The effect of trauma on the conductor of the group: a type of identificatory countertransference

Trauma affects the conductor of the group as well as the group members. This identificatory countertransference of the group conductor is a resultant of the coming together of the conductor's internal and external worlds, the interplay of introjections, projections, and empathy. It is inconceivable that a conductor of a group can project a "blank screen " of technical neutrality when trauma impinges upon everyone. From a psychodynamic perspective, this article explores groups under the throes of trauma, the interplay of that trauma with the conductor's feelings, and the effects on his or her role in the group. The article also explores the effect of trauma upon the affective process within the group and upon the cognitive processes of the conductor and group members.     

Spiritualising the Sacred: A Critique of Feminist Theology

This article submits feminist theology to a two-pronged theological critique. First, the article notes the overwhelmingly critical nature of feminist theology, and suggests that this concentration on critique at the expense of construction is itself a weakness of feminist theology. Further, it argues that the feminist critique tends to construe Christianity in a way which distorts the more complex realities of the faith, placing too much emphasis on the textual nature of Christianity. Second, the article argues that feminist attempts to construct new theologies are flawed because of their dependence upon the contentious notion of 'women's experience' and their consequent failure to engage with the traditional resources of theology. The article concludes with the suggestion that much feminist theology is dependent upon an influential post-Christian strand of religiosity, and that it uncritically appropriates the latter's unhelpfully individualistic, monistic and idealist stance.     

Dramatising the 'Health and Wealth Gospel': Belief and practice of a neo-Pentecostal 'Faith' ministry

The 'health and prosperity gospel' of the so-called 'Faith ministries' can be regarded as one of the fastest growing religious movements on a global scale. This article seeks to explore the symbolic significance of the healing practices of this distinct form of neo-Pentecostalism originating in North America. The principal emphasis is upon their healing meetings and the dramatisation of the core beliefs and values of one typical Faith ministry. The article is based upon ethnographic research and presents a comment on the nature of some contemporary forms of evangelical Christianity that bring a syncretic mixture of fundamentalism and this-worldly concerns.     

Wholism in the family: Implications for the church from a Jungian perspective

The article examines the influence of the over emphasis upon selfactualization, hedonism and individualism in the American family today. The result has been the submergence of the wholistic function of the family which not only includes self-actualization and individuation, but also intimacy, self-surrender, and commitment. In this context, the article emphasizes a wholistic approach to families within the church and draws upon Jungian psychology for its direction.     

Forensic psychology in the Czech republic

The article discusses the field of Forensic Psychology in Czech Republic. It concentrates upon the successes and stagnations of the field, which can be attributed to the political and historical development of the country. After a brief historical background and demographic information, the article introduces the history and structure of the police force and prison service. The article then moves on to discuss the history and publication development of the field of Forensic Psychology and its use in practice. It characterizes the field from its beginnings between the two wars, to the activities of the Research Institute of Penology from 1967 to1980 and the years following the political change of 1989. The article concludes with the law framework within which the field operates. Based upon this summary of the situation in Czech republic, the author makes an assessment of the status of Forensic Psychology in Czech republic, especially in terms of conducting research for the practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sexual Justice and the Sceptical Feminist

ABSTRACT The article considers various arguments put forward, on the subject of 'sexual justice', by Janet Radcliffe Richards in her book, The Sceptical Feminist: a Philosophical Enquiry. These arguments rest upon a version of 'the difference principle', and owe much to the exposition of this principle by John Rawls. It is argued that Radcliffe Richards fails to support her argument for sexual justice by reference to the difference principle. Indeed, it is argued that reliance by Radcliffe Richards upon this principle vitiates her advocacy of sexual justice. The article concludes by putting forward an obvious alternative to the difference principle; and with a suggestion as to why Radcliffe Richards fails to acknowledge the strength of this alternative.     

Suggestion,persuasion and work: Psychotherapies in communist Europe

Abstract

This article traces what recent research and primary sources tell us about psychotherapy in Communist Europe, and how it survived both underground and above the surface. In particular, I will elaborate on the psychotherapeutic techniques that were popular across the different countries and language cultures of the Soviet sphere, with a particular focus upon the Cold War period. This article examines the literature on the mixed fortunes of psychoanalysis and group therapies in the region. More specifically, it focuses upon the therapeutic modalities such as work therapy, suggestion and rational therapy, which gained particular popularity in the Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The latter two approaches had striking similarities with parallel developments in behavioural and cognitive therapies in the West. In part, this was because clinicians on both sides of the ‘iron curtain’ drew upon shared European traditions from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nevertheless, this article argues that in the Soviet sphere, those promoting these approaches appropriated socialist thought as a source of inspiration and justification, or at the very least, as a convenient political shield.     

A note on factor analysis by the method of principal axes

The resolution of a set of variables into principal components may be performed upon variables having arbitrary variances, or upon variables obtained from these by reduction of all variances to unity. The two procedures do not yield the same results even if the principal components are reduced to unit variance in both cases, except when the original variances are all equal.This article was written while the author was on a W.P.A. project at Teacher's College, Columbia University.     

Quality circles in the United States: a conceptual reevaluation

Faced with industrial decline, American managers have begun searching for strategies for increasing productivity. Recent attention has focused on Japanese management practices, particularly on quality circles (QCs). Drawing upon social science research, this article evaluates the assumptions behind QCs implemented in the United States. The authors present a conceptual analysis that indicates possible reasons for the differing rates of success for QCs in Japan and the U.S. The article also makes suggestions for the effective implementation of American QCs.     

