WRITING ABOUT EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AS A THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

Abstract— For the past decade, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that when individuals write about emotional experiences, significant physical and mental health improvements follow. The basic paradigm arid findings are summarized along with some boundary conditions Although a reduction in inhibition may contribute to the disclosure phenomenon changes in basic cognitive and linguistic processes during writing predict better health. Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.     

GENTLE QUANTUM EVENTS AS THE SOURCE OF EXPLICATE ORDER

Abstract. It is proposed that multiple emission and absorption of soft photons in a discrete quantum world (implicate order) generates the continuous Cartesian-Newtonian-Einsteinian space-time world of localizable objects and conscious observers with measuring rods and clocks (explicate order).     

BATTERERS' EXPERIENCES OF BEING VIOLENT

Nine male batterers were interviewed about their experiences of being violent in domestic relationships. Interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological method to uncover themes in the structure of violent experiences. Results indicated two levels of themes: Contextual themes that described comparisons of self with other, forming the relational setting for violence, and focal themes that described experiences of being violent. Results were discussed in terms of social learning theory and gender-role attitudes, concluding that for some men, being violent in domestic relationships is a failed attempt to assert a preferred identity and avoid a devalued one. The violence ultimately reproduces the relational context of perceived polarized identities from which it emerges. Implications of findings for the victim were discussed and suggestions made to expand treatment interventions to focus on the polarized and unstable terms by which the men in this study framed their identities in domestic relationships.     

UNDERSTANDING GRADUATE WOMEN'S REENTRY EXPERIENCES

This multiple case study describes the experiences of reentry women in psychology doctoral programs at a major Midwestern research university and illustrates the usefulness of the qualitative case-study method in exploring women's experiences. Semistructured interviews were conducted with four women who were purposefully selected as information-rich participants. Observations and informal interviews were also conducted over a period of up to 2½ years. Eight themes emerged from the data and have been labeled: the decision to return, expectations versus reality, measuring up, frustrations and difficulties, changing family relationships, the necessity of organization, do it and get on with life, and rewards. This article illustrates that case-study research can be a powerful tool for feminist researchers to document women's experiences.     

ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF WOMAN-UNFRIENDLY EXPERIENCES

Predictors and outcomes of male harassment and hostility toward women (woman-unfriendly experiences) were analyzed for professional and blue-collar women ( N = 805) in three geographic regions. Two central questions were addressed by using multiple regression: Do the same types of variables predict woman-unfriendly experiences across regions? Are there similar job-related and psychological outcomes of woman-unfriendly experiences across regions? Americans reported more such experiences and they affected more outcomes. Scandinavians had fewer woman-unfriendly experiences than Americans, fewer job-related or psychological problems, more autonomy, and better work environments. Former Soviet professionals reported more unfriendly experiences than workers but less than their peers in the other regions. Differences among the regions were attributed to general social and economic policies that have attempted to eradicate gender inequality (Scandinavia), occupational status levelling and traditional gender stereotypes (former USSR), or cultural values of competitiveness and individualism and heightened sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment (United States).     

NEAR‐DEATH EXPERIENCES AND SPIRITUALITY

Abstract. Some individuals when they come close to death report having experiences that they interpret as spiritual or religious. These so‐called near‐death experiences (NDEs) often include a sense of separation from the physical body and encounters with religious figures and a mystical or divine presence. They share with mystical experiences a sense of cosmic unity or oneness, transcendence of time and space, deeply felt positive mood, sense of sacredness, noetic quality or intuitive illumination, paradoxicality, ineffability, transiency, and persistent positive aftereffects. Although there is no relationship between NDEs and religious belief prior to the experience, there are strong associations between depth of NDE and religious change after the experience. NDEs often change experiencers' values, decreasing their fear of death and giving their lives new meaning. NDEs lead to a shift from ego‐centered to other‐centered consciousness, disposition to love unconditionally, heightened empathy, decreased interest in status symbols and material possessions, reduced fear of death, and deepened spiritual consciousness. Many experiencers become more empathic and spiritually oriented and express the beliefs that death is not fearsome, that life continues beyond, that love is more important than material possessions, and that everything happens for a reason. These changes meet the definition of spiritual transformation as “a dramatic change in religious belief, attitude, and behavior that occurs over a relatively short period of time.” NDEs do not necessarily promote any one particular religious or spiritual tradition over others, but they do foster general spiritual growth both in the experiencers themselves and in human society at large.     

LABELING OF ABUSE EXPERIENCES AND RATES OF VICTIMIZATION

Research has consistently found that a history of previous sexual victimization increases risk for future sexual assault, which might be due to women with a history of sexual victimization having difficulty identifying risky cues and not perceiving their own vulnerability for future assaults. This study investigated how acknowledgment of previous experiences with interpersonal violence is related to risk perception and rates of victimization. Participants were 198 college women who completed assessments of victimization, personal risk appraisal, and acknowledgment. Analyses indicated differences in rates of victimization based on labeling of experiences and differences in efforts to change behaviors to reduce risk for future assaults based on level of acknowledgment. Also, there were a number of situational factors significantly related to likelihood of acknowledgment. The findings differed for physical and sexual violence. This study suggests that acknowledgment is an important factor to consider in studies of sexual and physical revictimization.     

ON LEARNING TO PREDICT EVENTS

B jörkman , M. On learning to predict events. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 233–240.—A rather large group of 'real life situations' requires a subject to predict events which are causally related to variables of the situation. Some operational characteristics of such situations are described. A primary question concerns the learning of the connection between situation and event ( S → E learning).—In an illustrative experiment frequency of 'reinforcement by observation' is varied. It is found that this factor can vary considerably without affecting rate of learning. As a preliminary conclusion it is suggested that reinforcement by observation as a differentiating factor is dependent on other factors, e.g. the dispersion of states of the situation.