Elite athletes and retirement: Identity,choice, and agency

Retirement from elite sport can be highly distressing for athletes, and many report experiencing depression and anxiety in adjusting to this transition. In this article, a discursive psychological approach is employed to explore constructions of choice and identity around elite athletes’ retirements within Australian newsprint media. Within these accounts, three ‘types’ of retirements were identified: retirements occurring in relation to age, injury, or active choice. Retiring with individual agency and at an appropriate time was repeatedly privileged, whereas retiring in different ways was routinely problematised. In privileging particular ways of retiring, certain identity positions were made more accessible than others. Consequently, certain actions and choices are deemed appropriate (or not) for athletes, ultimately constraining decision‐making around retirement. The implications of such limited identity positions and choices are explored in relation to the psychological distress and clinical concerns that emerge among many athletes in the transition out of elite sport.     

Meaning-creation,selfhood, and religion: From religious metanarratives to spiritual self-narratives

Abstract

This paper attempts to support the idea that the psychology of religion might be developed as an applied branch of cultural psychology. The scope of the argument is both theoretical and empirical. On the one hand, it is argued that religion functions as the most powerful semiotic system which provides subjects with metaphors, narrative frameworks, rituals and other cultural resources for personalised meaning-construction and life-designing. On the other hand, it is illustrated with an exploratory qualitative study how a specific type of community, a Catholic Seminary, produces a particular set of religious symbols and how their members write their narrative identities in multiple and unstable ways through dialectical tensions and creative self-invention. Thus, the psychology of religion becomes a fruitful laboratory to further investigate the mutually generative interplay between culture and self in order to better understand the plastic process of continuous self-identity formation and transformation.     

Capturing excellence in applied settings: A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator role for community psychologists

Community psychology faces a crisis of personpower similar to that which Albee identified in the clinical field four decades ago. It is clear that there are not, and likely never will be, a sufficient number of community psychologists to be able to provide assessment, consultation, and planned change toward facilitating an inclusive psychological sense of community and sound health and prosocial development in all settings that could benefit from such assistance. To help resolve this crisis, an expanded role for community psychologists is proposed: that of participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator. A participant conceptualizer and praxis explicator has the role not only of working within settings to understand and help conceptualize change processes but also of reflecting on action processes that are a part of the setting, of reflecting on theory, and of generating products that share relevant learnings. How action research serves as the methodology that allows the flow and interplay of theory and action to take place also is discussed. Illustrations are drawn from the work of Leonard Bernstein, Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, and the author's work in area of school-based social competence promotion. This article is based on much further reflection after my Distinguished Contribution to Practice in Community Psychology award address at APA in Toronto, August 1993. The latter was designed as a talk and featured musical excepts from Leonard Bernstein and Kermit the Frog, who also made an appearance at the talk and spoke briefly. A tape of the talk can be obtained from APA, for the curious. I think of my work as a public corporation, shares of which belong to many colleagues, friends, and mentors, far too numerous to mention. I give special thanks to Jim Kelly and Ed Trickett, to Irma Serrano-Garcia and Jim Dalton, to Emory Cowen and Roger Weissberg, to George Spivack and Myrna Shure, to Jack Chinsky and George Allen, to Tom Schuyler and to my parents, to those who generously shared selective truths about me that Jim Kelly compiled into marvelous and deeply appreciated introductory comments, and to my chief shareholders, my family, Ellen, Sara, and Samara, whose daily love, patience, and support I am honored to receive.     

Creating a Space for Spiritual Practice: Pastoral Possibilities with Sexual Minorities

Is a religious gay person an oxymoron? It appears possible, given that the research on religion and spirituality among sexual minority individuals is so limited. While books written on the intersection of religion and psychotherapy may include a chapter addressing the religious and spiritual lives of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, there are no critical texts focusing solely on this issue. In this paper, we review some of the most recent research on homosexuality, religion, and spirituality, and discuss how LGB individuals may integrate these two identities. A case presentation is offered and implications for pastoral counselors and methods of supporting the integration of the spiritual/religious identity in tandem with a LGB identity are also discussed.     

Relationships Among Religiousness,Spirituality, and Health for Individuals with Stroke

The current study evaluated the relationships among spiritual beliefs, religious practices, physical health, and mental health for individuals with stroke. A cross-sectional analysis of 63 individuals evaluated in outpatient settings, including 32 individuals with stroke and 31 healthy controls was conducted through administration of the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality (BMMRS) and the Medical Outcomes Scale-Short Form 36 (SF-36). For individuals with stroke, the SF-36 General Mental Health scale was significantly correlated with only the BMMRS Religious and Spiritual Coping scale (r = .43; p < .05). No other BMMRS factors were significantly correlated with SF-36 mental or physical health scales. Non-significant trends indicated spiritual factors were primarily related to mental versus physical health. This study suggests spiritual belief that a higher power will assist in coping with illness/disability is associated with better mental health following stroke, but neither religious nor spiritual factors are associated with physical health outcomes. The results are consistent with research that suggests that spiritual beliefs may protect individuals with stroke from experiencing emotional distress.     

