Mentoring for Mental Health within a University: A psychodynamic approach

This paper explores the role of mentoring in a British University for students with mental health issues and is written from the perspective of the Mentor who is also a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. Psychodynamic theory is applied to two case studies in order to understand the conscious and unconscious factors when considering these students’ particular learning difficulties and motivation for entering a learning environment. In the first case study, it is suggested that the student hopes to find his lost father within the containing bricks of the institution. When confronted with frustration and disappointment, he mobilises schizoid defences, precipitating a psychotic episode. The second case study formulates the student’s chronic procrastination, which verges on academic sabotage, as a defence against the unbearable guilt concerning his abilities and achievements in contrast with his unsuccessful and disabled siblings. The challenge of helping these students is explored, including the approaches taken by the Mentor, given her remit and the particular issues presented by the students.     

Revisiting the university front

The article argues that the most important trends in the recent metamorphosis of higher education, especially of university teaching and research, cannot be understood without placing them in the context of general developments in political life. Both processes reveal alarming features and there is a link between them. In recent decades a religion has established its dominance in the public policy field. Its dogmas are called “liberalization”, “economic man”, “individual preference”, “the free market”, “competition” and “efficiency”. The consequences of the progressive imposition of this doctrine on the universities—including on the relation between teaching and research—are well documented but not always well understood. It is argued that the “commercialization” of higher education and research means in reality their hyper-bureaucratization, via the imposition of so-called evaluation, assessment and accreditation schemes, the latest avatars of the managerialist ideology. Might the final result be the disintegration of the university as an institution?     

大学生自尊与父母教养方式的相关研究

目的:通过问卷调查了解当代大学生的自尊水平及其父母教养方式,并分析两者之间的关系,为父母教育子女提供有效建议。方法:采用分层随机抽样的方法,运用自尊量表(SES)和父母教养方式评价量表(EMBU)对长江大学320名大学生进行调查。结果:1.大学生自尊与情感温暖方式呈显著正相关,与惩罚严厉、过分干涉保护、拒绝否认呈显著负相关,与偏爱被试无显著相关;2.高自尊大学生与低自尊大学生在父亲和母亲的情感温暖、惩罚严厉、拒绝否认上存在显著差异,在父亲的过度保护方面存在显著差异;3.父母教养方式受城乡环境等因素影响。结论:父母应当采取积极的教养方式教育孩子,塑造孩子的自尊。     

大学生情绪调节方式与生活满意度研究

本研究使用大学生情绪调节方式问卷测查大学生情绪调节方式与大学生生活满意度之间的相关研究。研究结果表明：正情绪调节方式中的情绪分享、自我激励、克制、情绪维持、情绪表露及负情绪调节方式中的转移注意力、认知重评因素与生活满意度之间存在正相关关系,而调节积极情绪的行动动机方式、调节负性情绪的发泄、压抑、体验痛苦、放松等方式则与生活满意度之间有着负相关关系。自我激励方式、发泄、压抑、体验痛苦调节方式对生活满意度具有显著的预测力。     

大学生自信与成就动机、综合测评成绩的相关研究

通过对289名大学生成就动机、自信的测试,探讨大学生自信与成就动机、综合测评成绩之间的关系。结果表明：(1)大学生成就动机与自信相关显著。其中,追求成功的动机与自信诸维度呈显著正相关,而避免失败的动机与自信诸维度之间则呈显著负相关;(2)综合测评成绩与自信的少数维度有显著相关,与学生成就动机之间相关不显著。     

