From Noosphere to Theosphere: Cyclotrons, Cyberspace, and Teilhard's Vision of Cosmic Love

Two theme–setting quotations introduce this essay—that of Yeats's falcon, deaf to the falconer's call, adrift in space above the blood–dimmed tide, counterpoised to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's call to abandon old nationalistic prejudices and build the earth. With primary references to the thought of Teilhard, along with, among others, to Ewert Cousins, Andrew M. Greeley, Karl Jaspers, Marshall McLuhan, Ilya Prigogine, Karl Rahner, Leonard Swidler, David Tracy, and Alfred North Whitehead, I argue that the most crucial intellectual paradigm shift of the twenty–first century will challenge humanity to take the turn from uncritical attachment to rigid absolutism or atomistic fragmentation toward a sense of open–ended, off–centered centeredness and fluid connections—from a static to a dynamic model of reality. Central to my argument is the Teilhardian reinterpretation of the Christian metaphors of creation, fall, incarnation, salvation, and the eschaton in the evolutionary terms of the emergence of cosmic consciousness from the chrysalis of the world of the past—from chaos to order, from biosphere via noosphere to theosphere. Facilitated by the exponential growth of populations, collaborative research, science, technology, and global communication (most dramatically manifested by the Internet), this emergent understanding of what it means to be human can, first, foster the awareness that in humanity evolution has become conscious of itself, and then, gradually, precipitate the formation of “the global village” (the mystical body of Christ), as respectful dialogue replaces diatribe and the dualistic pugilism of Samuel Huntington's “Clash of Civilizations” is gradually transformed into a nonadversarial mentality that values shared humanity and a common purpose. Thus, eons hence, empowered by love–energy, the transmutation of the human into the ultra–human can take the ultimate quantum leap into a yet higher dimension where spirit/energy is no longer in need of flesh/mass, and Earth can be safely left behind.     

中学教师处理学生心理健康问题策略特点探析

采用问卷法考察了268名中学教师在厌学、退缩行为、自我中心、攻击性行为和考试焦虑五种问题情境下教师对处理学生心理健康问题的策略有效性和使用可能性的评定以及性别、教龄因素对教师评定策略有效性的影响。结果表明:(1)中学教师处理学生心理健康问题策略具有情境性,教师对处理学生心理健康问题的策略的有效性的认可和真正在具体情境中采取的策略不尽相同。在厌学和退缩行为情境中,教师倾向于认为情感关爱型策略更有效;自我中心情境中,行为疏导型策略更有效;攻击行为情境中,惩罚约束型策略更有效;在焦虑情境中,言语疏导型策略更有效。在采用可能性的评定中,对学生的厌学、退缩行为、自我中心和焦虑问题,教师都更倾向于采用言语疏导型策略;在攻击行为情境中,教师更倾向于采用行为疏导型策略。(2)与性别相比,教龄是影响教师评定处理学生心理健康问题策略有效性的较为敏感的变量。在厌学情境中,20年以上教龄的教师认为责任转移型策略和情感关爱型策略更有效;在自我中心情境中,20年以上教龄的教师认为责任转移型策略更有效。     

Treatment Adherence in Children with Sickle Cell Disease: Disease-Related Risk and Psychosocial Resistance Factors

To identify disease-related risk factors and psychosocial resistance factors that impact adherence to prescribed treatment in the context of admission to a Hematology Acute Care Unit (HACU) designed to provide acute care for children with sickle cell disease (SCD) presenting with pain or fever. A total of 73 primary caregivers and 24 children (if age 8 or older) completed standardized forms during the HACU admission. Treatment adherence variables (medical staff rating, SCD-related care activities, percentage of agreement between treatment recommendations made and care activities, and attendance at hematology clinic) indicated moderate-to-high adherence. Based on regression analyses, the risk variable of disease-related stress and the resistance variables of family flexibility and less reliance on passive coping accounted for significant portions of the variance in treatment adherence. Empirical evaluation of interventions designed to improve communication regarding expectations for the care of children with SCD and to support active family problem solving during times of SCD-related stress must be ongoing.     

Double bind: An essay on counselling training

Gerard Egan's problem management and opportunity development model is currently in use training prospective counsellors, social workers, nurses, managers, etc. the skills of helping. This essay attempts, experimentally, to depict in three different ways Egan's work and its relationship to operations of power: (1) from a relatively uncritical stance, (2) from a personal experience stance, and (3) from a social constructionist perspective. The whole piece, taken together, attempts to tackle the issue of theory as practice — to ground/unmask/make present the ways in which we are socialised into a profession and the problems inherent in that process. Two themes run through the work: the double bind created for a student on a counselling course which makes some claim to train around Rogers' core conditions, and which is also assessed/accredited; the connections between theory, training and practices.     

