This study was designed to investigate the function of an individual's level of Christian conservatism and one's current attitude toward seeking professional psychotherapeutic help.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a psychometric investigation of the Attachment to God Inventory (AGI; Beck & McDonald, 2004) using a national sample of socioeconomically and religiously diverse young adults commonly referred to as millennials (i.e., persons born between 1980 and 1996; Pew Research Center, 2018). Confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) results failed to yield satisfactory fit for the AGI model using the entire sample and a Christian-only subsample. Alternative model specifications that accounted for method factors, higher-order factors, and bi-factors also failed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested alternative factor solutions that were cross-validated using CFA. Support for an orthogonal, 2-factor, 8-item model possessed excellent model fit (χ²(20) = 172.186; RMSEA = .051 [.044–.058]; CFI/TLI = .955/.993). Configural, metric, and scale measurement invariance were supported based on gender- and ethnic-identity considerations; however, invariance was not supported based upon religious affiliation. The resulting model consisted of two constructs that were labeled divine rejection (McDonald’s ω = .838 [95% CI: .827–.849]) and divine dependence (McDonald’s ω = .862 [95% CI: .852–.872]) and were found to be invariant only for individuals who identified as Christian. Latent profile analysis (LPA) of the standardized scores of the two factors yielded a five-class solution whose classes were labeled intrinsic, independent, everyday, strained, and detached believers. Class membership was found to be most associated with divine rejection. Rather than considering the resulting model to be an improved model based on attachment to God theory, this study concludes that the resulting model is most consistent with social comparison theory. Several hypotheses and recommendations for future research are made.

For several decades much research has shown that people who often attend religious services estimate their life quality and health higher than people who never attend church. (e g Koenig, McCullough & Larson, 2001, 2012). Much of this research has been done in USA. What about Sweden - one of the most secularized countries in the world? The theories of existential epidemiology and of the importance of existential health to other aspects of health from prof. Valerie DeMarinis were used as a theoretical base in this study.  The purpose of this mixed method sequential study was to compare 247 elderly (medium age 75) according to their frequencies of church attendance: Were there any significant correlations between frequency of church attendance and existential health according to WHOQOL-SRPB? Where there any significant correlations between existential health and the other aspects of health assessed in WHOQOL?  What factors were mentioned as explanations to existential health among elderly in this secular country? This question was investigated in the second qualitative part of the study where eight interviews were done, four with persons who never attend church and four who often did. The interview persons were matced to demografic variables and to general health according to WHOQOL. Statistical calculations were made with Spearmans rank order correlation and Mann-Withneys U-test for nonparametri variables. The interviews were analyzed both inductively and deductively.  The results showed significant correlations on 0,01 level between church attendance and all aspects of existential health in SRPB. The result also showed significant correlations between every aspect of existential health to other aspects of health, most clearly to social and psychological health. The correations were stronger to some of the aspects of existential health. It was also  a clear difference in existential health accordning to assessment on SRPB between the two groups.  For intrview persons who never attend church the ways to get existential health was for three of them to engage in different activities as physical exercise, music, spending time with relatives and friends. The fourth person, who estimated higher on SRPB, described a number of aspects of existential health. Among those who often attend Sunday service this was not per se a a factor mentioned as an explanation to their high existential health. Instead it was their Christian faith as a whole that made their existential health.  Researchers in Psychology of religion in Sweden claim an existential epidemiology spread, especially in groups of young people and immigrants. This study shows rather low existential health also in a group of elderly . A collaboration between health care centers and local priests, deacons, pastors and imams are suggested to prevent and treat low existential health.

Awe, an emerging topic within the field of modern psychology, has shown to have many benefits, including improved health for mind and body. This essay is trying to explore what links there are between the spiritual concept of the numinous established by the religious scholar Rudolf Otto and the definition of awe put forward by one of the most prominent and influential researchers in the field of Self-Transcendent Emotions, Dacher Keltner. Is the modern concept of awe and the numinous the same thing with similar health benefits? Through a content analysis the study will show that there are many common denominators between the two phenomena in question and that a healthy outcome of spiritual awe is not just possible but common for human beings. Yet that the concept of the numinous still has in some ways its own unique position. Suggestions are made on how further research could be done regarding how to stimulate awe and through that perhaps spirituality, for the benefit of health and the connection with others.

