Context Matters: Differential Gendering of Physics in Arabic-speaking,Hebrew-speaking,and Single-Sex State Schools in Israel

Sex Roles - Although physics is one of the most male-dominated educational fields in Europe and North America, this is not the case in all parts of the world. The present study investigates...     

Touch in Therapy: An Effort to Make the Unknown Known

This paper is an exploratory study based on interviews with four psycho-analytically-oriented therapists who touched their patients. It examines how the therapists and their patients conceptualized their experience. The therapists reported that the decision to touch, in the five cases presented here, was guided by the specific needs of their patients and their patient's circumstances rather than by their orientation and their overall attitude towards touch. Positive outcomes are reported in four out of the five cases. For these patients touch provided safety, grounded them in the here and now, promoted growth, integration and differentiation, and assuaged pain. In one case the outcome of touch for the patient is not known. Results are discussed in light of the literature on the use of touch.