Hope in a strengths-based group activity for individuals with chronic pain

While hope has been described as the ability to imagine a future in which one wishes to participate, individuals with chronic pain can have difficulty maintaining hope due to the pervasive impact of pain on multiple facets of their lives. This research examines client experiences of hope during a hope and strengths activity offered as part of a group treatment plan for individuals experiencing chronic pain. Entitled Being Hopeful in the Face of Chronic Pain, the group was developed in order to focus on hope and generative emotional experiences, experiences often lacking for individuals with chronic pain. The group activity being studied specifically addressed participants’ current strengths and strengths they hope-to-have-more-of. The study employed basic qualitative inquiry and utilized interpersonal process recall individual interviews to stimulate participant recall. Twelve participants (spanning three separate group offerings) individually discussed their personal experiences as they unfolded during a specific hope and strengths-focused activity. Participants described experiences during the group activity that fostered personal hope via perspective shifts, communion, comparison and connection with other group members. Findings are discussed in the context of current literature on hope, chronic pain, positive psychology and group interventions.     

Terror of Hope: the Integration of Attachment Theory and Womanist Theology

Hope functions as a potential coping mechanism for individuals who find themselves in stressful or difficult life situations, whether going through a personal grievance or experiencing the pain of systemized oppression. In recent history the study of hope in psychology and theology has grown and become prominent in each field. These forms of hope are often understood in two predominating categories, one which simplifies it to optimism or the other which relegates it to the future. The first understanding of hope, which I refer to as optimistic hope, distills hope into individualistic motivations with goal-setting for the future; individual progression. The second understanding of hope, which I refer to as eschatological hope, pushes hope to the edge of escapism into the next life. However, there is a third type which is influenced by womanist theology—complex hope. By using the work of womanist theologian A. Elaine Brown Crawford, Hope in the Holler and attachment theory, I attempt to show the potential risk and connection between optimistic hope and eschatological hope with insecure attachment types, and complex hope with secure attachment. Then by using the psychological model of self-development, I offer how one might develop mature complex hope in adolescence and adulthood. Lastly, I give a practical application of how one applies this method in their own situation, specifically as a minister or church leader.     

Relational antecedents of appraised problem-focused coping potential and its associated emotions

The present study examined a relational model of appraisal that specifies the situational and dispositional antecedents of appraised problem-focused coping potential, itself a hypothesised antecedent of the emotions of hope/challenge and resignation. The hypothesised relational antecedents of this appraisal were tested in a quasi-experiment in which individuals varying in self-perceived and objectively assessed math ability attempted to solve math problems on which difficulty was manipulated. Findings for the critical test problem largely conformed to predictions: Under difficult conditions, but not easy ones, increasing math ability was generally associated with elevated appraisals of problem-focused coping potential, increased hope/challenge, reduced resignation, and increased likelihood of solving the problem. However, problem-focused coping potential, hope/challenge, and the likelihood of solving the problem were all lower, and resignation was higher, for the highest ability participants, than would be predicted from their ability levels. Comparable findings were not observed for appraisals of emotion-focused coping potential or its theoretically associated emotion of anxiety, providing evidence of discriminant validity for the examined model. The results of a mediational analysis supported the hypothesis that the effects of the quasi-experimental design on hope/challenge and resignation were mediated by their effects on appraised problem-focused coping potential, lending support to the proposition that appraisals play a causal role in emotion elicitation.     

Invoking Deep Access: Disability beyond Inclusion in the Church

Abstract : This article seeks to challenge the ways access and inclusion are thought about and practiced in church communities with the hope of encouraging a robust hospitality and deep accessibility among all in the body of Christ. A first step stresses the difference of disability over the sameness of human personhood underneath it. A second step considers possibilities for practices of receiving gifts from one another in ongoing gestures of vulnerable mutuality that negotiate access for all, and thereby create community. The article concludes by proposing this be cultivated by a spirituality of attentiveness that embodies hospitality.     