No description available.

”Spiritus contra spiritum” - En religionspsykologisk studie avomvändelseprocesser hos medlemmar i Anonyma Alkoholister(”Spiritus contra spiritum” - A religious psychological study on transformation processesamong members of Alcoholics Anonymous)The purpose of this study was to understand and illustrate the conversion processes forpeople who have attained sobriety through membership in Alcoholics Anonymous. My aimwas to ascertain how the interviewees constructed their life story regarding their path tosobriety. I sought to learn how "God" as a function, a central tenet of AlcoholicsAnonymous, served the interviewees in achieving and maintaining sobriety. Dan P.McAdams’s (1993) The stories we live by: personal myths and making of the self, providedthe theoretical tools. Steinar Kvale´s (1997) The qualitative research interview provided themethod. The conclusion was that membership in Alcoholics Anonymous allowed theinformants a sense of healing, conversion and reconciliation from their earlier alcohol abuse.Through this confident community the informants were provided with the narrative meansto improve their life story and truth by a renewed identity and spiritual awakening.Keywords:

Själavård eller terapi? - En religionspsykologisk studie av en själavårds och samtalsmottagning i Svenska kyrkan Pastoral Care or Therapy? - A Religious Psychological Study of a Pastoral Care and Conversation Clinic in the Swedish Church The purpose of this thesis is to increase knowledge about how staff work in a pastoral care and call reception (called the conversation clinic) under the auspices of the Church of Sweden. The empirical material consists of five informants who in one way or another are employed by the parish conversation clinic. This study is carried out as a qualitative study, where the research questions posed problematize how employees work based on psychotherapeutic/therapeutic knowledge and a pastoral care perspective, how the conversation clinic receives people's existential and spiritual needs and how any differences and similarities are expressed between pastoral care and therapy at the conversation clinic. The methodological and theoretical perspective clarifies what characterizes qualitative studies by applying Sharan B Merriam's (1994) case study method. To handle the empirical material Kirsti Malterud's Qualitative Methods in Medical Research (2014) is used. In summary, it can be said that the answers to the first research question is that the conversation clinic is based on a client perspective. The result of the second research question is summed up by the fact that the conversation clinic care about people's existential health and spiritual needs by that fact that the clients always being welcome to the conversation clinic regardless of religious affiliation or outlook on life, regardless of conversations in pastoral care or therapy. The results of the third research question show that the reception works in an intersection between pastoral care and therapy, where the economic factor and record keeping are two clear markers between either pastoral care or therapeutic treatment. Summary conclusions are that the conversation clinic works with a human care and treatment holistic perspective that offers both pastoral care based on theology and various secular therapeutic, psychiatric and psychological theories and models.

This qualitative study explores Second Generation South Asian American (SG SAA) Hindus' ideals, values, and meanings associated with gender, and how these ideals affect their attitudes towards unwanted sexual contact of women/girls. SG SAAs are an understudied population that report high levels of stress due to bicultural identity issues and ethnic discrimination, and yet are unlikely to display help-seeking behaviors. This study explores some of the cultural factors behind this phenomenon, particularly in terms of topics such as unwanted sexual contact (including sexual harassment, coercion, incest, and rape). Using an internet-based convenience sampling method, the researcher collected data using an anonymous online questionnaire with multiple open-ended questions. After using qualitative data analysis software, the researcher interprets and discusses the results by drawing on psychological and anthropological literature on gender in contemporary Hindu culture, identity in diaspora, and cultural/structural violence. The researcher explains how the results reveal the participants' internalized messages about women's value and expectations, particularly in regards to sexuality and family roles. Expected to be independent as well as submissive, modern as well as traditional, female SG SAA Hindus are faced with impossible expectations that erase their subjectivity and silence their voices. The negative ramifications of this are explored, particularly as the participants' describe the messages they learned about Hinduism and the blaming of female victims of sexual abuse. The study contextualizes SG SAAs in terms of contemporary Hindu cultures, and illuminates the ways that certain Hindu gender role expectations and attitudes have oppressed women, punished victims of unwanted sexual contact, and perpetuated cultures of silence, secrecy, and shame. The researcher calls for re-interpretations and re-visioning of contemporary Hindu cultures, not only to end alleviate cycles of abuse, but also to address this population's unique bicultural identity issues. Future research and widespread education is needed to explore the clinical implications of this study, and to develop culturally specific interventions for this silenced population.