Academic Citizenship: An Academic Colleagues’ Working Paper

Universities are facing a critical challenge; university citizenship has steadily declined over the last few decades. As a self-governing entity, most of the foundational elements of a university community are within its own control. As a result, the health and future welfare of the institution depends greatly on the quality of its leaders and robustness of its governing structure. These in turn depend on the quality of those undertaking leadership roles and serving on governing bodies and on the degree to which they reflect its values and aspirations. Maximising the probability that these desiderata will be achieved requires a broad-based faculty willingness to serve conscientiously on these bodies and to serve as administrators to be involved in selecting members, and to be involved on the myriad of sub-committees, task forces, departmental committees, and the like. It is not only an abdication of citizenship to leave governance and administration of the institution to a few willing faculty, it is dangerous and puts at risk the welfare of the institution. Even if these few were all able to place the welfare of the institution above their own particular agendas and their self-interest (not something on which to count), the process of self-selection could not be expected to result in a group that would adequately reflect, represent or understand the breadth and depth of the needs, aspirations and complex circumstances of the entire institution. The larger the pool of willing participants, the greater the probability that those selected will reflect best the institutional diversity. This paper draws out the rights and obligations of faculty citizens embedded in the structural arrangements common to universities in the western world. In part A we examine three fundamental components of those arrangements, components that collectively define certain rights and entail certain obligations of citizenship. These obligations flow in part from essential rights, and also in part from what is necessary to sustain the viability and vibrancy of the community. In Part B, we examine some of these essential obligations of citizenship. In Part C, we make recommendations about how to promote effective citizenship; these recommendations are collected after Part C under the heading “Recommendations.”     

Expectations of Counselling: A Comparison Between Evangelical Christians and Non-Evangelical Christians

A sample of 211 adults returned a questionnaire that was a modified version of Tinsley's (1982) Expectations about Counselling: Brief Form. The sample was recruited from an evangelical Anglican Church, an evangelical Anglican theological college, a doctor's surgery and a number of educational establishments. Analysis of the data compared subjects' choice of counselor between evangelical Christians and non-evangelical Christians. Results indicate that evangelical Christians do not have significantly lower expectations about counseling, in comparison with non-evangelical Christians, except in the Directiveness and Attractiveness sections. There was, though, a significantly higher expectation of the counselor with regard to Religious Behavior by evangelical Christians in contrast to non-evangelical Christians.     

The impact of the socio-economic crisis on intrapsychic and intersubjective processes within the therapeutic relationship: Implications for the ethical practice of counselling psychology and psychotherapy

Using attachment and mentalisation theories as a framework, the present paper aims to explore the impact of the current socio-economic crisis on the micro-processes and interpersonal dynamics that emerge between client and therapist as well as the ethical dilemmas that surface within the context of the therapeutic relationship. The first part of the paper focuses on the intrapsychic level and the subjective appraisal and experience of the crisis, as this may differ from individual to individual as well as the unique meaning-making processes that take place for clients and therapists alike. It is argued that the socio-economic crisis itself cannot be seen as an entity that is entirely independent and external to the individual but as a phenomenon that interacts in unique ways with the individual’s inner current and past experience. The second part focuses on the exploration of intersubjective processes that emerge between client and therapist, in particular the transference-countertransference dynamic, as this develops within conditions of increased arousal and anxiety. The role and responsibility of counselling psychologists in preserving reflexivity, empathy and a mentalising stance (through supervision and personal therapy) are highlighted in order to safeguard the ethical and competent practice of counselling psychology.     

Religious coping,stress, and quality of life of Muslim university students in New Zealand

Most of the research on religious coping has been conducted with Christian participants from Western cultures, although in recent years increasingly more studies have been conducted with Muslim participants. For university students in Muslim countries, religiosity is positively correlated with a variety of indices of mental health and psychological well-being, but only a small number of studies investigated coping in Muslims living and studying in a non-Muslim country. The present study thus explored the relationship between perceived stress, quality of life (QOL), and religious coping in a sample of 114 Muslim university students in New Zealand. International Muslim students had higher levels of spirituality/religiousness than domestic Muslim students, and used more positive and negative religious coping methods. For international students, positive religious coping was positively related to QOL and lack of stress, while, for domestic students, negative religious coping was negatively related to the QOL and increased stress. This different pattern may relate to the ethnic background of the participants, and the results of the present study thus highlight that Muslims studying at universities overseas can certainly not be considered as a homogenous group.