Sacrifice: Psychodynamic,Cultural and Clinical Aspects

Noting that the topic of sacrifice has remained largely unaddressed in psychoanalytic literature, the authors offer a discussion of it. Their elucidation of sacrifice opens with the definition and etymology of the word and moves on to the place of sacrifice in various religious traditions. They then summarize Freud's views on the topic and suggest that the subsequent analytic contributions have gone in three directions: the first extends and modifies Freud's proposal of triadic-hostile origins of sacrifice, the second locates such origins in dyadic and loving relations, and the third seeks to synthesize the foregoing trends. The authors then delineate the triad of altruism, masochism, and narcissism that underlie sacrifice. They propose that a spectrum of phenomena, ranging from healthy to pathological, is subsumed under the rubric of sacrifice. They also discuss the significance of such ideas to the conduct of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.     

Understanding the Relationship Between State Forgiveness and Psychological Wellbeing: A Qualitative Study

Over the last 20 years, increasing attention has been given to associations between dispositional forgiveness and specific mental health problems. However, few studies have assessed whether forgiving real-life interpersonal hurts may be related to diverse psychological health outcomes. The present study addresses this gap by investigating, in depth, relationships between perceptions about state forgiveness and a variety of mental wellbeing outcomes as well as exploring perceptions about the factors that may modify such effects. Developing an understanding of a forgiveness wellbeing relationship is of relevance to healthcare workers, researchers and policy makers with an interest in improving public health. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analysed using grounded theory methods. From England and Ireland, eleven adults who were affiliated with religious/spiritual and secular/atheist groups were recruited using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Key themes that appeared to be related to the effects of unforgiveness were: increases in negative affect; reduction in cognitive abilities and barriers to psychological and social growth. For the majority of participants, state forgiveness had strong ties to participants perceived sense of mental wellbeing, including reductions in negative affect, feeling positive emotions, positive relations with others, spiritual growth, a sense of meaning and purpose in life as well as a greater sense of empowerment. The data also revealed a number of factors that may positively or negatively influence a forgiveness–wellbeing link such as: viewing an offender as spiritually similar or different, responsibility/karma, blaming, wanting restitution/apology as well as practices such as meditation and prayer. The findings suggest that forgiving a range of real-life interpersonal offences may be an important determinant of psychological wellbeing, particularly among religious/spiritual populations. Further research is, however, needed.     

Job burnout: toward an integration of two dominant resource-based models

The goal of this study was to integrate the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources model of job burnout into a unified theoretical framework. The data were collected through a mail questionnaire survey among nurses holding managerial positions in the Hospital Authority of Hong Kong. From a computer-generated random sample of nurses, 543 (84.3% women) returned usable surveys, amounting to a response rate of 24.2%. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed paths originating from job demands and job resources to the core job burnout dimensions, namely, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Results supported the integrated model, indicating that job demands and job resources had differing effects on the burnout dimensions. The effect of job demands was stronger and partially mediated the effect of job resources. Implications of the results from this study on management practices were discussed.     

The Immigrant, the Exile, and the Experience of Nostalgia

Resulting from a retrospective idealization of lost objects, nostalgia helps the immigrant defend against the aggression resulting from current frustrations. This experience is missing in the exile whose deeply traumatizing departure from his land of origin spoils whatever good memories of that land might exist within him. Retrospective idealization is not possible and the ego is deprived of the nostalgic defense. The psychoanalyst dealing with the immigrant's nostalgia must offer psychic space for its development while keeping an eye upon the hidden transference allusions in the nostalgic pleasure as well as upon its screen functions vis-à-vis aggression in the here and now. Psychoanalytic work with the exile requires a different slant. Empathy with how bad the land of origin was must precede for a long while before defenses against the emergence of nostalgia can be analyzed.     

The robustness of learning through overhearing

Two studies examined the robustness of vocabulary learning through overhearing by testing 48 2-year-olds in contexts in which a potentially distracting activity was present (Studies 1 and 2) and in which the novel word was embedded in a directive rather than a labeling statement (Study 2). The children were equally good at learning a novel object label when there was no distracting activity as when there was. They were also able to learn the word when the object was not explicitly labeled. These findings suggest that young children are keen observers of third-party interactions and that their linguistic input consists of more than just speech directly addressed to them.