Psychology’s Adaptation to Medical Schools,Teaching Hospitals,and Academic Medical Centers: The Role of Academic Medicine Organizations

Psychologists in medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic medical centers are comparatively small in number, and are often undervalued and denied full practice privileges. As a profession, psychologists must therefore adapt to the realities of a physician-driven, physician-controlled environment. Psychologists’ adaptation to academic medical settings has been considered from several vantage points. An overlooked aspect of adaptation is psychologists’ knowledge of and participation in academic medicine organizations that regulate medical education and specialization. These organizations significantly influence teaching hospital and medical school environments and the psychologists and academic physicians who work in those environments. This paper focuses primarily on three academic medicine organizations, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which together shape and regulate medical education across all levels and specialties. Knowledge of the evolution and workings of these organizations is useful information for psychologists, but beyond that, such information is a framework that provides benchmarks for understanding psychology’s evolving system of education and specialization.     

Religious Organizations and Government: An Ecclesial Lutheran “Take”

Sharp debates exist today about the appropriate relationship between religious organizations and government, with views ranging from Christian nationalism to strict secularists. This essay explores a mediating position expressed in the conceptual phrase that religious bodies should “work with civil authorities in areas of mutual endeavor, maintaining institutional separation and functional interaction.” The essay uses historical and ecclesial sources to describe the struggles and underpinnings that lead to this position and then unpacks its meaning and import. While originating from within the conceptual and ecclesial American Lutheran tradition, the essay points to this approach as a public proposal for sound relationship between religious communities and political authority in the United States.     

Meetings: A Swampy Terrain for Adult Development

This article introduces a model of modes of experience as a tool for making sense of some of the complexity in meetings. Although derived from theories of adult development, the mode model presented here assumes that individuals are more internally diverse than they may appear through the lenses of some stage theories. The article includes vignettes of meetings in various organizational contexts to illustrate the dynamic nature of modes, and it suggests that an individual's psychological development may be fruitfully viewed in terms of both an evolving repertoire of modes, and a growing capacity to exercise judgment about when to shift and when to stay in a mode. Seen in the light of a mode model, meetings bring nearly continuous opportunities to foster collective creativity and constructive risk-taking. Constructive approaches to using modes are described, as well as risks, such as that of attempting to pigeonhole individuals. The concept of modes is best used as a background way of thinking and relating with the ultimate aim of fostering conditions that support organizational and individual development over the long term.     

伊斯兰经济伦理思想与阿拉伯国家的现代化

本文以《古兰经》和"圣训"中的有关内容为依据,从经济、伦理、宗教三者的关系为出发点,探讨伊斯兰经济伦理思想的内容及其特点;以现代化理论为依据,分析伊斯兰经济伦理思想与经济现代化的关系问题,其目的在于从经济伦理的视角,探寻阿拉伯国家在现代化道路上受挫的原因;寻求伊斯兰经济伦理思想与现代市场经济发展的契合点。本文认为,在现代化的经济背景下,伊斯兰经济伦理必须经过现代性的改革,才能再次为阿拉伯民族的振兴作出贡献。     

Image of God and personality pathology: An exploratory study among psychiatric patients

The associations between personality pathology according to DSM-IV, symptomatology and God image were examined among a group of 46 psychiatric patients. Features of personality disorders were assessed using the 'Questionnaire to Assess Personality Pathology', a self-report screener. God image was measured by means of the 'Questionnaire God Image'. Symptomatology was assesed by means of the SCL-90. The more personality pathology present, the more negative the image of God. The negative image of God appeared to be associated with personality pathology, in particular with pathology from the DSM-IV A- and C-cluster, even after controlling for the influence of symptomatology, suggesting that the association between symptomatology and the God image is mediated by personality pathology. When symptoms of the A-cluster are present God is experienced as detached and passive. When C-cluster symptoms prevail, God is experienced as a harsh judge. Results are discussed both from a psychodynamic object-relational as well as from a cognitive schema focused perspective.     

