THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL‐BEING

The approach to mental health and well‐being taken here illustrates the complementary perspectives approach and assumes that there are useful and intersecting contributions from science (including medicine) and from religion and spirituality. What counts as poor mental well‐being depends on the interaction of relatively objective criteria with culturally contingent value judgments. I then discuss theological perspectives on depression, including a consideration of sources of hope and tolerance of dysphoria, and argue that depression can be part of a spiritual journey. I then look at the relationship between psychosis and religion, including the work of Isabel Clarke, arguing that a spiritual approach to psychosis can complement a medical approach. Finally, I present a pastoral case study illustrating the interface between neurological and spiritual aspects of the sense of presence. A religious perspective can challenge and complement current assumptions about mental health in a potentially fruitful way.     

THE CHURCH AND MENTAL HEALTH: THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL RESPONSES

Over the past few years, the number of Christian projects and charities working in the mental health sector in the United Kingdom has increased dramatically. At the same time, scientific and medical understandings of mental health have been advancing rapidly. These parallel trends beg a serious question: is the Christian Church's response to mental health authentically engaging with a changing scientific picture? Are theological questions like responsibility, sin, redemption, and reconciliation taking account of a changing landscape? This is not a theoretical question, but has major practical consequences for developing practical pastoral responses.     

上海市大中学生的心理健康及其与体育锻炼的关系

本研究利用《简式心境状态剖面图》（POMS）中国修订版和《运动力量等级量表—3》（PARS—3）,对上海市大中学生的心理健康及其与体育锻炼的关系进行了考察。结果表明：①有较高比例的学生存在着不同程度的紧张、愤怒、疲劳、抑郁和慌乱,以及较低的精力和自尊感;②体育锻炼能有效地降低紧张、愤怒、疲劳、抑郁、慌乱,提高和自尊感,③中等到较大的运动量具有更好地心理健康效应;④体育乐趣与运动坚持性具有密切的关系。     

IDENTITY AND THE BRAIN: THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF OUR SELF

This article reviews the neuroscientific understanding of the self and personal identity, focusing on various elements of inclusivity and exclusivity as well as engaging religious and spiritual perspectives. We will also consider how the identity is comprised of biological, social, and ideological or spiritual aspects, and how they are interconnected. We will consider how the brain helps us to construct and maintain our representation of the self and what happens when we have self-transcendent experiences. Such an evaluation will have implications for understanding the intersection between consciousness and the self. This information will be helpful from both the psychological and spiritual perspective for understanding human identity.     

大学生对心理健康必备能力的认知

本研究以200名大学生为被试,以访谈及问卷的方式对大学生心理健康必备能力的认知进行了调查研究,并建立了大学生心理健康必备能力认知结构模型,结果表明:大学生所认知的自己心理健康必备能力由自我调控、社会应对、学习和人际交往这四个方面的能力组成,它们彼此独立,但又相互关联。     

心理异常中“一般心理问题“的判别标准与临床表现

心理异常是相对于心理健康而言的。心理异常不仅是指心理障碍、心理疾病以及心身障碍和心身疾病,而且也包括一般心理问题。人们通常认为的所谓“心理障碍”以及心理辅导和心理咨询中常见的心理异常,大量的还是指一般心理问题。本文就一般心理问题的判别标准以及各种主要一般心理问题的临床表现与鉴别诊断作了有益的探索,为心理辅导和心理咨询工作提供了心理学依据。     

大学生经济信心和心理健康的关系:生涯自我效能感的中介作用

采用经济信心问卷、生涯自我效能感量表、总体主观幸福感量表、贝克焦虑和抑郁量表,对237名大学生进行调查,考察大学生经济信心对其心理健康的影响,以及生涯自我效能感在两者之间可能的中介作用。结果表明,经济信心与生涯自我效能感和主观幸福感呈显著的正相关,与抑郁显著负相关,生涯自我效能感与主观幸福感显著正相关,与焦虑、抑郁显著负相关。大学生经济信心对其主观幸福感和抑郁具有显著的预测作用。大学生生涯自我效能感在经济信心与主观幸福感之间起到部分中介作用,其在经济信心和抑郁之间起到完全中介作用。此外,大学生生涯自我效能感传递了经济信心对焦虑的间接影响。     

