“Containing the Uncontainable”: The Return of the Phantom and its Reconfiguration in Ethnonational Conflict Resolution

A phenomenologically informed psychoanalytic praxis for framing and conducting ethnonational conflict resolution in fractured communities is presented. When conducted with care, it begins with the polarization of each side in the conflict and continues into a second phase where the antagonism changes into the negotiation of paradox, irony and multiplicity of positions. Third, the crossing of mental borders with trepidation follows. Fourth, an ethic of responsibility, where common ground is sought brings closure to the process. A plea for humility, however, is required of practitioner scholars of conflict resolution because there is invariably a phantom that threatens to be resurrected to derail what at one time looked like success long after the work is formally completed. The return of the phantom requires practitioners to seriously consider implications for follow-up.     

How forgiveness,purpose, and religiosity are related to the mental health and well-being of youth: A review of the literature

Youth today often face challenges that can undermine important opportunities to achieve their full potential in school, in the workplace, in relationships, and within themselves. This article reviews the literature addressing certain personal qualities that have shown promise in the promotion of youth resilience against such threats. More specifically, the values of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity are considered. The purpose of this literature review is to bring attention to the promise that this body of research has shown and to encourage the continued empirical study of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity, particularly within the realm of youth mental health and well-being. First, operational definitions of these constructs are discussed. This is followed by discussion of theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the benefits of strongly upholding values related to forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity during youth. Finally, practical implications and directions for future research are offered.     

Jonathan Martin: Prophet and incendiary

Jonathan Martin was a fundamentalist itinerant Christian preacher. Outraged by the laxity of Church of England clergy and inspired by prophetic dreams, he set fire to York Minster in 1829. At his trial for this capital offence, medical expert witnesses argued that Jonathan Martin was suffering from monomania and he was incarcerated for the rest of his life in Bethlem Hospital. This paper reviews the medico-legal use of the insanity defence in cases of religious motives for grave offences from the early 19th Century, and describes the millenarian climate of the period as well as the phenomenon of biblical exegesis and prophecy. Finally, the case of a contemporary bible-inspired arsonist is reviewed and his medical mitigation and 'disposal' is compared with that of Jonathan Martin.     

Gricean Belief Change

One of the standard principles of rationality guiding traditional accounts of belief change is the principle of minimal change: a reasoner's belief corpus should be modified in a minimal fashion when assimilating new information. This rationality principle has stood belief change in good stead. However, it does not deal properly with all belief change scenarios. We introduce a novel account of belief change motivated by one of Grice's maxims of conversational implicature: the reasoner's belief corpus is modified in a minimal fashion to assimilate exactly the new information. In this form of belief change, when the reasoner revises by new information p ∨ q their belief corpus is modified so that p∨q is believed but stronger propositions like p∧q are not, no matter what beliefs are in the reasoner's initial corpus. We term this conservative belief change since the revised belief corpus is a conservative extension of the original belief corpus given the new information.     

Derived stimulus--response and stimulus--stimulus relations in children and adults: assessing training order effects

Preschool children and adults received training on three sets of successive discriminations: (1) A1-R1,A2-R2, (2) B1-R1,B2-R2, and (3) A1-R3,A2-R4. Then they received tests assessing derived stimulus-response relations (B1-R3, B2-R4) and stimulus-stimulus relations (e.g., A1-B1, A2-B2). Four training protocols were used. The protocols differed with regard to the order in which the sets were trained: Many-To-One (1-2-3), One-To-Many-1 (1-3-2), One-To-Many-2 (3-1-2), and One-To-One (3-2-1 or 2-3-1). The adults displayed class-consistent B-R and A-B performances over all conditions. The children displayed class consistent B-R performances more often in Many-To-One and One-To-Many than in One-To-One. Their A-B performances were highly consistent with the trained A-R and tested B-R performances. Present findings are consistent with the stimulus equivalence account rather than with the mediated response account.     

Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social,emotional, and academic learning

A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be knowledgeable, responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring, and contributing citizens. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention and youth development programs. Yet, the current impact of these programs is limited because of insufficient coordination with other components of school operations and inattention to implementation and evaluation factors necessary for strong program impact and sustainability. Widespread implementation of beneficial prevention programming requires further development of research-based, comprehensive school reform models that improve social, health, and academic outcomes; educational policies that demand accountability for fostering children's full development; professional development that prepares and supports educators to implement programs effectively; and systematic monitoring and evaluation to guide school improvement.     

PARENT EDUCATION PROJECT II. INCREASING STIMULATING INTERACTIONS OF DEVELOP MENTALLY HANDICAPPED MOTHERS

Two studies are reported on the assessment and training of parent-child interactional skills in developmentally handicapped mothers. Study 1 compared the interactions of eight developmentally handicapped versus eight nonhandicapped mothers during play with their young (6–25 months) children. Results showed that the former group generally interacted much less with their children and that they were less likely to praise appropriate child behavior and imitate child vocalizations. Study 2 attempted to remediate these deficits, using a training package consisting of discussion, modeling, feedback, social reinforcement, and self-recording. Results showed, first, that the training did increase the targeted skills to well within the range found for the nonhandicapped mothers. Second, training effects generalized from the group instructional setting to the mothers' own homes. Third, newly acquired skills were generally maintained at or above levels found for the nonhandicapped mothers over a 5- to 10-month follow-up period. Finally, all seven children showed increases in vocalizations concomitant with parent training. The results suggest that developmentally handicapped mothers can be taught to provide more effective and stimulating interactions to their young children.     

The therapeutic value in the autopsy request

Recently the number of autopsies performed in the United States has declined. Although the benefits of the autopsy for physicians are many, we maintain, based on our own experiences, that it helps them accept the reality of loss of a loved one and enables them to begin the process of letting go. Realization of the therapeutic value of the autopsy request should enable those who work with the recently bereaved, such as physicians and clergy, to fulfill more effective roles.