Spirituality and Healing Spiritualith and Medicine Spirituality and Mental Health Spirituality and the Soul |
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Psychological
and
Physiological
Trauma
Research

Seize Your Journeys

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Traumatic stress is found in many competent, healthy, strong, good people.
No one can completely protect themselves from traumatic experiences.
Many people have long-lasting problems following exposure to trauma.
Up to 8% of persons will have PTSD at some time in their lives. People who
react to traumas are not going crazy. What is happening to them is
part of a set of common symptoms and problems that are connected with being
in a traumatic situation, and thus, is a normal reaction to abnormal events
and experiences. Having symptoms after a traumatic event is
NOT a sign of personal weakness. Given exposure to a trauma that is
bad enough, probably all people would develop PTSD.
By understanding trauma
symptoms better, a person can become less fearful of them and better able to
manage them. By recognizing the effects of trauma and knowing more about
symptoms, a person will be better able to decide about getting treatment.
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Spirituality

Spirituality and
Healing

Title: Psychotherapy and spirituality: A paradigm for healing. Author(s)/Editor(s): Lewis, Suzanne Lee Source/Citation: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering; Vol 61(10-B) May 2001, US: Univ Microfilms International; 2001, 5570 Abstract/Review/Citation: Lewis' exploratory study incorporates data from a case study of a profoundly depressed woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder to show how she is healed through a psychotherapeutic and spiritual journey into her unconscious mind. The study vividly details the counseling experiences that uncovered repressed memories of sexual and Satanic Ritual Abuse, the core of this depression. Extensive first-person narrative is used to illustrate how the woman was able to overcome the physical and emotional revivifications of her trauma. The study explores the use of two relatively new techniques in spiritual counseling: the TheoPhostic method (Smith 1996), which enables client and therapist to work together with God to reintegrate dissociated 'parts' on a spiritual level; and Time Line Therapy (James and Woodsmall 1988), a method for the visualization of personal time and memory recall involving color, lack of color, and light. Both methods are proposed as particularly effective in knowing about repressed and dissociated trauma memories and in healing these severe traumas as caused by sexual and Satanic Ritual Abuse. Various standard counseling techniques of reframing, changing history, discovering core beliefs, changing core beliefs and discovering disowned parts of self are all demonstrated in this work. The not so standard techniques used in this work involve the therapist and the client's reports of finding external and internal spiritual guides along with a beautiful white light that provided extraordinary resources in stopping the client's profound and sometimes life threatening abreactions. The most significant and powerfultechnique visualizing Divine Light shining on and penetrating each newly conscious traumatized 'part' proved to be truly miraculous for the client. Using a double column format, the client's narrative is contextualized in terms of both traditional (Janet, Charcot, Freud, Jung, Adler) and contemporary (van der Kolk, Kluft, Putnam, Herman, Terr, LeDoux, James and Smith) researchers. The contextualized material puts the client's behaviors and feelings into a scholarly format that therapists and students will find enriching and educational. The study is a pioneering work in spiritual psychotherapy. ========================================
Title: The marriage of the journey of the hero to the adult child of trauma. Author(s)/Editor(s): Charmant, Cynthia O. Source/Citation: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering; Vol 62(3-B) Sep 2001, US: Univ Microfilms International; 2001, 1640 Abstract/Review/Citation: This study endeavors to unite the myth of the journey of the hero with adult children of trauma. The literature suggests that thehero is both a warrior with a mission and a traveler who yearns to find meaning and purpose in a life fraught with longing and disillusionment. After 17 years of working with and observing this population, I find the trauma experienced from early object relations failure is painfully clear. In spite of this, the histories of adult children of trauma are filled with many heroic efforts to find the elusive missing piece that will bring peace to their wounded souls. They have undergone many departures, initiations, and returns, but the premise is that the initiations were not completed, sanctioned, or understood. Often, tired and in despair when seeking one more avenue by which to initiate, they identified themselves as pathological and misfits because they lacked a framework and societal support that validated their determined journey to find completion. The literature purports that our society lacks meaningful ritual vital for transcendence. A true initiation must be