Development and Validation of the Xhosa Translations of the Beck Inventories: 3. Concurrent and Convergent Validity

This article provides data on the validity of the Xhosa versions of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (XBDI-II), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (XBHS) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (XBAI) based on a sample of 122 Xhosa respondents which included students and patients. For patients, clinicians completed rating scales of Depression and Anxiety symptoms. In tests of concurrent validity, depressed patients had significantly higher scores on the XBDI-II and XBHS than students or patients who were not depressed. Similarly anxious patients had higher scores on the XBAI than students and patients who were not anxious. Correlations with clinicians' ratings were:.91 for XBDI-II scores and depression ratings, and.88 for XBAI scores and anxiety ratings. Correlations between the three translated scales were similar to those for the original scales. These analyses provide evidence that the translated scales have levels of concurrent and convergent validity comparable to the originals.     

Jung's Breath-Body and African Spiritual Healing

Psychology essentially refers to the study and use (logos) of the breath, soul or spirit of life (psyche) that leaves a person at death and continues in some other form. From such a fundamental perspective, all forms of ancient and modern caring, helping and healing have their foundations in breath-based behaviour, experiences and spirituality. This article examines Jung's image of the breath-body or spirit-body in relation to various spiritual healing traditions with special focus on their source in African spiritual healing.     

HeartMath: a positive psychology paradigm for promoting psychophysiological and global coherence

This article proposes HeartMath as a positive psychology paradigm for promoting psychophysiological and global coherence . It provides evidence for the value of psychophysiological and global coherence, with special reference to human functioning through synchronisation between positive emotions, cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, immune and other physiological systems . Various HeartMath tools and techniques are described and evidence for their effectiveness provided, drawing from several related South African studies . Psychophysiological and global coherence bear promise as fertile fields for future research and intervention of great potential to develop humanity and promote global health and wellbeing.     

Ancestral Consciousness in the Zulu Culture: A Wilberian View

The aim of this research was to complement and advance Wilber's integral approach through an investigation into ancestral consciousness by the Zulu. Five isiZulu home language speakers (age range 33 to 56 years) and a sixth English speaking person were participant-researchers. Experiences of ancestral consciousness from individual, collective, subjective, objective, cultural and social perspectives were explored. Findings suggested that ancestral consciousness increased perceived spirituality as assessed on a standardized spirituality scale. It was also associated with immediate apprehensions of senior kinsmen, living and dead, of God and/or more generally of Spirit. Wilber's integral approach appears to hold explanatory value in non-Western culture.     

The study of religion in West Africa 1959–1969

Messianic Judaism is an American-born movement of congregations that hold evangelical beliefs and follow Jewish practices. Scholars have viewed it chiefly as a new religious movement (NRM) or a controversial branch of Judaism. As a result, they have downplayed or ignored its largely evangelical Christian base. The first study of ‘gentile believers,’ this article argues that Messianic Judaism is best understood through the lens of religious seeking, a trend usually associated with alternative spiritualities and still under-theorized vis-à-vis conservative Christians, like evangelicals. First, it traces why Messianic Judaism appeals to growing numbers of North American Christians. Second, and more broadly, it argues that seeking is a spiritually satisfying religious practice that, for evangelicals, reiterates central themes of born-again life. Their experiences also clarify the limits that may constrain religious seeking; they seek to deepen and actualize a biblical worldview in religious sites viewed as proximate to their own.     

On being dropped and picked up: adopted children and their internal objects

The field of adoption has changed over the past years from one where there were babies available for many adoptive couples to one where increasingly the children who are needing adoption are those who have already suffered deprivations and difficulties in their families of origin, with disrupted attachments and a consequent traumatizing effect of their early history on their internal worlds. Professionals working with these children, who have in effect been 'dropped', face the difficult task not only of placing them appropriately but of supporting their adoptive families. With the new experience of a secure base the original trauma may be reworked, and the new framework tested by these damaged and consequently often damaging children as they replay their feelings of being unwanted and unwantable. In describing once-weekly work with a 6-year-old adopted boy, I suggest that the primary disillusion of his neonatal experience caused an internal catastrophe which was then reworked in his adoptive placement. This child did not experience what Winnicott (1971) called 'gradual disillusion' in terms of his belief that he creates the needed breast, and thus integration of love and hate of the primary object, but remained in a state of hyper-vigilance because of the deficits in his internal world. These deficits have been able partially to be addressed in psychotherapy treatment.     

Gender,Social Disorganization Theory,and the Locations of Sexually Oriented Businesses

Communities are increasingly developing zoning ordinances for sexually oriented businesses based on presumed negative “secondary effects.” Utilizing social disorganization theory, this study examines neighborhood differences among three types of sexually oriented businesses. Based on census-tract data from four urban Texas counties, findings show that census tracts with only adult sexuality boutiques, which primarily market to women consumers, are significantly more socially organized than census tracts with only adult entertainment clubs, only adult bookstores, and more than one type of adult business. This suggests that the gendered nature of sexual consumerism also has implications for the locations of these businesses.     

The Preoedipal Development of the Critical Superego and Its Manifestations in Psychoanalytic Group Psychotherapy

Alexithymia is a psychic dysfunction in which symbolic thinking and fantasy are reduced, somatization is common, feelings are poorly communicated, empathy is impaired, and intimate interpersonal relations are difficult to maintain. Individuals with significant alexithymia may have a variety of psychiatric disorders but their psychotherapy should always be informed by an awareness of their alexithymia. This paper reviews the concept and details the most efficient means of psychotherapy for alexithymic patients. Ideal treatment for such patients maximizes their opportunities to learn while protecting their self-esteem and minimizing nonproductive stress. Such treatment involves concurrent individual and group psychotherapy. Clinical material is presented and specific therapeutic maneuvers are explored.     

Innovating With the Model of Human Occupation in Mental Health

This article describes a new approach in a group of National Health Service trusts in the United Kingdom. The assessment and intervention were focused on using the Model of Human Occupation in Mental Health services. An occupation focused assessment and intervention protocol were developed based on the Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool Single-Observation Form (MOHOST-SOF). The aim was to develop a guide to treatment and monitoring to support efficient practice while maintaining an occupation and client-centered focus. Implementation has been successful to date.