Response expectancy versus response hope in predicting birth‐related emotional distress and pain

Response expectancies and response hopes have been shown to be two distinct constructs with important implications for nonvolitional outcomes. More specifically, studies show that response expectancies: (1) are sufficient to cause nonvolitional outcomes, (2) are not mediated by other psychological variables, and (3) are self‐confirming while seemingly automatic. A new programmatic research line has differentiated between people's response expectancies and their response hopes regarding nonvolitional outcomes and showed that even if response hope and response expectancy are separate constructs, they are not unrelated. These concepts have not yet been studied in pregnant women. Moreover, determining the causal factors that best explain the variance of emotional distress and pain in pregnancy is of great importance. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the interrelations between response expectancy and response hope in pregnant women with respect to (1) emotional distress prior to giving birth and (2) pain during giving birth. Additionally, self‐reported labor hours were analyzed as a secondary outcome. Results show that response expectancy for pain directly predicts pain, and that the discrepancy between response hopes and response expectancies is a strong predictor of investigated outcomes. Thus, our results support the idea that preventive psychological interventions for pregnant women should emphasize adjusting response expectancies and response hopes regarding the pain and emotional distress associated with giving birth. We believe that the results have both theoretical and practical implications and the topic deserves further investigation.     

Healing and reconciliation

The Christian Church is called to the ministry of reconciliation. Despite the pain and struggle of fractured communities today, there are also stories of hope lived and told by persons who are the recipients of the ministry of local congregations and church-sponsored social service agencies. Reconciliation leads to hope, and hope leads to reconciliation.     

Achievement goals and emotions in athletes: The mediating role of challenge and threat appraisals

Although the relationships between achievement goals and discrete emotions have been examined in a few studies, the process through which these relationships occur has received little attention. The present study investigated whether task and ego achievement goals were related to excitement, hope, and anxiety and whether these relationships were mediated by challenge and threat appraisals. We also examined whether the two achievement goals interact to predict emotions. Undergraduate students (N = 344) completed a multi-section questionnaire assessing achievement goals, challenge and threat appraisals, perceived competence, hope, excitement, concentration disruption, worry, and somatic anxiety before taking part in a team sport trial. Results showed that task goal was positively related to excitement and hope, and these relationships were mediated by challenge appraisal. In addition, threat appraisal mediated the relationship between task goal and concentration disruption. Ego goal was indirectly related to excitement through challenge appraisal. Finally, ego goal positively predicted concentration disruption at low but not high levels of task goal. Our findings suggest that achievement goals may influence emotions through cognitive appraisals and the interaction between task and ego goals needs to be considered in future research.     

Deep hope: A song without words

Hope helps alleviate suffering. In the case of terminal illness, recent experience in palliative medicine has taught physicians that hope is durable and often thrives even in the face of imminent death. In this article, I examine the perspectives of philosophers, theologians, psychologists, clinicians, neuroscientists, and poets, and provide a series of observations, connections, and gestures about hope, particularly about what I call "deep hope." I end with some proposals about how such hope can be sustained and enhanced at the end of life. Studies of terminally ill patients have revealed clusters of personal and situational factors associated with enhancement or suppression of hope at the end of life. Interpersonal connectedness, attainable goals, spiritual beliefs and practices, personal attributes of determination, courage, and serenity, lightheartedness, uplifting memories, and affirmation of personal worth enhance hope, while uncontrollable pain and discomfort, abandonment and isolation, and devaluation of personhood suppress hope. I suggest that most of these factors can be modulated by good medical care, utilizing basic interpersonal techniques that demonstrate kindness, humanity, and respect.     

Hope against the cold: individual differences in trait hope and acute pain tolerance on the cold pressor task

Hope theory (see Snyder, 1994) is presented as a useful framework for understanding reactions to pain. In Study 1, persons scoring higher on the trait Hope Scale (Snyder, Harris et al., 1991) kept their hands in the freezing water (of a cold pressor task) for significantly longer. In Study 2, the higher-hope males, and not females, as measured by both trait and state hope (Snyder, Sympson et al., 1996), recognized the onset of the pain threshold significantly later. Moreover, in Study 2, results showed that individual differences measures of optimism, self-efficacy, depression, and positive and negative affects did not relate to the pain onset and tolerance variables. The implications of hope as related to the pain process and related research are discussed.     