witnessed within the container of community. Thus, hidden rituals, often destructive in nature, are substituted for the longing in the collective psyche. This population must be seen within the context of group and soul of the world because the need for belonging and containment is, to them, a life-or-death matter. Using a new language, an imaginal group container and treatment program is created. This may provide the adult child of trauma with the longed-for container in which to begin healing and completion. Hearing the voice of the soul and eliminating what is blocking its emergence is vital. The psychotherapist and society are urged to reframe the adult child's lonely life struggle to the difficult, but empowering, journey of the hero. Could this better serve the client and the soul of the world? ========================================
Title: Traumatic and nontraumatic loss and bereavement: Clinical theory and practice. Author(s)/Editor(s): Malkinson, Ruth; Rubin, Simon Shimshon; Witztum, Eliezer Source/Citation: Madison, CT, US: Psychosocial Press/International Universities Press, Inc; 2000, (xvii, 346) Abstract/Review/Citation: Discusses loss and bereavement in a context of clinical theory and practice. This book has 3 sections: In the first section, "Clinical Theory and Research," basic as well as complex parameters of bereavement and its relation to trauma are considered. The focus ison theoretical, research, and clinical applications of the material discussed. In the second section, "Healing the Wounds: Psychotherapy Following Loss," a cross-section of different psychotherapeutic approaches is presented in light of various difficulties in the adjustment to loss. Finally, the third section, "Cultural Contexts of Bereavement," takes into account that bereavement occurs in a nested paradigm of individual, familial, and social contexts, and examines the processes of mourning in their broader sociocultural context. Notes/Comments: Foreword [by] Shlomo Breznitz Contributors Introduction Part I: Clinical theory and research Loss, bereavement, and trauma: An overview Simon Shimshon Rubin, Ruth Malkinson and Eliezer Witztum On coping with trauma and coping with grief: Similarities and differences Danny Brom and Rolf Kleber Children as part of the family drama: An integrated view of childhood bereavement Phyllis R. Silverman Posttraumatic and bereavement reactions among POWs following release from captivity: The interplay of trauma and loss Yuval Neria, Zahava Solomon and Karni Ginzburg Part II: Healing the wounds: Psychotherapy following loss Psychodynamic perspectives on treatment with the bereaved: Modifications of the therapeutic-transference paradigm Simon Shimshon Rubin Psychotherapeutic intervention with complicated grief: Metaphor and leave-taking ritual with the bereaved Eliezer Witztum and Ilana Roman The application of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in traumatic and nontraumatic loss Ruth Malkinson and Albert Ellis Loss and meaning reconstruction: Propositions and procedures Robert A. Neimeyer, Nancy J. Keesee and Barry V. Fortner "The wounded healer": Group cotherapy with bereaved parents Alia Alexander and Yael Lavie Part III: Cultural contexts of bereavement "Good death" and "bad death": Therapeutic implications of cultural conceptions of death and bereavement Henry Hanoch Abramovitch The analysis of cultural symbols and maladaptive mourning: An integrated model for clinical application Phyllis Palgi and Joshua Durban Collective bereavement and commemoration: Cultural aspects of collective myth and the creation of a national identity in Israel Ruth Malkinson and Eliezer Witztum Concluding remarks Name index Subject index theory & research of & psychotherapy for nontraumatic loss & bereavement ========================================
Title: Healing the trauma of abuse: A women's workbook. Author(s)/Editor(s): Copeland, Mary Ellen;Harris, Maxine Source/Citation: Oakland, CA, US: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.; 2000, (vi, 398) Abstract/Review/Citation: This workbook is a practical, step-by-step guide through the recovery and healing process for women who have experienced sexual, emotional, or physical abuse in childhood and/or adulthood. It offers readers skills for coping, self-understanding, and self care. Trauma survivors learn how to protect themselves from overwhelming memories and to heal from trauma-related reactions that may be disturbing their day-to-day lives. It is suggested that through the recovery process they can learn how they can reclaim a basic sense of safety, self-worth, and control over their lives. This book is divided into 4 parts: empowerment, trauma recovery, creating life changes, and closing rituals. Final sections include questions to ask your doctor, a personal crisis plan, and a comprehensive list of resources. Notes/Comments: Before you begin Part 1: Empowerment Taking stock and getting started What it means to be a woman What do you know and how do you feel about your body? Physical boundaries Emotional boundaries Self-esteem Self-soothing Intimacy and trust Female sexuality Sex with a partner Transition from empowerment to trauma recovery Part 2: Trauma recovery Understanding trauma The body remembers what the mind forgets What is physical abuse? What is sexual abuse? Physical safety What is emotional abuse? Institutional abuse Psychological or emotional symptoms Addictive or compulsive behaviors Abuse and relationships Part 3: Creating life changes Family myths and distortions Current family life Decision making: Trusting your judgment Communication: Making yourself understood Self-destructive behaviors Blame, acceptance, and forgiveness Feeling out of control Relationships Goal assessment Part 4: Closing rituals Truths and myths about abuse What it means to be a woman--Revisited Closing ritual Appendix Resources healing trauma from physical &/or sexual &/or emotional abuse in childhood or adulthood, females Classroom Material 4000 ========================================
