Shame and Guilt: The Psychology of Sacramental Confession

Abstract

Altered states challenge an individual's established construction of reality, the personalized mythology by which one operates. Sometimes those altered states offer a glimpse into aspects of being that the mythology is unable to embrace. Experiences of this nature may challenge the prevailing mythic structure. This confrontation between the established construction of reality and the view provided in the altered state may inspire a profound and wholesome shift in the person's sense of being, or it may lead to destabilizing conflicts with previously unquestioned belief systems and patterns of behavior. This article discusses the lure—and the dilemmas — of attempting to incorporate directly into one's life the raw creativity of a powerful and inspiring altered state, the challenges of reconciling such experiences with one's existing mythology, and it presents a framework for facilitating such a reconciliation.     

Snake mother imagery in generalised anxiety disorder

Abstract

Symbols psychoanalysis, depth psychology, mythology and religion from a multiplicity of perspectives – there are many guidelines for their interpretation and integration in clinical practice. The present study, based on a Jungian analytic model, incorporated the snake mother as an imaginary symbol in a patient with generalised anxiety disorder and her treatment within a clinical case study. From an integrative symbolism approach, snakes are considered mysterious, with the ability to express the primary instinctual powers and psychic energy that take root beyond the ego strength and archetypal images. Here, with respect to the patient's main complaint and her underlying core conflict according to Jungian therapy and Persian mythology, it was indicated that the snake mother symbolism, an imagery object from childhood to adolescence, originated from both the personal and the collective unconsciousness. The way in which the symbolism of the snake mother came to work in the therapeutic process was similar to a that of dream and symbolism approach. The snake mother operated as an alternative animus in the shape of a caregiving mother, and supported the patient against her father's misbehavior during her early childhood. It could represent the shadow, the reconsolidation of the anima/animus for patient, and a projection of negative thoughts and actions from animal instincts.     

What structural mythology owes to Henri Hubert

In pointing to Durkheimian precedents for structuralism, Claude Lévi-Strauss typically indicates Marcel Mauss. Yet, although Mauss wrote much on myth, Lévi-Strauss never cites Mauss as setting precedents for structural mythology. This seems so for at least two reasons. First, Henri Hubert, not Mauss, turns out to be the real myth specialist of Emile Durkheim's original équipe, thus making the équipe's theory primarily Hubert's. Second, Hubert's theory of myth is only problematically structural. More consistent with theories at odds with structuralism, especially Maurice Leenhardt's religious phenomenology, Durkheimian mythology must be displaced if structural mythology is to distinguish itself.     

Woman's social status as a reflection of the internal relationship to mother and father in both sexes1

Abstract

Starting with three examples showing different kinds of external barriers which meet a woman in her professional life, the author examines how they are related to internal elements. She points out power as a common factor, and proposes that Freud, as well as many succeeding male and female psychoanalysts, wishfully described women as suffering from deficiencies, while the unconscious image of Mother in children and adults of both sexes is the very opposite of this: a potentially dangerous or ideally good, powerful creature. She argues that both men and women out of fear for this power try to restrict and belittle the capabilities of women. This thesis is further delineated by references to Greek mythology and clinical examples.     

Erotic Motherhood and the Ideal Son: Mythology as Psychotherapy in the Krishna-Bhakti Tradition

Through the lenses of D.W. Winnicott’s theory of development and Sudhir Kakar’s theory that the flux between fusion with and separation from Krishna in the Krishna-bhakti tradition is a reflection of the early childhood relational dynamics of mother and son, I will argue that the mythology of Krishna found in the Bhagavata Purana Book X implements the traditional Hindu notion of moksha but reshapes it in a uniquely psychologically adaptive way. In an attempt to meet the psychological needs of sons and mothers, the mythology of this text maintains a theme of fluctuation between fusion and separation between the gopis who function as mother figures and Krishna, the ideal son. Through the thematic focus on the flux between the gopis’ fusion with and separation from Krishna, the text embodies the Hindu soteriological concept of moksha as well as plays out the cultural relationship between mother and son.     