Cognitive bias modification for inferential style

In this study, we developed a cognitive bias modification procedure that targets inferential style, and tested its effect on hope, mood, and self-esteem. Participants were randomly assigned to training conditions intended to encourage either a negative or a positive inferential style. Participants’ inferences for their failure on a cognitive challenge were congruent with their training condition. Moreover, compared to participants in the positive training condition, those in the negative condition reported less hope and exhibited lower mood and self-esteem following the failure. Finally, the training affected mood and self-esteem indirectly via its effect on participants’ inferences for their failure. These findings provide support for the causal role of inferential style in depressed affect.     

Integrative Therapie von narzisstisch gestörten Patienten

The psychotherapy of patients with a narcissistic personality disorder continues to be a psychotherapeutic challenge. There is still no psychotherapeutic program for the treatment of these patients which integrates different psychotherapeutic methods and strategies. Therefore the therapy of narcissistic patients remains difficult and only few psychotherapists voluntarily meet the challenge of treating such patients. In this article an integrative psychotherapeutic concept for the treatment of narcissistic patients using psychotherapeutic methods of different psychotherapeutic schools is presented. This integrative concept includes basic strategies such as working with the therapeutic alliance, schema work and activation of resources. On the other hand specific modules for different core symptoms of these patients are proposed. With this article the authors hope to contribute to a new conceptualization of the psychotherapy of narcissistic patients.     

Enlarging hope for wholeness: ministry with persons in pain

The author explores the many spiritual ramifications of chronic pain on a person's faith and theology. He suggests that much of contemporary Christian religion, often preoccupied with health and wholeness, may overlook the role chronic pain plays in forming the soul. Making a plea for more cogent ways for the Christian to interrelate a vision of God with the practice of ministry, he expresses the hope that such an enlargement of vision will enhance the sustaining and healing power of pastoral ministry to persons in chronic pain.     

Health-Related Quality of Life and Adaptive Behaviors of Adolescents with Sickle Cell Disease: Stress Processing Moderators

The objective of this study was to examine resilience among adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD), focusing on the interaction of health-related quality of life with stress processing to explain adaptive behavior. Forty-four adolescents with SCD completed paper-and-pencil measures of health-related quality of life, appraisals (hope), pain coping strategies (e.g. adherence), and adaptive behavior. Self-reported health-related quality of life was significantly associated with adaptive behavior, as was adherence. Findings for moderation were mixed. Pain coping strategies moderated the association of health-related quality of life with adaptive behavior such that at lower levels of Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) Adherence, better quality of life was associated with higher adaptive behavior. Similarly, at higher levels of hope, better quality of life was associated with higher adaptive behavior, and poorer quality of life was associated with lower adaptive behavior. Adolescents with SCD showed resilience, particularly in terms of personal adjustment, that may be explained by their appraisals and stress processing strategies. Interventions to support an optimistic or hopeful outlook and improve adherence to recommendations for medical management of sickle cell pain may result in improved resilience/adaptive behavior.     

Hope and the Interpersonal‐Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior: Replication and Extension of Prior Findings

The interpersonal‐psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS; Joiner, 2005) posits that suicidal behavior occurs when an individual has a desire for death (due to the combination of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness) in addition to an acquired capacity for suicide, which is present when the individual has a low fear of death and high pain tolerance. Previous research has demonstrated an expected negative relation between trait hope and perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, as well as a more perplexing finding that hope is positively associated with the acquired capability. In a sample of 230 college students, measures of the three components of the IPTS were administered, along with measures of hope, depression, and painful and/or provocative events. Hierarchical regression analyses replicated the previously found associations between hope and burdensomeness and belongingness while controlling for depression and demographic variables. The positive association between hope and acquired capacity was also replicated, but a mediation analysis demonstrated that the effect was statistically accounted for by distress tolerance. The results further support the incremental validity of hope as a consideration in suicide risk assessments and suggest that hope may serve as a protective factor with respect to suicidal desire.     