Title: Cult and ritual abuse: Its history, anthropology, and recent discovery in contemporary America, (rev.ed.). Author(s)/Editor(s): Noblitt, James Randall; Perskin, Pamela Sue Source/Citation: Westport, CT, US: Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc; 2000, (xvii, 269) Abstract/Review/Citation: A personal but also scholarly journey into the clandestine and confusing world of ritual abuse, this book provides unique insights into the catastrophic experiences of ritual abuse survivors and their efforts to find healing through psychological treatment. This revised edition provides contemporary revelations about cults in existence today and also new therapies developed since the first edition was published in 1995. The special legal dilemmas, survival problems and day-to-day life experiences of these survivors are examined in a scholarly but sensitive manner. The book presents the idea that ritual abuse is an age-old phenomenon found in many cultures throughout the world. That ritual abuse causes a variety of specific psychiatric symptoms is noted. Special attention is given to the diagnosis dissociative identity disorder that is frequently found among ritual abuse survivors. Suggestions are offered for effectively dealing with the various social and legal problems that result from this severe form of abuse. New diagnoses--cult and ritual trauma disorder--are proposed for this newly identified problem. Notes/Comments: Preface Acknowledgements Introduction The church in Thetford Forest On the borderline Entering unchartered territory Multiple personalities Possession, ritual abuse, and dissociation Empirical evidence of ritual abuse Breaking the code The African connection Other cultures 1990: The year of the awakening Investigating Western occultism An introduction to Wicca Satanism? The politics of psychotherapy The media Will "the system" protect them? Cult and ritual trauma disorder Nihilists and revisionists Appendix: A proposed diagnosis in DSM format References Index cult & ritual abuse, survival problems & psychological diagnosis & treatment ========================================
Title: The mad god of healing: Dionysos and non-patriarchal masculinity. Author(s)/Editor(s): Hatfield, Frances Clare Source/Citation: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering; Vol 61(5-B) Dec 2000, US: Univ Microfilms International; 2000, 2762 Abstract/Review/Citation: This dissertation explores some psychological and cultural meanings of non-patriarchal masculinity through the archetypal image of Dionysos, predominantly through a neo-Jungian interpretation of three myths of the god's birth. Dionysos emerges in these myths as both a nondual godhead's masculine aspect, 'Firstborn' of the 'Unutterable,' and the ritual adversary of the ideal masculine 'individual' resulting when that masculine godhead splits itself in two in order to awaken. As ritual adversary and victim, Dionysos is the psychophysical totality of modalities of consciousness expressed through the body as mythos that threaten the fiction of a separate individual self, as that self is defined predominant in the western world. The foundational ancestral crimes of patriarchy that established this separate self are explored in relation to Dionysos' ritual murder by the hero/patriarch, both as the mother's dragon son, and as the Divine Child dismembered by the Titans, rescued by Zeus, and reborn as an ideal godman with a child's uninitiated heart. Freud's Oedipal myths are placed in the context of these stories, and all are explored in relation to trauma, mythopoesis, and psychoanalysis; Freud's model of the heroic id-conquering ego is contrasted with Jung's model of the hero-initiate ego and the Self. The necessity to re-member the dismembered incarnate god from the shadows of the abandoned body of desire and need for communion is explored. The acceptance of personal suffering as sacrificial initiation into embodying the Divine is stressed, as this meaning has been lost through the glorification of the ideal masculinized individual's power to escape the limitations of embodiment by making others 'die' for him. The initiatory death of this fiction of the individual, and rebirth in a divine relational world, is the godhead's task of awakening, which only human beings can co-creatively accomplish. ========================================