Sexual Harassment Mythology: Definition, Conceptualization, and Measurement

Using rape myth research as a template, we developed a conceptual definition and measurement instrument for the mythology regarding male sexual harassment of women, resulting in the 20-item Illinois Sexual Harassment Myth Acceptance (ISHMA) Scale. Surveys from 337 students in the Midwestern region of the United States revealed that this measure consists of four factors, which share predicted relationships with rape mythology, sexism, hostility toward women, traditional attitudes toward women, and ideological support for the feminist movement. We also found that women and individuals with prior training on sexual harassment reject these myths more than men and untrained individuals. It is hoped that this new definition, conceptualization, and measure will advance knowledge on attitudes that support and perpetuate violence against women.     

The justification of political conformism: The mythology of Soviet intellectuals

Only during a brief period in the aftermath of the revolution was a portion of the Soviet intelligentsia eager sincerely to cooperate with the Soviet system. Soon, with Stalin's repressions, the intelligentsia, and especially its elite — the intellectuals, or those involved in creative activities such as science, literature and the arts, became locked in permanent conflict with the government.Once mass terror disappeared after Stalin's death in 1953, intellectuals faced the possibility of confronting the regime without fear of instant arrest and eventual death in the Gulag.Moral choices became a serious problem, especially during the period of political reaction under Brezhnev in the 1970's, when the regime resorted to repressions (albeit in milder form than during Stalin's times) and corruption in order to prevent the oppositional activity of intellectuals. Brezhnev's regime was rather successful in this endeavor, an issue which was hotly debated by Russian intellectuals in the period ofglasnost' when soul-searching and recanting about their behavior of the 1970's.The political conformism of intellectuals bore an interesting product, namely, a special mythology which had to exculpate passive intellectuals as well as those who corroborated with the authorities and betrayed their colleagues.The goal of this paper is to analyze this mythology. The author makes a distinction between two kinds of mythology used by the intellectuals to justify their conformity — a current mythology, which is employed for the vindication of contemporary deeds and a retrospective mythology, the purpose of which is to acquit one of past actions. The importance of the mythology employed by the intellectuals goes beyond the Soviet experience and reminds one of the developments in the American intellectual community during the McCarthy era, as well as in German and French communities during the Second World War. As a theoretical basis for this paper, the author uses the concept of a two-level mentality which helps explain how people can easily separate their behavior from their system of values.     

Using an Advance Time Meter display as means to reduce driving speed

ObjectiveTesting an experimental means to reduce motivation to drive fast.BackgroundOne determinant of that motivation may be a wrong presumption, demonstrated here: Time to reach destination declines about linearly to increase in driving speed. Actually, that time is a linear function of advance time, the inverse of speed. It is hypothesized that the behavioral by-product of the popularity of that fallacy could be counteracted by introducing an essential change to the speed-based continuous feedback provided to the driver – from a speedometer displaying instantaneous velocity to a gauge reporting advance time (denoted ATM), so that both average driving speed and speed variance are reduced.MethodIn two driving simulator experiments, driving speed of participants presented with either of the two types of gauge was recorded.ResultsThe main finding is that driving with feedback provided by an ATM gauge following prior briefing led to a significant reduction – ∼11 km/h – in mean speed, as well as to a significant reduction in between-driver speed variability, as compared with driving with an ordinary speedometer. It was also found that no significant difference was observed in the speeding behavior of participants driving with an ATM display for three ∼2-h sessions administered in three different days, so that the last session took place within seven days from the first one.ConclusionThe ATM gauge serves to reduce motivation to speed.ApplicationWidespread use of the ATM gauge may result in reduction in number and intensity of accidents.     

Configurations of time,the body,and verbal communication: Temporality in patients who express their suffering through the body

This paper focuses on the study of temporality used as a clinical pointer to processes of affect regulation in patients who express their suffering through a discourse driven by bodily allusions. Differences between symptoms revealed by body language that conveys an experience of conflict (psychoneurotic symptoms) and somatizations are reviewed. Somatization is examined as a benchmark for the failure to resolve states of tension. The body in the session is conceptualized as a speech event. The body is considered as a psychical construction organized in the exchanges with a fellow human‐being. It is thus established as a support for subjectivity. Two discourse registers are described: the discourse of the evoked body and the discourse of the perceived body. The study of Greek mythology allows us to distinguish two different types of temporality : Chronos and Kairos. Chronos represents chronological whereas Kairos subjective time. Both are present in the subject; but if greater mental disorganization supervenes, Chronos predominates as it paves the way for a defence against suffering, designed to avoid the unbearable meaning of ceasing to be. Adherence to one or other mode of temporality signals different conceptions of analytic work. The topics addressed are illustrated by various clinical vignettes .     