Culturally sensitive therapy? Examining the practice of cross‐cultural family therapy

This article is drawn from a research project that examines cross‐cultural family therapy sessions in order to consider what constitutes culturally sensitive practice. A discourse analytic approach was adopted in the analysis of three sessions from two families where the family and the therapists originated from different ethnic backgrounds. This article is based around part of the research findings connected to one of the families, and focuses upon the ways in which ‘culture’ is talked about in therapy (the term ‘culture’ will be referred to in inverted commas in order to acknowledge its complexity as is emphasized in this article). This allows for an examination of the cultural assumptions that we hold as therapists, which are enacted in therapy with effects on all participants and upon the course of the therapy. The value of qualitative research methods in examining the cultural assumptions we bring to therapy is highlighted as one way of improving culturally sensitive therapeutic practice, especially with regard to therapist reflexivity.     

Bereavement following suicide: A review of the literature

This article summarizes findings from studies concerned with the impact of a suicidal death upon surviving relatives. The limitations of currently available data are discussed, and the need for further research is emphasized. The research for this article was instigated by, and supported by, a grant from Cruse, the National Organisation for the Widowed and their Children. The author is a member of this organization’s Research Sub-Committee. I am indebted to Dr. Dora Black and Dr. Colin Murray Parkes for allowing me access to their collections of papers on bereavement and for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.     

Community without memory? In search of an ecclesiology of liberation in the company of people with dementia

The increasing prevalence of dementia among members of the Christian Churches prompts a re-evaluation of Christian ecclesiology. This is particularly true for the ecclesiology born of the theologies of liberation, because of the emphasis it places upon conscious participation in the historical life of the community. The present article draws on stories of people with dementia as recorded by themselves and those close to them; by reflection upon these stories, it seeks to re-think the character of the Church in the face of this challenge, and so to offer a richer interpretation of its identity as a community of liberation.     

Teaching What I'm Not: Embodiment,Race, and Theological Conversation in the Classroom

This article examines the theoretical and practical concerns of a White professor who teaches a course on African American religious thought. It begins with a discussion of what it means to be embodied White, and how that affects the teaching of another embodied reality. From there it moves to the major assignment of the course, the evolutionary essay, and how this assignment facilitates student reflection upon their own embodied existence, particularly in terms of race. The article concludes with a brief reflection on the continuing challenges the author faces when teaching such a course.     

On Qualifying Religious Literacy: Recent Debates on Higher Education and Religious Studies in Japan

This article describes and analyzes controversies in Japan brought about by an intercollegiate educational project on religion. The project team, consisting of selected members of the Japanese Association for Religious Studies and the Japanese Association for the Study of Religion and Society, has been planning a new system for qualifying undergraduates as “specialists in religious cultures” (shūkyō‐bunkasi). It is anticipated that students with this qualification will be engaged in various occupations that require knowledge of different cultures. The project reflects an increased awareness that the academic study of religion should play a social role and be recognized as worthwhile by the public. This article will focus upon the academic and pedagogical challenges that the project members faced in the process of planning a system to assess and qualify students’ literacy in religious traditions. It will argue that religious literacy involves the dynamic ability to put knowledge into practice as well as to reflect continuously upon previously acquired knowledge.     

Affective geographies in pandemic times: An intersectional analysis of women's wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article builds upon and extends a growing body of literature focused on how the pandemic has shifted human relations with space, place, and wellbeing. Working at the intersection of pandemic and feminist geographies, we focus on how the reconceptualizing of familiar spaces and places during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted women's embodied, affective, and subjective experiences of wellbeing. Drawing upon interviews with 38 women from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds living in Aotearoa New Zealand during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we detail the emergence of different spatial arrangements and affective relations with familiar spaces and places (i.e., domestic, nature, and digital spaces). We then explain how these emergent affective and spatial relations prompted new understandings of wellbeing. The article also highlights the multiplicities of women's subjective experiences of wellbeing as shaped by their varied socio-cultural positionings in relation to pandemic geographies.     

Getting Even or Getting Equal? Retributive Desires and Transitional Justice

This article examines the effect that different policy interventions of transitional justice have on the desires of the victims of human rights violations for retribution. The retributive desires assessed in this article are conceptualized as individual, collective, and abstract demands for the imposition of a commensurate degree of suffering upon the offender. We suggest a plausible way of reducing victims' retributive desires. Instead of "getting even" in relation to the suffering, victims and perpetrators may "get equal" in relation to their respective statuses, which were affected by political crimes. The article hypothesizes that the three classes of transitional justice: (1) reparation that empowers victims by financial compensation, truth telling, and social acknowledgment; (2) retribution that inflicts punishment upon perpetrators; and (3) reconciliation that renews civic relationship between victims and perpetrators through personal contact, apology, and forgiveness; each contributes to restoring equality between victims and perpetrators, and in so doing decreases the desires that victims have for retribution. In order to test our hypotheses, we conducted a survey of former political prisoners in the Czech Republic. Results from the regression analysis reveal that financial compensation, social acknowledgement, punishment, and forgiveness are likely to reduce victims' retributive desires.     

The use of structured multi-domain job analysis for the construction of assessment center methods and procedures

This article addresses the defensibility of the assessment center based on a content oriented validation strategy. One reason for the confusion in this area is the fact that there are no agreed upon methods for constructing the assessment procedures. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe how structured multi-domain job analysis information can be used to develop an assessment center which is well grounded with regard to content validity.