Emotions in sport: Perceived effects on attention,concentration, and performance

This study explored attentional patterns associated with positive and negative emotions during sport competition, and athletes' perceptions of the consequences of these attentional changes for concentration and performance. Sixty‐nine athletes completed the Sport Emotion Questionnaire following a national softball competition. They also retrospectively reported their perceptions of how emotions influenced their attention, concentration, and sport performance. Excitement and happiness were more closely associated with concentration than anxiety, dejection, and anger. Although excitement demanded more attention than the negative emotions, the positive emotions were perceived as more likely to lead to a performance‐relevant focus and automatic physical movements, both of which were beneficial for concentration and performance. Emotional intensity increased these effects.     

Body pedagogics and the religious habitus: A new direction for the sociological study of religion

Sociological theory has been central to the modern study of religion. In the face of the global resurgence of religious phenomena, however, and the challenge this has presented for the assumptions that characterised much twentieth century sociology, there is a need for new theoretical models to make sense of religion today. This paper contributes to this task by building upon Durkheim's suggestion that religious social facts become fully efficacious only when internalised, and Luhmann's interest in sociological manifestations of ‘transcendence’ and ‘immanence’, in order to analyse religion as a thoroughly embodied phenomenon that can be understood through the study of religious body pedagogics. Having outlined the key steps involved in the analysis of body pedagogics, we illustrate the utility of this realist framework through an ideal-typical representation of Christianity and Islam and reflect, via a consideration of several objections that could be directed towards it, upon how this approach can deal with the complexities and contingencies of contemporary religion. In conclusion, it is suggested that this systematic body pedagogic focus on embodied commonalities and differences across diverse religious contexts offers a valuable basis upon which to engage critically with religion today.     

Training clinical psychologists for rural and northern practice: Transforming challenge into opportunity

Abstract: The Rural and Northern Program (R&NP) of the University of Manitoba's Department of Clinical Health Psychology (DCHP) is a unique training and service delivery platform that was developed in response to the scarcity of psychological services in rural and northern areas of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Since 1996 rural and northern‐based psychologists, in conjunction with the faculty based in Winnipeg (Manitoba's largest city) have offered training to two interns and one postdoctoral resident (resident) yearly. The current article discusses the nature of the program, the regions of Manitoba that the program services, and recruitment and retention data. The authors conclude by offering suggestions for creating sustainable rural/northern psychological practice.     

Working within an Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (IZOF) framework: Consultant practice and athlete reflections on refining emotion regulation skills

Objective

To examine how working within Hanin’s (2000a) Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning theoretical model (IZOF) informs intervention development for enhancing athletes’ emotion regulation skills.

Design

A single case study design was adopted to examine the applied process of facilitating a female university cross-country runner’s emotion regulation skills.

Method

Consultant reflections followed Boud’s (2001) reflective learning model for immediate and delayed reflection that informed an action research narrative organized round Kellmann and Beckmann’s (2003) action research cycle. A social validation interview was conducted following program completion to examine the athlete’s responses to the emotion regulation intervention.

Results

Consultant’s professional practice decisions and action taken to support the intervention are highlighted. Specifically, the employment and extension of Hanin’s (2000c) IZOF profiling process to inform the development of athlete skills in emotion regulation are described. Moreover, how the content and intensity of performance related subjective emotion, physiological symptom, and cognitive zone profiles for optimal performance guided the identification and enhancement of techniques contributing to effective emotion regulation is illustrated. Athlete interview responses support the overall efficacy of the intervention program.

Conclusion

The present case study supports the efficacy of working within an IZOF framework from a consultant perspective. Furthermore, athlete reflections suggest enhanced skills in emotion regulation were perceived to result from the intervention.     

Stereotype threat and test performance: A primer for school psychologists

Ethical guidelines require school psychologists to ensure that their assessment practices are nondiscriminatory, but typical discussions on this topic neglect the possible discriminatory effects of cultural stereotypes on assessment results. Recent research on stereotype threat shows that students' knowledge of stereotype-based negative expectations about their test performance can depress their actual test performance. This paper discusses the range of conditions that promote stereotype threat and identifies important moderators and mediators of the phenomenon. Several practical suggestions are offered for school psychologists to consider when interviewing students, interpreting assessment results, and developing programs to increase schoolwide achievement.     

