Addiction Severity Index Drug and Alcohol Composite scores. Qualitative analysis also revealed support for the model by participants. These results somewhat support the current research in showing effectiveness for the TREM intervention with females, however more research and investigation into the TREM intervention is warranted.</p>