Studying communication between community pharmacists and their customers

We discuss research issues within the field of pharmacist-customer communication in the light of the recently recommended extended role of the community pharmacist as a source of information about health and illness. The discussion focusses on possible ways in which the literature on doctor-patient communication might provide a useful initial framework for research into pharmacist-customer communication. We illustrate the discussion with reports of three exploratory studies, and consider the feasibility and value of carrying out further work within this framework.     

The Experiences of Indigenous Australian Psychologists at University

Disparities exist between Indigenous Australians and non‐Indigenous Australians on indicators of life expectancy, alcohol and drug use, adult and juvenile incarceration, and rates of hospitalisation for self‐harm, suicide, and mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use. Psychology is a discipline that can assist in remedying these issues, yet disparities are evident in Indigenous participation in higher education generally, as well as within tertiary psychology education specifically. Ten Indigenous Australian psychologists were interviewed to investigate possible barriers and enablers for Indigenous students studying psychology at university. Hermeneutic phenomenology guided the research and its analysis, whereby the data went through a process known as the “hermeneutic circle”; data were analysed in itself, as well as part of the whole, leading to the world views of the participant and researcher converging into a “horizon of meaning.” Sources of support for Indigenous students included family support, financial assistance, and Indigenous student support centres. Potential barriers to university study of psychology were negative conceptions of higher education and psychology by the Indigenous community, “culture shock” upon relocating to the metropolitan area, a lack of Indigenous content and staff, and culturally insensitivity by staff members. Efforts should be made to address these barriers to participation, as well as to support those structures and services that were supportive for students.     

The role played by Gerhard Adler in the development of analytical psychology internationally and in the UK

The Jungian analyst Gerhard Adler left Berlin and re‐settled in London in 1936. He was closely involved with the professionalization of analytical psychology internationally and in the UK, including the formation of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) and The Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP).The tensions that arose within the latter organization led to a split that ended in the formation of the Association of Jungian Analysts (AJA). A further split at AJA resulted in the creation of another organization, the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists (IGAP). Adler's extensive publications include his role as an editor of Jung's Collected Works and as editor of the C.G. Jung Letters.     

The Self’s Symbolic Role in Implicit Approach/Avoidance: Movement Time Evidence

Theories of self-regulation emphasize the special role that the symbolic self may play in approach and avoidance movements, but experimental evidence is lacking. In two experiments (total N = 157), participants moved either a self-relevant (e.g., “me”) or non-self (e.g., “not me”) agent to one of two locations, one occupied by a positive word and the other occupied by a negative word. In both experiments, the movement agent interacted with the destination valence such that it was only the symbolic self that moved more quickly to positive rather than negative locations. These results established a role for the symbolic self in approach/avoidance that had been questioned, thereby supporting both classic and contemporary self-related theories of approach and avoidance.     

A Tale of Two Congresses: The Psychological Study of Psychical,Occult, and Religious Phenomena, 1900–1909

In so far as researchers viewed psychical, occult, and religious phenomena as both objectively verifiable and resistant to extant scientific explanations, their study posed thorny issues for experimental psychologists. Controversies over the study of psychical and occult phenomena at the Fourth Congress of International Psychology (Paris, 1900) and religious phenomena at the Sixth (Geneva, 1909) raise the question of why the latter was accepted as a legitimate object of study, whereas the former was not. Comparison of the Congresses suggests that those interested in the study of religion were willing to forego the quest for objective evidence and focus on experience, whereas those most invested in psychical research were not. The shift in focus did not overcome many of the methodological difficulties. Sub‐specialization formalized distinctions between psychical, religious, and pathological phenomena; obscured similarities; and undercut the nascent comparative study of unusual experiences that had emerged at the early Congresses.     

Sisyphus,happiness and transcendence

What is the relation between transcendence and happiness? What type of transcendence can still be part of the concept happiness in our modern age? To answer these questions, I analyse the myth of Sisyphus from the existentialist perspective of Albert Camus, and investigate whether Sisyphus is (or can be) ‘truly’ happy and what role transcendence plays in this kind of happiness. This prompts a question about the relation between the concepts transcendence, meaning of life, and happiness. Taking Sisyphus as an exemplar, I argue that, although our contemporary culture has a flattening tendency regarding transcendence, various types of transcendence remain inextricably related to happiness.