Seeing ‘the dark passenger’ – Reflections on the emotional trauma of conducting post-disaster research

This paper acknowledges ‘the [my] dark passenger’ of emotional vicarious trauma associated with conducting post-disaster research. Post-disaster research is tightly bounded by ethics and professional codes of conduct requiring us to be vigilant about the impact of our work on our participants. However, as a disaster researcher, I have been affected by vicarious trauma. ‘Direct personal’ vicarious trauma is where I experienced trauma associated with witnessing devastation making a professional separation from my objective subjects impossible. ‘Indirect professional’ vicarious trauma occurred when PhD students and others under my supervision that I sent to disaster affected places, experienced significant negative emotional responses and trauma as they interviewed their participants. In these situations, I became traumatised by my lack of training and reflected on how the emphasis on the participants came at the expense of the researcher in my care. Limited literature exists that focuses on the vicarious trauma experienced by researchers, and their supervisors working in post-disaster places and this paper is a contribution to that body of scholarship. In acknowledging and exploring the emotions and vicarious trauma of researchers embedded in landscapes of disaster, it becomes possible for future researchers to pre-empt this phenomenon and to consider ways that they might manage this.     

Psychosoma in crisis: an autoethnographic study of medically unexplained symptoms and their diverse contexts

In this study, we examine autoethnographic data from three critical incidents as experienced by the first author demonstrating the importance of context in understanding medically unexplained symptoms, their incidence and underlying patterns. We make the case for ethnographies as a crucial research strand in discerning the finer aspects of the patient or client experience; aspects that might be missed where people are directed along protocolised pathways of care. The article describes care as fragmented and depersonalising, leading to disembodied exchanges, as reflected in other autoethnographic studies, particularly those that highlight the complex relationship and controversies surrounding diagnostic uncertainty. We observe that psychological therapists, given the quality of the therapeutic relationship and sustained attention to the person’s experience, are well placed to assist in the necessary processes of re-contextualisation and re-embodiment.     

Terror as Usual: The Role of the Model Minority Myth in Asian American Women’s Suicidality

ABSTRACT

This article examines the influence of the model minority myth on the formation of suicidal tendencies among Asian American women. These women experience fractured realities under the myth as a form of everyday trauma, or “terror as usual,” which may influence their suicidal thinking or attempts. Using interview data collected from 44 Asian American women suicide survivors, this study employs narrative analyses of the interviews, drawing from the theoretical frameworks of women of color feminism, critical race studies, postmodern psychology, and critical anthropology. The first part of this article deconstructs the model minority thesis as a problematic framework for understanding Asian American achievement. The second part examines how these pressures are experienced by Asian American women as destructive material and psychic constraints. Specifically, the model minority myth contributes to Asian American women’s suicidality in three major ways: (a) the pressure to succeed creates unbearable stress for individuals as they try to live up to the stereotypical image of Asian American success; (b) the dissimulation of the myth as a social fact influences Asian American women to internalize model minority expectations and thus blame themselves if they are unable to succeed; and (c) the image of model success contributes to Asian American women becoming over-looked in the distribution of needed help and resources, further exacerbating their suicidal conditions. The article concludes with a discussion of implications of this study for both clinical and nonclinical practices needed to create social conditions for Asian American women’s mental wellness.     

The Use of Relational‐Cultural Theory in Counseling Clients Who Have Traumatic Stress Disorders

Counseling scholarship has increasingly demonstrated the utility of relational‐cultural theory (RCT) in promoting the relationship‐building and growth‐fostering connections many clients require to manage problems in living. The authors applied RCT to counseling clients with traumatic stress disorders rooted in traumas of an interpersonal nature (e.g., child abuse, interpersonal partner violence, sexual assault). An overview of traumatic stress disorders and RCT, as well as the ways in which RCT can inform trauma conceptualization and treatment approaches with victims, is provided.     

父母心理控制与青少年智能手机成瘾:心理需求网络满足和环境敏感性的作用

本研究探讨了父母心理控制与智能手机成瘾的关系,以湖北省某中学的1320名高中生为被试,采用问卷法考察了心理需求网络满足在父母心理控制和智能手机成瘾关系间的中介效应,以及环境敏感性对这一中介过程的调节效应。结果发现：（1）在控制了手机使用频率后,父母心理控制对智能手机成瘾具有显著正向预测作用;（2）心理需求网络满足在父母心理控制和智能手机成瘾之间起中介作用;（3）中介链条的后半段,即心理需求网络满足和智能手机成瘾的关系受到环境敏感性的调节。具体来说,对于高环境敏感性的人,心理需求网络满足对智能手机成瘾的正向预测作用明显增强。     

成熟对青春期型反社会行为的影响

Moffitt的反社会行为发展理论将反社会行为分为两种类型, 即终身型和青春期型, 其中, 青春期型反社会行为在青少年群体中发生的频率更高, 它一般在青春期早期产生, 在青春期晚期或成年期早期结束, 青春期个体的发育成熟会对青春期型反社会行为产生影响。成熟包括生理成熟和心理成熟两方面, 生理成熟或心理成熟的单独影响和共同影响均从不同角度解释了青春期型反社会行为的产生、发展和停止：生理成熟对青春期型反社会行为具有发展和强化作用; 心理成熟对青春期型反社会行为具有减缓和削弱作用; 生理成熟与心理成熟的交互作用减弱或强化了青春期型反社会行为; 生理成熟与心理成熟之间的成熟差距抑制了青春期型反社会行为。未来的研究还需就拓展不同类型成熟的研究、改进成熟度的计算方法、结合青少年成熟特点进行有针对性干预等方面进行更多的尝试和探索。     

人格与青少年犯罪的关系研究

简要介绍了有关青少年犯罪的人格理论,然后按照研究中所采用的不同的人格测量工具：明尼苏达多相人格测验、艾森克人格问卷、卡特尔16项人格因素测验和加利福尼亚人格问卷,以及大五人格问卷分类综述了近10年来人格与青少年犯罪的关系研究。近五年的研究主要采用大五人格结构,将变量中心法和个体中心法相结合,以及将人格和环境因素相结合来研究人格对青少年犯罪的影响作用。进一步的研究需要在人格测量和研究设计上予以改进,深入揭示人格对青少年犯罪的影响机制     

青少年学生疏离感的理论构建及量表编制

通过文献分析和实证研究 ,构建了疏离感的理论维度 ,并据此编制了青少年学生疏离感的测量量表。对量表进行探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析后表明 :疏离感是一个多层次、多维度的体系 ,本身包含 2个层次和 9个维度 ,该研究所构建的疏离感理论体系比较合理。疏离感量表具有较好的信度和效度 ,可以作为青少年学生疏离感研究的测量工具