Title: Death, trauma and ritual: Mozambican refugees in Malawi. Author(s)/Editor(s): Englund, Harri Source/Citation: Social Science & Medicine; Vol 46(9) May 1998, United Kingdom: Elsevier Science Ltd.; 1998, 1165-1174 Abstract/Review/Citation: For many non-governmental organizations, the treatment of war trauma among refugees has become a key issue in humanitarian assistance. There is, however, as yet little independent evaluation of the notions and therapeutic practices which inform humanitarian interventions in refugees' mental health. By drawing on intensive anthropological fieldwork, the paper problematizes two central issues in these interventions: the role of past experiences in refugees' present well-being, on the one hand, and the need to verbalize trauma in a therapy, on the other. An alternative approach to refugees' mental health draws on current theoretical insights into non-discursive bodily practices. The paper substantiates these insights by focusing on the therapeutic salience of funerals and spirit exorcism among Mozambican refugees in Malawi. By exorcizing the vengeful spirits of those who had died during the war, refugees were also healing their war traumas. It was not so much the loss as the difficulty in observing a full range of rituals that characterized refugees' predicament. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which humanitarian assistance could utilize these insights. ========================================
Title: Trauma recovery and empowerment: A clinician's guide for working with women in groups. Author(s)/Editor(s): Harris, Maxine Seller: Community Connections Trauma Work Group Source/Citation: New York, NY, US: The Free Press; 1998, (xvi, 413) Abstract/Review/Citation: Millions of women seek help every year for troubling depression or anxiety, for puzzling physical symptoms like headaches, muscle aches, and stomach cramps, for addictions to drugs, alcohol, or food and for problems with relationships. What their therapists or physicians are beginning to discover is that trauma, whether past or ongoing, is the cause of many of these problems. For almost 5 years, 27 clinicians and more than 500 participants have developed and refined the interventions contained in this manual, combining the best elements of the social skills training, psychoeducational and psychodynamic techniques, and the peer support groups that studies show are highly effective with survivors. "Trauma Recovery and Empowerment" guides leaders through the entire trauma recovery process. Each section includes specific discussion questions, a sampling of typical responses, and experiential exercises for each topic. A first-person account by a trauma survivor or therapist brings each session to life. Notes/Comments: Introduction General instructions to group leaders Part I: Empowerment Introductory session What it means to be a woman What do you know and how do you feel about your body? Physical boundaries Emotional boundaries: Setting limits and asking for what you want Self-esteem Developing ways to feel better: Self-soothing Intimacy and trust Female sexuality Sex with a partner Transition session from empowerment to trauma recovery Part II: Trauma recovery Gaining an understanding of trauma The body remembers what the mind forgets What is physical abuse? What is sexual abuse? Physical safety What is emotional abuse? Institutional abuse Abuse and psychological or emotional symptoms Trauma and addictive or compulsive behavior Abuse and relationships Part III: Advanced trauma recovery issues Family--myths and distortions Family life: Current Decision making: Trusting your judgment Communication: Making yourself understood Self-destructive behaviors Blame, acceptance, and forgiveness Feeling out of control Relationships Personal healing Part IV: Closing rituals Truths and myths about abuse What it means to be a woman Closing ritual Part V: Modifications or supplements for special populations Women diagnosed with serious mental illness [Margaret D. Hobbs and Rebecca M. Wolfson] Incarcerated women [Catherine M. Anderson, Deborah Bankson and Evelyne Zephirin-Atkins] Women who are parents [David Freeman, Lori Beyer and Sharon Miller] Women who abuse [Carolyn Duca and Ellen Arledge] Male survivors [Roger D. Fallot, David W. Freeman, Stephen Zazanis and John Dende] Part VI: Appendix Item A: Trauma group notebook Item B: Self-esteem thermometer Item C: Self-esteem achievement chart (example) Item D: Self-esteem achievement chart Item E: Comfort strategies Item F: Intimacy network Item G: Road map Item H: Literature sources Item I: Autobiography in five chapters (poem) trauma recovery & empowerment, clinician's guide for working with females in groups ========================================
