A brief screening tool for suicidal symptoms in adolescents and young adults in general health settings: reliability and validity data from the Australian National General Practice Youth Suicide Prevention Project

Using data from a nationwide project on young people in Australia aimed at assessing suicidality in general health settings, we present a brief screening tool for suicidality (the depressive symptom index suicidality subscale). Two thousand eight hundred and fifty-one (15-24 year old) patients presenting to 247 Australian general practitioners between 1996 and 1998 were assessed. In addition to the suicide screen, patients completed the general health questionnaire-12 and the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale. Patients' chief complaints were taken from the summary sheets completed by their general practitioners. Using inter-item correlational and factor-analytic techniques, as well as a general approach to construct validity, we show that the measure has favorable reliability and validity characteristics. We also provide results on cut-points that may facilitate its use in clinical and research settings. Because the screen is brief, easy to use, reliable, and valid, we encourage its use to combat the vexing international health problem of suicide.     

Passage,Becoming and the Nature of Temporal Reality

I first distinguish several notions that have traditionally been conflated (or otherwise neglected) in discussions of the metaphysics of time. Thus, for example, I distinguish between the passage of time and temporal becoming. The former is, I maintain, a confused notion that does not represent a feature of the world; whereas a proper understanding of the latter provides the key for a plausible and comprehensive account of the nature of temporal reality. There are two general classes of views of the nature of temporal reality; proponents of particular views in both classes attempt to account for the phenomenon of temporal becoming in terms of qualitative change. I argue that any such account – in terms of change – is irredeemably problematic. And so I propound a different account of temporal becoming, based on the notion that temporal reality is transient, which provides the means to characterize intuitively and vividly the significant effects of time on the metaphysical nature of the world.

Psychological Contours of Multicultural Feminist Hermeneutics: Han and Relationality

The two key psychological contours, han and relationality, in interpreting and understanding biblical texts among Korean/Asian North American women are discussed. The Old Testament biblical narrative of Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11) is employed in order to demonstrate how the concepts and the interconnectedness of han and relationality are being played out in the minds of Korean/Asian North American women. Some practical suggestions are offered for preachers, Bible teachers, pastoral counselors, and caregivers in assisting Korean/Asian North American women with their hermeneutical processes.

Shame and the Solitary Way

In “Shame, Ministry, and Theological Education: Leaves from the Notebook of a Defiant Seminarian,” (Nathan Carlin, Pastor Psychol, 53:501–514, 2005) discusses the fact that many young adult Christians are highly influenced by relativism of all sorts, and notes that this can lead them to a state of doubt. He points out that if they voice their doubts too loudly, they are often shamed and abandoned by their elder Christians who do not have or do not voice their own doubts. He cites examples of the shaming to which he was subject when he was a seminarian at Princeton Theological Seminary. In this article, I discuss my own experience of being shamed as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, and suggest that although such shaming is immediately painful, it may have an unintended, long-term benefit for the one who is the subject of shaming, specifically, in the development of a faith that is unmistakably one’s own.     

冯友兰先生的《中国哲学史》：“同情之了解”与新儒学

冯友兰先生先以中国哲学史家名于世。两卷本《中国哲学史》是其成名的代表作。《中国哲学史》有很多特点,其中最主要的即是"同情之了解"与"新儒学"。"同情之了解"不仅是冯先生成功写作《中国哲学史》的原则和方法,而且也是我们今后弘扬中国优秀传统文化所不可或缺的原则与方法。冯先生后来又成了一位著名的新儒家。作为中国现代学术思潮中新儒家的一位典型代表,冯先生本人以及一般论者都公认为应以其"贞元六书"的"新理学"哲学体系为代表。文章赞同这个共识,但想补充一点,即广而言之,似乎也可以包括冯先生所著的两卷本《中国哲学史》在内。文章从其目录、内容、审查、批评、自觉与自白和"贞元六书"多方面进行了探索与论述。     

以青年马克思为参照系透视《精神现象学》——卢卡奇《青年黑格尔》解读

卢卡奇创作《青年黑格尔》是其思想发展的一个内在要求。由于他未能恰当处理自己关于青年黑格尔与青年马克思在哲学思想发展方式上具有类似性这个重要的理论直觉,不自觉地把青年马克思的思想发展过程以及《1844年经济学哲学手稿》中的某些评论,当作观察、评判《精神现象学》的形成与本质的参照系,从而不可避免地出现了一些混淆与偏差。但是,不管是对黑格尔研究、卢卡奇研究还是一般思想史研究来说,《青年黑格尔》都具有自身独特的价值。     

论李鼎祚的《周易集解》

唐人李鼎祚的《周易集解》是现存最早的两汉象数易学文献,具有独一无二的文献价值。然李鼎祚的《周易集解》作为经学的解释文本是其所处时代学术思想的集中体现,他以两汉以来的象数易学及唐代易学中的"新义"反对孔颖达的《周易正义》,反映了唐代易学发展的新动向;李鼎祚的《周易集解》强烈地批判了王弼等玄学派易学"以无为本"的哲学观念,在整个易学哲学发展史中,成为沟通汉代易学与宋代易学的重要纽带。     

Predicting short-term outcome in well-being following suicidal behaviour: the conjoint effects of social perfectionism and positive future thinking

This study investigated an integrative, psychological model of suicidality involving the relationship between perfectionism and future thinking to predict short-term outcome in well-being following a suicidal episode. Two hundred and sixty-seven adults hospitalized following a self-harm episode completed a range of clinical and psychological measures in hospital and were followed up approximately two months after discharge. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that, among the suicidal self-harmers who had a history of repetitive self-harm (n=65), outcome among low social perfectionists changed as a function of positive future thinking such that outcome was better for those high on positive thoughts compared with those low on positive future thoughts. There was no such positive change in outcome among the high social perfectionists. There were also no significant interactive effects evident among the non-repetitive self-harmers (n=61). These findings extend recent research to suggest that socially prescribed perfectionism and positive future thinking (but not negative future thinking) are implicated in outcome following repetitive suicidality. Implications for theory and clinical practice are discussed.     

Is empathizing in the E–S theory similar to agreeableness? The relationship between the EQ and SQ and major personality domains

This study investigated the relationship between the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systemizing Quotient (SQ) and major personality domains (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Honesty–Humility) using two personality questionnaires: the NEO-FFI and the HEXACO-PI. Participants who responded were 1382 university students for the NEO-FFI, and 842 for the HEXACO-PI, with the EQ and SQ. The results showed almost no relationship between the EQ and SQ and the five-factor personality domains of the NEO-FFI. The regression analysis showed that the NEO-FFI explained only 2–3% of the variance of the EQ/SQ, while in the domains of the HEXACO-PI extraversion moderately correlated with the EQ (r = 0.32) and openness showed the highest correlation with the SQ (r = 0.44). The regression analysis showed that the HEXACO-PI explained 22% of the variance of the EQ and 28% of the variance of the SQ. The strong relationship between the EQ and agreeableness, which was reported as r = 0.75 by Nettle (2007), was hardly found in the results of the NEO-FFI (r = 0.16) and HEXACO-PI (r = 0.17). These results suggest that that empathizing and systemizing, as one-dimensional constructs, are not substantially related to personality, although some weak relationship might be observed between the EQ/SQ and some personality domains.