Surviving and Thriving After Trauma and Loss

Abstract

Individuals and their communities experience trauma and loss during times of natural disaster. Using Hurricane Katrina as a context, the authors provide an overview of the phases of disaster coping and discuss the ambiguous losses that can occur during these traumatic and life-changing times. The use of rituals as a creative intervention is introduced to help individuals and families facilitate their grief processes.     

Perspectives on the New Orleans Saints as a Vehicle for the Installation of Hope,Post Katrina

Abstract

The author discusses the effectiveness of popular culture as a tool for the instillation of hope within a community, using as an example the ways in which a National Football League team galvanized the residents of New Orleans in the 18 months following Hurricane Katrina. This article posits that the Saints supplied an impetus for transcendence and healing both individually and communally.     

Finding a Way Back Home: A Spirituality of Exile after Hurricane Katrina

Three years ago breath took the form of Hurricane Katrina and passed through our bodies and our lives, leaving us forever changed. We all breathed her, but for those of us living on the Gulf Coast our encounter with Katrina was more intimate, our breathing more conscious, our memory more charged, our lives forever changed. My story takes me from the winds of Hurricane Katrina blasting through the Gulf Coast, through the tube of a machine that helped keep my son’s lung expanded, through the Sinai dessert and the valley of the dry bones, through the in-between spaces of grounded groundlessness, to the forests and rivers of the Berskhire Mountains, where I have relocated and started my life over. My spiritual journey “home” is a dynamic story of Earth, wind, fire, water, flesh, and Spirit.     

Genetic Counseling: Clinical Geneticists' Views

Evaluation of genetic counseling requires a clear consensus about its objectives, which is not evident in published definitions and guidelines. This study aims to investigate clinical geneticists' beliefs and thoughts about their practice. Structured interviews with eight clinical geneticists addressed the aims, skills, and expectations of genetic counseling. Analysis of transcribed interviews revealed four key themes, with contradictory aspects: 1. Providing information that is objective, full, and accurate versus information that is contingent on circumstances and tailored to individual needs. 2. Eliciting emotion and dealing with it directly versus dampening down and containing emotion. 3. Communicating nondirectively versus directively. 4. Expecting to perform a range of sophisticated tasks while having minimal training in the necessary skills to achieve these. These results have implications for the nature of the professional role, the development of training required for it, and the evaluation of genetic counseling.     

Facing the Music

Abstract

This article outlines how group practitioners can harness creative strategies to assist addicted clients in verbalizing and addressing the losses associated with addictive disorders. This article overviews the implementation of an experiential process that includes a warm up activity, a psychodrama, and utilization of empty chair techniques to address addiction related grief and loss. In addition, these models assist clients to discuss change and healing from the interpersonal devastation of addiction. Finally, the appropriate use and timing of these models are discussed and a case study is included to illustrate these principles in action.     

Using Relational-Cultural Theory to Conceptualize Couple Interventions in the Treatment of Sex Addiction

ABSTRACT

Sex addictions have become an increasing concern since the growth of the sex industry, sex in advertising, and the ease of Internet access to sex. This article uses the foundational principles of Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) to conceptualize sexual addiction and its relational impact. Particular attention is paid to the principles of connection, mutuality, authenticity, power, and culture. In closing, the author offers some creative interventions for relational transformation for affected couples in order to move from a state of disconnection towards mutuality, growth, and connection.     

Use of Film in Undergraduate Human Services: Understanding the Addiction and Recovery Process

ABSTRACT

Steady growth of the addiction field requires human service education programs to prepare competent professionals who can successfully engage in addiction practice. Competency in addiction practice requires human service students to develop an objective understanding of the relapse prevention and recovery process. Though research supports the use of media tools in the classroom, its use in developing addiction intervention competencies in human service students is unknown. The authors present an exploration of the film 28 Days as an addiction recovery teaching tool and discuss students’ understanding of recovery and relapse prevention. Implications for addiction and human service education are also presented.     

现代城市灾难结构与心理反应特点

城市灾难在给现代城市带来巨大破坏和影响的同时,对人们心理的冲击也是巨大的。本文分析了现代城市灾难的结构、阶段以及与之相对应的群体心理特征,以近年来国内外发生的城市危机案例为佐证,说明了心理干预在灾难应对中的重要作用,并提出3点启示:(1)政府部门要建立一套权威信息预警、发布机制;(2)增强民众素质,减少盲目从众心理;(3)重视社会力量在心理干预中的作用。