With this essay, I mean to investigate if the poetry of the Swedish poet, writer and cultural elitist Gunnar Ekelöf shows signs and meanings of a mystical character. First, I research and compare the theories of Nathan Söderblom, Hjalmar Sundén and Antoon Geels about mysticism and use these in my interpretation of Ekelöfs poetry. It soon becomes clear that Ekelöf is a person with an inner religious reality and in context with the definition of mysticism this essay presents and uses, it goes to show that his poetry can be seen as mystical and furthermore that Ekelöf himself can be considered a mystic. This essay, leads to a discussion about a wider interpretation of mysticism and that mysticism can be seen in poetry.

Essa pesquisa trata-se do estudo de caso de um terreiro de umbanda, a Tenda Espírita de Umbanda Pai Benedito, situada na cidade de Jardinópolis-SP. Teve como objetivo geral apreender o modo de vida de uma comunidade afro-brasileira e específicos identificar especificidades e possibilidades de construção de significados abertas pelo recurso ao dispositivo cultural que afirma a sobrevida dos mortos e a sua participação na vida social e psicológica dos vivos, como também, conhecer concepções umbandistas a este respeito. O método adotado foi a participação da pesquisadora no cotidiano do grupo e o registro sistemático das narrativas que envolviam relatos deste tipo. Para efeito de análise deixou-se em suspenso quaisquer juízos a respeito da plausibilidade ou inverosimilhança da tese, uma vez que não se tratou de discutir a crença metafísico-religiosa subjacente, mas tão somente de observar e descrever o seu alcance na vida psíquica e na interação social. Sendo assim, admitido que o morto participa da vida social e psíquica do grupo, visou-se compreender como essa presença entre os vivos cria ou modula sentidos e possibilidades de vivências psíquicas, assim como regula as relações interpessoais. O método adotado foi o etnográfico, que proporcionou uma participação observante, com o objetivo de descrever a comunidade por dentro e a história oral, foi utilizada como um recurso a mais para ouvir os relatos orais. Para efeito de análise levaram-se em conta considerações teóricas a respeito da natureza do discurso narrativo, inspiradas em Lacan e Bakhtin, que propiciaram tratar além das narrativas. Contudo, não se pretendeu esgotar a totalidade de possibilidades abertas por estes recursos. Conclui-se que o recurso ao morto como significante e interlocutor social possibilita grande riqueza e sutileza de recursos expressivos, capazes de fortalecer laços interpessoais e intergeracionais e de promover concomitantemente inclusão social e integração psíquica. / This research is a case of an umbanda worship place, the Pai Benedito Spiritist Umbanda Tent, located in the city of Jardinópolis, state of São Paulo. The study aimed, generally, to apprehend the way of life of an African-Brazilian community and specifically to identify specificities and possibilities of construction of meanings open by the resort to the cultural device that states the survival of the dead people and their participation in the social and psychological life of the people alive; to know the umbanda conceptions on this issue. The adopted method was researcher´s participation in the daily life of the group and the systematic register of the narratives involving such reports. For the analysis, no judgment was done regarding the plausibility or unlikelihood of the thesis, since the implied metaphysical-religious belief was not discussed, the study only observed and described its reach on the psychic life and social interaction. Thus, assuming the dead people participate in the social and psychic life of the group, the study aimed to comprehend how this presence among alive people creates or modules meanings and possibilities of psychic experiences, as well as how it regulates interpersonal relationships. The ethnographic method was used, permitting an observant participation by the researcher, aiming to describe the community from the inside. The oral history was used as an additional resort to listen to the oral reports. The theoretical consideration of the narrative discourse, inspired in Lacan and Bakhtin, was considered for the analysis, which enable to consider beyond the narratives. Nevertheless, it was not aimed to drain all possibilities opened by these resorts. It is concluded that the resort of the dead as significant and social interlocutor permits abundant and subtle expressive resorts, responsible to strengthen interpersonal and intergenerational ties, and to promote, simultaneously, social inclusion and psychic integration.