Power and the origins of unhappiness: Working with individuals

Evidence that the ‘ultimate repressed’ in our understanding of emotional distress is power can be gleaned even from Freud's writing. This is a form of repression which community psychology is well placed to lift. Impossible though it is to stand outside the ‘apparatus of power’ (and, therefore to give a complete analysis of it), we cannot achieve an accurate account of the causes of human unhappiness without taking its operations into account as fully as possible. The psychological therapies do have an implicit notion of will power, but this serves only to distract our attention from the external, material nature of power. We have to be careful, moreover, not to ‘psychologize’ power by trying to turn it into an internal attribute to be ‘switched on’ by an essentially mysterious process of ‘empowerment’. We need to specify empirically the types of power that contribute to ‘clinical’ distress and give an account of ‘therapy’ in terms of the powers to which it has access (recognizing also that these are limited).     

Predicting performance and performance satisfaction: mindfulness and beliefs about the ability to deal with social barriers in sport

This research investigates the role of beliefs about the ability to deal with specific social barriers and its relationships to mindfulness, football performance, and satisfaction with one's own and team performance. Study 1 aimed at eliciting these social barriers. Study 2 tested (i) whether self-efficacy referring to social barriers would predict performance over and above task-related self-efficacy and collective efficacy and (ii) the mediating role of self-efficacy to overcome social barriers in the relationship between mindfulness and performance. Participants were football (soccer) players aged 16–21 years (Study 1: N = 30; Study 2: N = 101, longitudinal sample: n = 88). Study 1 resulted in eliciting 82 social barriers referring to team, peer leadership, and coaches. Study 2 showed that task-related self-efficacy and collective efficacy explained performance satisfaction at seven-month follow-up, whereas self-efficacy referring to social barriers explained shooting performance at seven-month follow-up. Indirect associations between mindfulness and performance were found with three types of self-efficacy referring to social barriers, operating as parallel mediators. Results provide evidence for the role of beliefs about the ability to cope with social barriers and show a complex interplay between different types of self-efficacy and collective efficacy in predicting team sport performance.     

Cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM): Implications for trait and cultural psychology

The cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM; Wood & Roberts, 2006) was tested in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated their general and role identities, as defined by the PRISM, using Big Five trait adjectives, then rated their personality states (i.e., role experiences) in various roles in multiple daily interactions for 14 days. Structural predictions based on the PRISM were supported in all five cultures. Cultural differences were limited and did not reflect cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or cultural tightness. The results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the PRISM and the merits of contextualized trait measures in the prediction of role experiences. Implications for trait and cultural psychology are discussed.     

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A structured teaching and experience-based program for therapists,teachers, and parents

This study is aimed at validating the Separation Anxiety Scale for Children (SASC) in a sample of 802 Italian children aged 8–11. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the original model. The tool showed adequate reliability and good convergent validity with the Spence Children Anxiety Scale. Results confirmed a decrease of separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD) with age and girls reported higher levels of SAD than boys. Findings suggested that the SASC is a suitable measure to assess SAD in Italian children.     

Therapy for the Dead: Working Clinically with Jung's Black Books and The Red Book

With the 2020 publication of the facsimile edition of The Black Books, we have an opportunity to study the layers of C. G. Jung's creative writing process for the first time. In this paper, I explore Jung's practice of active imagination in relation to his fantasy dialogues with the dead during two specific episodes in 1914 and 1916. I discuss Jung's concept of the collective unconscious corresponding to the “mythic land of the dead” and I show how this idea develops in The Black Books and The Red Book, or Liber Novus, culminating in Septem Sermones ad Mortuos. I describe my work with a patient, who, in an early session, said she felt like the "living dead". I recount how the patient's experience of her own internal world began to change as we were able to wonder about the inner world of the patient's late mother and, together, to imagine her mother's lament. I consider the use of imagination when working with the concept of "therapy for the dead" (Hillman & Shamdasani, 2013, p. 164) in the context of intergenerational trauma.     

Introduction to the Special Edition: The Implications of Multicultural Diversity and Ethnopolitical Conflict for Working with Groups

This introduction to a special edition of the journal Group on The Implications of Multicultural Diversity and Ethnopolitical Conflict for Working with Groups explores the reasons that social and political forces and traumatic societal events have until recently been neglected in the theory and practice of group psychotherapy. Freud's abandonment of the infantile seduction theory and subsequent emphasis on intrapsychic fantasy and defense, the philosophy and science of the Enlightenment, and professional norms in a field dominated by individuals from privileged classes and cultures are cited as sources of the relative neglect of ethnopolitical conflict, minority issues, and multicultural diversity in the treatment process. The articles in this journal attempt to redress these shortcomings and constitute a movement towards including these factors in the common standard of training and treatment.