A Self-Management Program for Adolescents and Children with Renal Transplantation

This paper describes the development and implementation of a self-management program designed to address noncompliance in adolescents with renal transplants. Transplantation provides the best treatment alternative for End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), but is a procedure that subsequently demands recipients follow a life-long medication regimen. Nonadherance to medical therapy is a serious problem for adolescents; it is one of the most common causes of chronic graft rejection in this population. To improve compliance rates for this population, a self-management program was designed: (1) to provide social support; (2) to review information about medications and transplant management; and (3) to both teach and provide transplantation patients the opportunity to practice self-management skills. Details about the program, including recruitment issues and session content, are provided. Evaluations by participants indicated that the program was effective in creating a supportive environment for both patients and their parents, and in addressing health-related concerns.     

Presurgical Coping, Depression, and Quality of Life in Persons with Parkinson's Disease

This study describes utilization of coping strategies and evaluates the interaction between coping strategies, depression, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who are being considered for neurosurgical intervention. Eighty patients (mean age 61.7 years) with PD being evaluated for possible deep brain stimulation completed self-report instruments of coping strategies (Coping Responses Inventory), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), and disease-specific QOL (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39). Analyses showed that patients with PD cope with the acute stressor of approaching neurosurgery through a variety of strategies, but particularly avoidant and behavioral strategies. When the correlated but apparently opposing effects of cognitive and behavioral strategies were teased apart, greater use of cognitive strategies was associated with more severe depressive symptomatology (and poorer QOL), while greater use of behavioral strategies appeared to be associated with less depression. Depressive symptomatology, in turn, was associated with poorer QOL. However, coping had minimal direct association with QOL. From this it was concluded that patients with advanced PD generate a variety of coping responses to an acute stressor such as surgery, and the use of behavioral strategies, in particular seeking of alternative enjoyable activities, may be associated with better mood if salutary effects are not overwhelmed by less helpful cognitive coping techniques. The minimization of depressive symptomatology, in turn, is associated with better QOL.     

小学生视觉-空间表征类型和数学问题解决的研究

本研究考察并比较了四至六年级儿童的视觉－空间表征策略、数学问题解决和空间视觉化能力。结果表明：五、六年级儿童的解题正确率、使用图式表征策略的程度显著高于四年级儿童;使用图像表征策略的程度各年级无显著差异。将数学问题分成三个难度等级,发现年级差异主要表现在难度等级1的题目上。另外,六年级儿童的空间视觉化能力显著高于四年级儿童。     

学习不良儿童的心理行为问题

学习不良儿童的心理行为问题已成为人们关注的一个焦点。从心理健康的角度考察,学习不良儿童心理行为问题主要表现在生活和社会适应、学习和违纪,以及焦虑、抑郁和自杀等方面;造成上述现象的主要原因要有自我概念较低、家庭因素的不良影响,以及社会认知方面存在的缺陷。可以通过干预和矫正学习不良儿童的心理行为问题,从而提高他们的心理健康水平。     

问题解决中策略的变化：一项微观发生研究

以30名小学三年级儿童为被试,以一种特殊的方程问题为材料,采用微观发生法,先后进行了5次测查,收集了解题后的口语报告资料,从策略变化的路线、速率、广度、来源以及变化模式的多样性等方面详细探讨了问题解决策略的变化过程。结果发现,在面临新的问题时,被试缺乏相应知识和专门的解题策略,这时以使用多种常规策略以及错误策略为主;此后,当被试建构起对问题的正确表征时,就以使用正确策略为主,甚至发现了非常有技巧性和领域专门性的快捷策略,这时策略的数量明显减少;在面临难度较大的迁移题目时,快捷策略的使用率又降低,而更多借助于常规策略。可见,策略的获得是一个由错误到正确、由多种尝试到选择其一、由一般到专门的演化过程,这主要是一个学生自主建构的过程,当然也受到正式和非正式教育提供的知识的影响。值得说明的是,快捷策略的获得受到问题呈现模式的影响。总是呈现相同题目的单一模式有助于快捷策略的发现,而在混合训练中,插入不同性质的题目会干扰快捷策略的发现;但是,当面临迁移问题时,单一训练相比于混合训练的优势会消失。此外,正确使用常规策略是发现快捷策略的前提。     

Some Hindu Insights on a Global Ethic in the Context of Diseases and Epidemics

As we develop a global ethic in the context of diseases, we need to reconsider the wisdom of the religious traditions, for there is more to ailments than their material causes. In the Hindu framework, aside from the Ayurvedic system, which is based on herbal medicines and a philosophical framework, there is the insight that much of what we experience is a direct consequence of our karma (consequential actions). Therefore, here one emphasizes self–restraint and self–discipline in contexts that are conducive to self–hurting behavior.