Health Perceptions and Anxiety Sensitivity in Patients with Panic Disorder

Separate lines of research indicate that patients with panic disorder display negative perceptions of physical health and elevated fear of autonomic arousal. Because health perceptions and anxiety sensitivity may be related, the present study evaluated the degree to which these constructs can be distinguished in patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder (N = 44). Perceived health, anxiety sensitivity, and the clinical features of panic disorder were assessed at pretreatment and following 12 sessions of cognitive–behavioral treatment. Findings consistently indicated that perceived health and anxiety sensitivity can be meaningfully differentiated. Perceived physical health was only moderately associated with anxiety sensitivity, and each was uniquely associated with pretreatment symptomatology and posttreatment end-state functioning. Perceived physical health appears to be a clinically useful index in the overall evaluation of panic disorder and is readily distinguishable from anxiety sensitivity.     

The Gift Economy of Direct Transnational Civic Action: How Reciprocity and Inequality Are Managed in Religious “Partnerships”

How does religion help facilitate civic action in transnational contexts characterized by material inequality and spatial separation? Short‐term mission (STM) travel, a popular activity among U.S. religious groups, exemplifies a recently emerged form of transnational civic action characterized by face‐to‐face, decentralized, pragmatic activity. Our research analyzes how participants in STM‐based relationships manage inequality while pursuing an ideal of partnership across distance. We match data from a mixed methods study of Arizona congregations that produce STM travel with interview data from foreign religious organizations that host STM travelers in El Salvador. We engage gift exchange theory (GET) to show how a discursive repertoire combines with organized gift exchange practices to manage inequality and produce partnership in STM‐based relationships. Our data provide evidence of a unique cultural process, the spiritualization of reception, which emerges during gift reciprocation. This process converts unequal material gifts from foreign hosts into spiritual understanding among STM travelers, stabilizing status indebtedness that could threaten a partnership. This research increases knowledge of STM travel, shows how gift exchange structures can facilitate transnational religious partnerships, and suggests ways to use GET to understand transnational civic action in general.     

A Poetic Path from Melancholy to Mourning: Robert Lowell's Elegies as Case Study

This essay builds on a previous one in this journal (Cole, 2005) that details how reading elegiac poetry, the poetry of mourning, may be a pastoral resource for complicated grief or what is classically termed melancholia. A study of elegies by poet Robert Lowell (1917–1977), which depict a progression from melancholia to more “typical” mourning, demonstrates how thinking and writing in elegiac terms may offer a similar resource, whether for one's own melancholia or that of persons in one's care. Allan Hugh Cole, Jr. is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.     

Toward understanding understanding: The importance of feeling understood in relationships

People want to be understood by others, yet their perceptions of being understood are only modestly related to actually being understood by others. In this article, we provide an integrative theoretical model and review of research on the processes that contribute to feeling understood and misunderstood by others. The model highlights situational, dispositional, and relational factors that influence feeling understood and underscores the importance of feeling understood for relationship and personal well‐being. We also clarify definitional and measurement issues that have impeded progress in prior research.     

Mystical Experience Among Tibetan Buddhists: The Common Core Thesis Revisited

In the study of mysticism the debate has centered on whether a universal experiential core exists regardless of religious interpretation. The current investigation combines Jamesian empiricist and social constructivist perspectives to argue that stable experiential facets load variously on factors to construct local interpretations. Local interpretations reflect a family resemblance—a mystical common core experienced across cultures. Results of confirmatory factor analyses, based on data from 240 Tibetan Buddhist adults, suggest statistical model fit and superiority for the three‐factor model compared to the unidimensional model. Pure experience can be distinguished explicitly from its context‐specific hermeneutical construal.     

A Critical Analysis of Approaches to the Development of Preventive Interventions for Subcultural Groups

The ultimate success of preventive interventions relies on their ability to engage and influence the growing presence of subcultural groups. To encourage and guide the development of effective preventive intervention for subcultural groups, four approaches are described, illustrated, and critiqued with respect to their considerations of cultural fit, reach, efficacy and adoption. Those approaches are (a) the prevention research cycle, (b) cultural adaptations of evidence-based interventions, (c) investigator-initiated culturally-grounded approaches, and (d) community-initiated indigenous approaches. Special attention is given to recent advances in the specification of stages in the cultural adaptation of interventions. The paper closes with some conclusions and topics in need of greater attention.     

Translating Career Theory to Practice: The Risk of Unintentional Social Injustice

An important aspect of social justice involves ensuring that effective career guidance is readily accessible to all citizens. The career theory used to guide the delivery of career services can contribute to or detract from social justice. This article examines the translation of career theory to practice, the effectiveness of career interventions, and access to career guidance. Collaborative career counseling is presented as an intervention to improve access to career services.