How Charity Transcends the Culture Wars: Eugene Rogers and Others on Same-Sex Marriage

In 1994 the "Ramsey Colloquium," under the leadership of Richard John Neuhaus, posed a challenge to what it called the "homosexual movement" within the Christian Church. The challenge was to prove that it had reasons distinguishable from secular liberalism—reasons consistent with orthodox Christian theology—in favor of same-sex coupling. Eugene Rogers's book, Sexuality and the Christian Body: Their Way into the Triune God , can be read as a response to this challenge. The book is important not only for the content of its arguments, which are imaginative and theologically rigorous, but also for the exemplary way in which Rogers exhibits charity in his account of his conservative opponents. Rogers's recent anthology, Theology and Sexuality , provides additional evidence that a new, more promising debate is arising within the Church, a debate that has some hope of transcending the rhetoric of the culture wars.     

The positive contributions of hope to maintaining and restoring health: An integrative,mixed-method approach

A link between hope and physical well-being has long been suspected. To shed further light on this issue, an integrative theory of hope was used to design three health-related studies. In studies one and two, an integrative hope scale was used. In study one, greater hope was associated with depth of commitment to a healthier diet and regular exercise. In study two, the integrative hope scale was associated with a wider array of health behaviors as compared to a standard goal-oriented hope scale. In study three, a hope-centered content analysis of testimonies provided by long-term breast cancer survivors revealed a strong reliance on attachment and spirituality, dimensions typically neglected in psychological studies of this [hope] construct. An integrative approach to hope offers a framework for further research on hope and health as well as a blueprint for developing positive interventions to sustain and restore physical well-being.     

The Pain of Dying

SUMMARY

Dying can be a painful and difficult business. Fears, hopes, losses, questions, and uncertainty result in a form of pain that lies beyond the therapeutic reach of science and pharmacology. Efforts to preserve and prolong life or to make things better can sometimes result in this pain being overlooked or remaining unheard. To search the deepest part of oneself is the journey that beckons us all as we are dying. Within this space resides the source of our own suffering but also the seeds for healing. This exploration has a momentum of its own but requires conditions not often found within the biomedical paradigm. If this model of care remains the only source of hope for those with a life-threatening illness, ‘the pain of dying’ may not be addressed.     

Assessing the “chronic pain family”

As the place of the family within the chronic pain experience gains recognition, clinicians are faced with the challenge of incorporating a family assessment within the overall evaluation process of this health problem. Two perspectives on evaluating the family of the chronic pain patient are presented in this paper. Issues central to conducting a family assessment are identified and addressed.     

The application of joy in group psychotherapy for the elderly

A range of joyful emotions may be woven into the therapeutic group process for older persons. Experiencing joy is a powerful healing factor because it helps reduce the pain of losses inherent in the aging process, restores self-confidence and hope, and renews an investment in living. This paper identifies ten facets of joy which can help develop a therapeutic group climate. Examples from the authors' practice illustrate conceptual approaches.     

Hope and Flourishing in an Iranian Adults Sample: Their Contributions to the Positive and Negative Emotions

The this study was purposed to examine the validity of dispositional hope, state hope, and flourishing measures, to investigate the relationships between hope, flourishing and emotions, and to explore the roles of gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, and the level of education on these constructs in an Iranian sample. Participants included 300 individuals (15–80 years old) that randomly selected from Eghlid city in the north of Fars province, Iran. A demographic questionnaire and four self-rating inventories were used in this study. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated a one-dimensional structure for dispositional hope, state hope and flourishing constructs in this sample. Dispositional hope, state hope, and subjective flourishing constructs were positively and negatively related to positive and negative emotions. The level of education showed the significant role on state hope and flourishing. State hope and subjective flourishing explained 14 and 8 % of variances in positive emotions and negative emotions respectively.