MIND WITHIN MATTER: SCIENCE,THE OCCULT,AND THE (META)PHYSICS OF ETHER AND AKASHA

The intersection between quantum theory, metaphysical spirituality, and Indian‐inspired philosophy has an established place in speculative scientific and alternative religious communities alike. There is one term that has historically bridged these two worlds: “Akasha,” often translated as “ether.” Akasha appears both in metaphysical spiritual contexts, most often in ones influenced by Theosophy, and in the speculative scientific discourse that has historically demonstrated a strong affinity for the brand of monistic metaphysics that Indian‐derived spiritualities tend to foster. This article traces the relationship between these groups with special attention to the role of Indian concepts and terminology. More specifically, it argues that Akasha‐as‐ether comes to operate in a manner that bridges gross matter (of which the individual mind is part and parcel) with the notion of a subtle material and transpersonal mind—a version of panpsychism allowing for a coherent quantum monism.     

母亲处理冲突方式与儿童心理理论发展的关系

以52名3～5岁幼儿为被试,考查了母亲处理亲子冲突的方式与儿童心理理论发展水平之间的关系.研究结果表明,不同性别和年龄阶段儿童的母亲,其处理亲子冲突的方式有所差异,隔离处理方式与儿童在心理理论任务上的得分存在显著的正相关.文章从冲突表征呈现的角度对上述结果进行了分析讨论.     

高职护理生生活事件、应对方式及心理健康的关系研究

该研究采用SCL-90、生活事件量表、应对方式问卷对漳州医学护理职业学院280名学生进行了问卷调查,对262份有效问卷进行分析。结果表明:(1)同护理生心理健康有关的生活事件主要是人际关系问题、学习压力;(2)护理生在面临应激时,采取积极应对方式较多,消极应对方式较少;(3)护理生生活事件的各因子和应对方式的自责、幻想、退避、合理化因子与SCL-90之间有较高正相关,解决问题和求助的应对方式分别与SCL-90之间呈显著负相关和负相关;(4)进一步的多元逐步回归分析表明,人际关系和学习压力的生活事件因子与幻想、自责、解决问题、健康适应的应对因子对高职护理生心理健康影响最大;(5)应对方式是作为生活事件与心理健康的中介变量而存在并发挥作用的。生活事件、应对方式及心理健康之间有显著相关,应对方式是生活事件与心理健康的中介变量。     

TOUCHING THE MIND OF GOD: PATRISTIC CHRISTIAN THOUGHT ON THE NATURE OF MATTER

This paper seeks to examine the nature of matter from an Orthodox Christian patristic perspective, specifically that of St. Gregory of Nyssa, and compare this with David Bohm's concept of wholeness and the implicate order. By examining the ramifications of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, the basic nature of matter as being rooted in the mind of God reveals itself, and furthermore shows that certain conceptions of quantum physics can provide language with which to give voice to this ancient view.     

THE HUMAN BRAIN AND HUMAN DESTINY: A PATTERN FOR OLD BRAIN EMPATHY WITH THE EMERGENCE OF MIND

Abstract. The human brain combines empathy and imagination via the old brain which sets our destiny in the evolutionary scheme of things. This new understanding of cognition is an emergent phenomenon—basically an expressive ordering of reality as part of "a single natural system." The holographic and subsymbolic paradigms suggest that we live in a contextual universe, one which we create and yet one in which we are required to adapt. The inadequacy of the new brain—specially the left hemisphere's rational view of destiny—is replaced by a view of a new relatedness in reality in which human destiny comes from and depends upon the mutual interchange between the new brain (cultural knowledge) and the old brain (genetic wisdom) for the survival of what is significant to the whole systemic context in which we live.     

IN THE BEGINNING: THE ROLE OF MYTH IN RELATING RELIGION,BRAIN SCIENCE,AND MENTAL WELL‐BEING

Building upon the insights of scholars attuned to story, narrative, and myth, this article explores the relationship between myth, science, and religion. After clarifying the interplay of the three terms—story, narrative, and myth—and the preference for the term myth, this article will argue that myth can serve as a medium through which religion, neuroscience, and mental well‐being interact. Such an exploration will cover the role of myths in religion, the neurological basis of myth, and the practices of narrative psychology and bibliotherapy. The article will conclude with suggestions for understanding and utilizing the relationship between myth and the scholarly study of the relationship between science and religion. This article ultimately suggests that myth can operate as a methodological aid to the science‐and‐religion field.     