Understanding Islamic Perspective of Mental Health and Psychotherapy

This paper is an attempt to provide foundational information about Islamic perspective of mental health and psychotherapy. It further highlights the historical contribution of Muslim philosophers and physicians to the field of psychotherapy. In the aftermath of the 9/11 and 7/7 tragedies, there has been a growing need to understand the Islamic perspective of mental health and gain insight into the followers of this faith otherwise perceived as ‘mysterious and Far Eastern’. A case example illustrates how counselors/therapists can effectively incorporate religious-cultural aspects of Islam in their work with Muslim clients so that they could work more effectively with their Muslim clients in the post 9/11 climate. Health care professionals must be sensitive to and fully aware of the unique religious traditions, cultural norms and gender sensitive values of their Islamic psychiatric patients so that they could introduce modern therapeutic interventions with less resistance from their clients.     

Normand Laurendeau: Spirituality and Science at the Apex of His Life's Vision

Abstract

This article discusses the noteworthy approach of a twentieth-century Muslim scholar, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960), to the issue of Qur'an and science. Nursi points out the “problem of authoritarianism” in both religious and secularist discourses, arguing that many of the clashes between faith and reason result from a misunderstanding of spheres of expertise. Nursi also argues that even at the height of scientific and technological development, the Qur'an remains indispensable in humankind interpreting the world around them. Nursi's case illustrates that the task of relating the modern science and the Qur'an requires attention to their interpretive dimensions.     

The advantages and disadvantages of a brief intervention strategy in a community counseling service

Abstract

The Isis Centre, a long-established NHS open-access counselling facility in Oxford, experienced excessive demand for service. This placed strain on the capacity to deliver, and an unacceptably long waiting list resulted. A brief intervention strategy limited to four counselling sessions was shown to reduce the waiting time. This outcome study tests the hypothesis that the strategy was sufficiently clinically effective to warrant its continuing availability to those who wished to be seen more quickly, rather than waiting for an open-ended contract. Counsellors assessed outcome on clinical parameters and clients were retrospectively asked their views on the acceptability of the method and its usefulness.

There was a high level of correlation between clients' and counsellors' assessment. One-quarter of the study group had an experience classified as ‘useful and sufficient’. However, half felt the experience ‘useful but insufficient’, although this group also thought the intervention provided more than temporary relief. For one quarter, the experience was not helpful, but for some of these it prevented a long, unnecessary time on the waiting list.

While a brief intervention appears to be an effective strategy in delivering a counselling service, further work is necessary to target those most likely to benefit and those for whom a longer-term option should be sought from the start.     

Defining Islamic modernity through creative writing: a case study of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Indonesian domestic workers (IDWs) have been frequently stereotyped as uneducated and submissive women with little or no bargaining power in transnational labour migration. This article examines why and how literacy practices help foster the activism of IDWs in Hong Kong. In particular, I seek to understand the significance of IDWs’ writing in relation to Islamic modernities. Using the framework of alternative modernities, I argue that the creative process of IDWs’ writing sheds light to their attempts to exercise individual and collective agency. Specifically, the article looks at the role of Forum Lingkar Pena (Pen Circle Forum, FLP) Hong Kong, an IDW writing community, to reveal how its collective literacy practices help affirm Islamic values as part of a modernisation process on IDWs’ own terms.     

Sport Psychology Foundations,Organizations, and Related Resources

SUMMARY

The purpose of this article is to introduce psychologists and counselors who work in schools to the field of applied sport psychology. We begin with a brief history of how applied sport psychology developed in North America and other parts of the world. Landmark events such as the development of conferences, professional organizations and scholarly publications are described. This is followed by a discussion of the breadth of services that are typically provided by sport psychologists. The third section examines some of the current issues related to the training of sport psychologists. The final section introduces the reader to organizations, journals, texts, and on-line resources so they may learn more about the theory, research, and practice of Sport psychology.