Nature and Freedom: Repetition as Supplement in the Late Schelling

F.W.J. von Schelling’s positive philosophy of mythology and revelation questions how one can move from the natural (the negative or mythology) to freedom (the positive or revelation), i.e. from the natural to the supernatural. The move from nature to freedom surpasses the traditional metaphysics of presence. Being is not simply the presencing of nature but the result of a decisive deed surpassing and supplementing nature. Nature can do nothing other than presence. Freedom, however, could also not be. It could remain in concealment and must not necessarily presence as nature does. The origin is a supplement because an unnecessary excess extraneous to nature. In other words, origins always supplement the natural, i.e. they are supernatural and revelatory. Origins bring something novel, i.e. something original, into being but origins themselves remain in non-being and consequently remain un-revealed. The origin cannot exist, i.e. cannot become present, because it is always qualitatively Past. The origin never was but always already has been. Primal repetition was freedom’s subjection of nature to the Past and a deferral of this deed’s consequences to the indefinite Future.     

Determination of the Burgers vector of dislocations in icosahedral quasicrystals by a high-resolution lattice-fringe technique

A technique for the determination of the full six-dimensional Burgers vector characterizing a dislocation in an icosahedral quasicrystal is presented. It is based on the lattice-fringe analysis of two high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images taken at two different sample orientations. As an example we present the analysis of a dislocation in a bent icosahedral Al-Pd-Mn quasicrystal. We obtained a Burgers vector B = A₀[-2,0,3,-2,3,0] where A₀ = 0.645nm is the six-dimensional hyperlattice constant. This result is consistent with previous results obtained by diffraction contrast analysis and convergent-beam electron diffraction techniques.     

Anomalous spin diffusion in 3He films: Expected behaviour in two-dimensional Fermi liquids

It is shown that the recently observed and unexplained behaviour for spin diffusion in ³He films can be understood in terms of the Fermi-liquid theory, provided that non-perturbative effects characteristic of two dimensions are taken into account. It is conjectured that such a behaviour suggests the onset of a regime in which spin current is conserved.     

The politicization of deviance: Resisting and reversing degradation and stigmatization

Using the Israeli case of Abu‐hatzira, this paper argues that processes of degradation, stigmatization and deviantization can be reversed. The case itself is documented to be followed by an interpretation clustered along two axes. It is argued, first, that Abu‐hatzira used in his favor an existing ethnic dispute in Israel, coupled with a religious factor. Second, reversal of deviantization can be achieved by politicizing “regular” deviance, subsequently making a political statement within the context of an effective ideology geared to mobilize a receptive audience.¹     

Models for normal intuitionistic modal logics

Kripke-style models with two accessibility relations, one intuitionistic and the other modal, are given for analogues of the modal systemK based on Heyting's prepositional logic. It is shown that these two relations can combine with each other in various ways. Soundness and completeness are proved for systems with only the necessity operator, or only the possibility operator, or both. Embeddings in modal systems with several modal operators, based on classical propositional logic, are also considered. This paper lays the ground for an investigation of intuitionistic analogues of systems stronger thanK. A brief survey is given of the existing literature on intuitionistic modal logic.     

TREATING TRANSGENDERED CHILDREN: CLINICAL METHODS AND RELIGIOUS MYTHOLOGY

Bruce Lincoln suggests that myth is “that small class of stories that possess both credibility and authority” (1992, 24). When studying the history of mythology we find that myths often are understood as something other people have—as if the group in question possesses the truth while others live by falsehoods. In examining contemporary North American society, we can see how Judeo‐Christian narratives structure popular and medical discourses regarding sex and gender. The idea that humans are born into male and female, and male and female only, is a deeply held belief—so much so that it appears as fact rather than belief. Anthropologists such as Serena Nanda and Will Roscoe have documented the cross‐cultural and historical “gender variants” who exist in societies where three or more genders are the norm. The origin of the belief in two sexes could well be the opening verses of Genesis where the origin of the human species is described in bipolar, dimorphic forms: “… in the image of God He created them; male and female created He them” (Genesis 1:27 NRSV). In the article I explore the mythology that underlies the clinical management of transgender children.     