中学生心理健康量表编制研究

本文阐述了正常人心理健康的内涵,提出以认知正常、情感协调、意志健全、个性完整和适应良好等五个心理健康维度来衡量中学生的心理健康水平。采用自陈量表编制原理和问卷调查分析法,编制了具有较高效度和信度的中学生心理健康量表,并随机抽取有代表性的中学生样本（ｎ＝１２４８）,制定了上海常模。对开展中学生心理健康与素质教育具有理论和实践上的指导意义。     

MENTAL WELL‐BEING,NEUROSCIENCE, AND RELIGION: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SCIENCE AND RELIGION FORUM

The Science and Religion Forum (SRF) seeks to be the premier organization promoting the discussion between science and religion in the United Kingdom. Each year, the SRF holds a conference tackling a topical issue, and in 2017 focused on mental well‐being, neuroscience, and religion. This article introduces the thematic section which is made up of five papers from that conference. As a new field within the science and religion academy, these articles are both wide‐ranging and detailed. This introductory article locates this section within the academy and argues that its place is not only valid but vital, given the increase of mental health problems and the need for medicine, church, and society to answer this problem and present ways to help.     

SCIENCE,SPIRITUALITY, AND AYAHUASCA: THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND SPIRITUAL ONTOLOGIES IN THE ACADEMY

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew from Amazonas, popularized in the last decades in part through transnational religious networks, but also due to interest in exploring spirituality through altered states of consciousness among academic schools and scientific researchers. In this article, the author analyzes the relation between science and religion proposing that the “demarcation problem” between the two arises from the relations among consciousness, intentionality, and spirituality. The analysis starts at the beginning of modern science, continues through the nineteenth century, and then examines the appearance of new schools in psychology and anthropology in the countercultural milieu of the 1960s. The author analyzes the case of ayahuasca against this historical background, first, in the general context of ayahuasca studies in the academic field. Second, he briefly describes three cases from Spain. Finally, he discusses the permeability of science to “spiritual ontologies” from an interdisciplinary perspective, using insights from social and cognitive sciences.     

IMAGO DEI,DUALISM, AND EVOLUTION: A PHILOSOPHICAL DEFENSE OF THE STRUCTURAL IMAGE OF GOD

Most contemporary theologians have distanced themselves from views that identify the image of God with a capacity or a set of capacities that humans have. This article examines three arguments against the structural view and finds them wanting. The first argument is that the structural view entails mind/body dualism and dualism is no longer viable given neuroscience and contemporary philosophy. Against this, I argue that contemporary forms of dualism are able to circumvent such worries and are at least prima facie plausible. The second claim is that structural views end up disvaluing the human body and our relatedness. Here, I argue that neither the structural view nor dualism has such consequences. The third issue consists of various evolutionary worries that have to do with the lack of a clear‐cut boundary between human capacities and the capacities of nonhuman animals. As a response, the article argues that although there might not be a clear‐cut set of capacities that all humans share, we could still have a notion of human distinctiveness that is sufficient for the structural image of God.     

A TALE OF TWO CONTROVERSIES: DISSONANCE IN THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF RATIONALITY

Abstract. The relation between rationality in science and rationality in moral discourse is of interest to philosophers and sociologists of science, to educators and moral philosophers. Apparently conflicting conceptions of rationality can be detected at the core of two current socio-educational controversies: the creationievolution controversy and that concerning "moral education." This paper takes as its starting point the recorded views of participants in these controversies; exhibits the contradictions and their effect on the public; relates these contradictions to developments in the philosophy and history of science; and suggests, in a preliminary way, one approach for dealing with the problem.     

THE ATOMIC PRIESTHOOD AND NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT: RELIGION,SCI‐FI LITERATURE,AND THE END OF OUR CIVILIZATION

This article discusses the idea of an “Atomic Priesthood,” a religious caste that would preserve and transmit the knowledge of nuclear waste management for future generations. In 1981, the US Department of Energy commissioned a “Human Interference Task Force” (HITF) that would examine the possibilities of how to maintain the security of nuclear waste storage sites for 10,000 years, a period during which our civilization would likely perish, but the dangerous nature of nuclear waste would persist. One option that was discussed was the establishment of an “atomic priesthood,” an idea that science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov and Arsen Darney had already toyed with. Reading the HITF report alongside sci‐fi novels, my article will shed light on the question of how the sheer force of nuclear power (and the longevity of nuclear waste) lends itself to religious interpretations and how the idea of the atomic priesthood is connected with the utopian/dystopian aspects of nuclear power.