Psychological support post-release of humanitarian workers taken hostage: the experience of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

ABSTRACT

Following release, former hostages face many challenges and may struggle to regain control over their lives. Research and evidence on how to effectively address the needs of hostages during their release and afterwards is lacking. The International Committee of the Red Cross has extensive experience in managing hostage situations and has strengthened the practice of care offered to its own affected staff by developing an inter-professional comprehensive seven phase care model adapted to incidents of extended duration with multiple stressors. This includes strong coordination between the different actors involved, combined with long-term peer, social and organisational support, as well as workplace reintegration with guidance by colleagues, and specialised counselling when necessary, to ensure positive outcomes, and minimise permanent sequelae.     

On the development of a benign superego- thoughts arising from psychoanalytical work with children and grownups

ABSTRACT

The human psyche unfolds through the internalization of the presence of the object; little by little the child makes the functions and characteristics of the object her own. Part of the internalization of the primary objects result in the superego formation. When the internalized object is reliably present, protecting and need fulfilling the superego will be formed into a benign inner structure, which has self-observing, self-regulatory and ideal forming functions. A good internal object lays the basis for a well- functioning and protective superego, whereas an object experienced as too distant and not there when needed results in internalizations which build a harsh and persecuting superego. The focus in this article is on the development of a benign superego.     

What do academics know and do about plagiarism? An interview study with Chinese university teachers of English

Previous research on plagiarism has increased awareness and knowledge of the various aspects of this issue, such as contributing factors to plagiarism, students’ and teachers’ perceptions of plagiarism, and institutional policies and regulations on plagiarism. Yet much of this research, especially on the latter two aspects, has been conducted in Anglo-American contexts or English-as-a-second-language (ESL) settings (where English is an official or important language in the larger societal context), while the diversity of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts (where English as a foreign language is largely used only in the language classroom) remains relatively under-researched. Of those studies that did focus on EFL contexts, the majority were based on survey data that were limited in the depth of information collected. To address this relative lack of in-depth understanding of how plagiarism is understood and acted against in EFL contexts, this paper reports on an interview study with 13 EFL teachers from 12 universities in mainland China. The study focused on the teachers’ knowledge and attitudes concerning plagiarism, plagiarism-related pedagogical practices, as well as perceived stances and expectations of their institutions in plagiarism prevention. Its findings contribute to the current knowledge base of EFL academics’ views and practices regarding plagiarism, add to our understanding of EFL teachers’ experiences concerning plagiarism in specific educational settings, and inform institutions’ efforts to develop and improve strategies and policies for preventing plagiarism.     

The strings on David’s Harp: religious ritual as a container for spirituality

ABSTRACT

Religion and spirituality have often been defined over against each other. The spontaneous, emotional and experiential nature of the spirit has been seen as preferential to the structured, fixed, and predictable nature of religious ritual. Religion education for children has moved away from the performance of ritual behaviour toward creating an environment to nurture the innate spiritual nature of children. This paper questions whether the pendulum has swung too far, neglecting rituals that have sustained religious and communal life for generations, and considers ways of reimagining traditional ritual as a way to encounter the spirit and build community.     

Mental health – a normal state?

ABSTRACT

How can we conceptualize mental health; what is the relation between mental health and normality; and what has psychoanalysis to say about these questions? After a short resume of the views concerning normality and melancholia in the last centuries, the author turns to Freud and Bion. For Freud, mental health at best seems to be a relatively mild neurotic state, and perfect mental health is an unattainable ideal. Bion underlines the dynamic nature of the concept; mental health comprehended as a process. Problems connected to the individual’s subjective view of his or her mental health are considered, and some consequences that the questions under discussion have for psychoanalytic treatment are discussed. The author concludes with a reflection on the complex relation between mental health and normality.     

On Sellars' exam question trilemma: are Kant's premises analytic,or synthetic a priori,or a posteriori?

ABSTRACT

Wilfrid Sellars argued that Kant’s account of the conceptual structures involved in experience can be given a linguistic turn so as to provide an analytic account of the resources a language must have in order to be the bearer of empirical knowledge. In this paper I examine the methodological aspects of Kant’s transcendental philosophy that Sellars took to be fundamental to influential themes in his own philosophy. My first aim here is to clarify and argue for the plausibility of what I claim is Sellars’ interpretation of Kant’s ‘analytic’ transcendental method in the first Critique, based ultimately on non-trivial analytic truths concerning the concept of an object of our possible experience. Kant’s ‘transcendental proofs’ thereby avoid a certain methodological trilemma confronting the candidate premises of any such proof, taken from Sellars’ 1970s undergraduate exam question on Kant. In part II of the essay I conclude by highlighting in general terms how Kant’s method, as interpreted in the analytic manner explained in part I, was adapted by Sellars to produce some of the more influential aspects of his own philosophy, expressed in terms of what he contends is their sustainable reformulation in light of the so-called linguistic turn in twentieth-century philosophy.