Proposal for Centers for the Study of Biblical Psychotherapy

This paper describes the need for a Biblically based psychotherapy to replace a psychotherapy dominated by Greek mythology. Centers for Biblical Psychotherapy are proposed and sample curriculae are discussed.     

Mediators of behavior change in two tailored physical activity interventions for adolescent girls

ObjectivesIt has been suggested that the lack of knowledge regarding the mechanisms responsible for behavior change may be responsible for the low levels of effectiveness in physical activity interventions among youth. While it is common for physical activity interventions to cite a theoretical framework, few test the validity of their constructs using an established mediation analysis technique. The purpose of this study was to identify mediators of physical activity behavior change in two tailored interventions for adolescent girls.DesignThis study involved an experimental design.MethodsParticipants (N=161) were randomly allocated to a control (CON) group, an intervention based on the Health Promotion (HP) Model or an intervention developed from the HP Model that included two processes from the Transtheoretical Model (THP). Both interventions included school-based education sessions, individual counseling sessions, and two physical activity sessions completed with the participants' mothers. Measures were assessed prior to the intervention, at post-intervention and at a 6-month follow-up. The following constructs were included in the mediation analyses: perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, exposure to models, social support, interpersonal norms, planning, stimulus control, and counterconditioning.ResultsPerceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and commitment to planning satisfied the criteria for mediation in the THP intervention. Self-efficacy and commitment to planning were identified as mediators in the HP intervention.ConclusionThe results of this study provide evidence that both interventions were successful in increasing physical activity through changes in the theoretical constructs.     

AGING RESEARCH IN HIGHER EDUCATION: RESEARCH IN READING PROCESSES OF THE ELDERLY (PROBLEMS AND PROMISE)

Abstract

This article considers an assortment of issues regarding research into reading problems of the elderly. It is based on research results that grew out of a two‐year federal grant from the National Institute of Aging. The discussion includes an examination of demands placed on senior citizens’ reading skills by materials disseminated through agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.     

Appreciation of nature and appreciation of environmental protection: How stable are these attitudes and which comes first?

IntroductionAttitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection are two separate but correlated attitudes. Little is known about the two attitudes’ stability/volatility over time, despite the practical value of such knowledge.Objectives & methodUsing longitudinal survey data from 251 adults in a cross-lagged structural equation model, we assessed the degree of spontaneous (i.e., unprompted) change in the two attitudes. We also considered whether such change could provide evidence regarding causal direction; causation could go in either of two directions between the two attitudes, or it could even be bi-directional.ResultsWe corroborated the substantive connection between attitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection; however, the absence of change in the attitudes despite the passage of two years disallows reliable statements about causal direction.ConclusionIt is possible to protect the environment by encouraging appreciation of nature, but change in attitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection may be difficult to achieve with mature individuals.     

Processus d’élaboration et de validation d’un questionnaire portant sur le développement des compétences émotionnelles lors du mentorat

Objective and methodThe aim of this article is to provide a portrait of the emotional competencies developed by school principals (n = 359) in a mentoring context by developing a seven-step questionnaire by Frenette et al. (2019) presenting various proofs of validity.ResultsThe analyses conducted support a factorial structure with two correlated aspects of emotional competencies (self and others). School principals in Quebec develop more emotional competencies related to the aspect of others than for themselves during mentoring. A further analysis indicates that school principals develop more two dimensions of Emotional competencies: Identification and Understanding. The results also show that 77.26 % of respondents indicated that they developed emotional skills during mentoring.ConclusionThe results provided an understanding of the importance of emotional competencies in education, and specifically in school management. It also revealed the importance of emphasizing the role of mentoring in their development. To our knowledge, the questionnaire developed in this study is one of the first to measure the development of emotional competencies during a mentoring relationship.