Ancestral Voices, Spirits, and Magic: Dance a New Dance in the Family Therapy Room

Despite important moves toward reconciliation and dreams of a rainbow nation, the culture of violence impacts upon family and community life. This article is written within this context and more specifically within the writer's personal reflections on her practice of working as a family therapist in one of South Africa's largest black townships, Mdantsane. It challenges the relevance of first world theory and practice of family therapy in the third world context but is written in the first person and thus in the form of a reflective practitioner. The usefulness of the Milan approach is questioned and a move toward a social constructionist approach is favoured. The metaphor of dance and music is used to capture the dynamic interaction between client and therapist in the search for a relevant and respectful way of working with families in the South African context.     

Towards a State of Being Able to Play: Integrating Gestalt Concepts and Methods into a Psychodynamic Approach to Counselling

The possibility of establishing a rationale for integrating Gestalt concepts and methods into a psychodynamic approach to counselling is examined. Examples are drawn from the writer's current student counselling practice, and four positive indicators for the use of Gestalt are identified. Winnicott's insights on the importance of playing and creativity are seen as offering a significant link between the two therapeutic modes.

'Psychotherapy has to do with two people playing together. Where playing is not possible, then the work done by the therapist is directed towards bringing the patient from a state of not being able to play into a state of being able to play'. Winnicott (1974a. p. 44)     

Practice dating as treatment for college dating inhibitions

Thirty males and 30 females who volunteered for a program to increase dating skills were randomly assigned to a treatment group of six practice dates plus feedback, a treatment group of six practice dates only, or a delayed treatment control group. Within subject-specified constraints of height, age, race, and distance from campus, a computer randomly matched opposite sexed subjects for the six practice dates, each date with a different subject. After each practice date in the feedback condition, subjects completed forms calling for primarily positive comments about the partner. Forms were later exchanged via the experimenter. Outcome was assessed by self-report, self-monitoring, behavioral, and peer rating measures. Results indicated the superiority of treatment conditions over the control condition. Some evidence indicated superiority of the no feedback condition over the feedback condition. Evidence of maintenance of changes over a three-month follow-up period is provided.     

Number development in young children

This paper presents new data on children's acquisition of counting skills. Three aspects of counting were studied: the formation of the cardinality rule that the last number named during counting denotes the number of objects in an array, the mastery of the counting procedure or the coordination of ordered number names and objects counted, and the growth of the knowledge that x + 1 is greater than x. A model was outlined which posits the hierarchic integration of six number skills to account for the growth of the knowledge that x + 1 is greater than x and the development of number conservation. The six skills are: the cardinality rule, the counting procedure, acquisition of more x's, judgments of relative numerosity, pattern recognition of small numbers, and one-to-one correspondences.     

The behavioural treatment of sexual inadequacy: A comparative study

Thirty-six couples complaining of sexual difficulties were treated with one of three methods: (1) systematic desensitisation plus counselling. (2) directed practice—based on that of Masters and Johnson—plus counselling. (3) directed practice with minimal contact. Both members of each couple were seen together, but half in each treatment group were treated by a single therapist and half by a therapist pair. Differences in outcome among the groups were not highly significant, but consistent trends were found which suggested that the combination of directed practice and counselling was associated with most change, particularly when two therapists were involved.     

AIDS testing for employment purposes? facts and controversies

Employers are becoming directly involved in the AIDS crisis as the number of employees suffering from the disease grows. AIDS in the workplace raises a host of new questions, some of them highly controversial. This paper focuses on one such controversy—AIDS testing for employment purposes. Brief medical and legal overviews are provided before reviewing AIDS testing prevalence and diagnostic procedures. A number of arguments for and against AIDS testing for employment purposes are raised and examined against the facts. One of the conclusions is that AIDS test results are not a legally defensible basis for employment decisions. In light of this position, the paper ends with a discussion of employers' responsibilities in managing AIDS cases in the workplace.     

ELSI priorities for brain imaging

As one of the most compelling technologies for imaging the brain, functional MRI (fMRI) produces measurements and persuasive pictures of research subjects making cognitive judgments and even reasoning through difficult moral decisions. Even after centuries of studying the link between brain and behavior, this capability presents a number of novel significant questions. For example, what are the implications of biologizing human experience? How might neuroimaging disrupt the mysteries of human nature, spirituality, and personal identity? Rather than waiting for an ethical agenda to emerge from some unpredictable combination of the concerns of ethicists and researchers, the attention of journalists, or after controversy is sparked by research that cannot be retracted, we queried key figures in bioethics and the humanities, neuroscience, media, industry, and patient advocacy in focus groups and interviews. We identified specific ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that highlight researcher obligations and the nonclinical impact of the technology at this new frontier.     

An exploratory study of ethical values in nonprofit fundraising: survey of fundraising executives

An initial study used the Ethical Position Quotient in an extension of this measure from for-profit organizations to nonprofit organizations. Responses from professional fundraising executives for nonprofit organizations were generally more idealistic than relativistic regarding ethical decision-making. Additionally, in a comparison of the executives' answers to those of M.B.A. students, the students were significantly more relativistic and less idealistic than the nonprofit executives. On Forsyth's Taxonomy of Ethical Perspectives, approximately 20% of the students were absolutists versus 66% of the fundraising executives. Conversely, 70% of the M.B.A. students were situationists compared to only a third of the executives. This disparity in responses between these groups provides a rich and interesting platform for research.