Title: Personal re-empowerment by adult female survivors of childhood sexual trauma through ceremony, symbolism and ritual. Author(s)/Editor(s): Willey, Carrie L. Source/Citation: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering; Vol 58(8-B) Feb 1998, US: Univ. Microfilms International; 1998, 4478 Abstract/Review/Citation: Willey's study supports the hypothesis that a specific therapeutic intervention that involves ritual, symbolism and ceremony will have a positive effect on female survivors of childhood sexual trauma by reports of a higher degree and longer lasting sense of personal re-empowerment in specific areas of self concept in their lives. Assuming that we humans enter this world completely empowered and Spiritually connected, the way in which we are regarded by those who raise us either supports our empowerment or dis-empowers us. Sexual abuse, through objectification, causes dis-empowerment due to shame about the self. Sexual abuse also violates a person's Spiritual connection and physical and emotional boundaries which creates a sense of an external locus of control. The person becomes fused to a self-defeating, dysfunctional, survival pattern, believing that others are more powerful and have control over his or her life. The therapeutic intervention is a three-day intensive workshop that employs a variety of traditional experiential psychotherapeutic methods, plus 30 days of group-generated ritual practice. During the workshop, when a sense of empowerment is observed and or reported, the senses (olfactory, touch, taste, auditory and visual) are accessed providing a connection to the unconscious. This is a Neurolinguistic Programming technique that anchors the sense of empowerment on both the conscious and unconscious levels. At the end of the workshop, the participants generate a ritual that each practices for thirty-days at approximately the same time of day. The ritual includes similar sensory stimuli and symbolism used during the intensive empowerment work such as lighting a scented candle, ringing a bell, and touching a feather while meditating and reciting affirmations. In addition, 21% of the participants in the study continued in some form of therapy (either individual or group) after the initial workshop. The impact of ritual and continued therapy on the sub-groups is measured across the dependent variables which include self-actualization, internal locus of control, self critical statements, identity, self-satisfaction, behavior, moral-ethical self, personal self, family and social self which were taken from the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Those who continued in the ritual showed improvement in all of the specified areas. Those who continued the ritual beyond the thirty-days showed improvement superior to those who ceased the ritual practice after the initial commitment. Those who continued in some form of therapy and practiced the ritual beyond the thirty days showed the most improvement. This study provides an intervention to help stop the endless cycle of perpetrator/victim. It provides a model for healing through re-empowerment to therapists who work with children and other vulnerable populations to increase the chances of preventing the continuation of covert or overt sexual abuse. ========================================
Title: Handbook of dissociation: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical perspectives. Author(s)/Editor(s): Michelson, Larry K.; Ray, William J. Source/Citation: New York, NY, US: Plenum Press; 1996, (xviii, 645) Abstract/Review/Citation: Presents a handbook providing theoretical, empirical, and clinical information on dissociative disorders. Notes/Comments: I. Foundations History phenomenology, and epidemiology of dissociation Colin A. Ross European studies of dissociation Johan Vanderlinden, Onno Van der Hart and Katalin Varga Dissociation in normal populations William J. Ray II. Developmental perspectives Dissociation in typical and atypical development: Examples from father-daughter incest survivors Pamela M. Cole, Pamela C. Alexander and Catherine L. Anderson Child abuse in the etiology of dissociative disorders Jean M. Goodwin and Roberta G. Sachs Disorganization and disorientation in infant strange situation behavior: Phenotypic resemblance to dissociative states Mary Main and Hillary Morgan Dissociative disorders in children and adolescents Nancy L. Hornstein III. Theoretical models Recent developments in the neurobiology of dissociation: Implications for posttraumatic stress disorder John H. Krystal, Alexandre Bennett, J. Douglas Bremner, Steven M. Southwick and Dennis S. Charney Hypnosis and dissociation: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical perspectives Jonathan E. Whalen and Michael R. Nash Emotional dissociation in response to trauma: An information-processing approach Edna B. Foa and Diana Hearst-Ikeda IV. Assessment Diagnostic issues, criteria, and comorbidity of dissociative disorders Etzel Cardena and David Spiegel The psychological assessment of dissociation Marlene Steinberg Psychophysiological assessment of dissociative disorders Theodore P. Zahn, Richard Moraga and William J. Ray V. Diagnostic classifications Depersonalization and derealization Philip M. Coons Dissociative amnesia and dissociative fugue Richard J. Loewenstein Dissociative identity disorder Richard P. Kluft Dissociative symptoms in the diagnosis of acute stress disorder David Spiegel, Cheryl Koopman, Etzel Cardena and Catherine Classen Posttraumatic responses to childhood abuse and implications for treatment James A. Chu VI. Therapeutic interventions A cognitively based treatment model for DSM-IV dissociative identity disorder Catherine G. Fine Psychodynamic psychotherapy of dissociative identity disorder Peter M. Barach and Christine M. Comstock Overt-covert dissociation and hypnotic ego state therapy John G. Watkins and Helen H. Watkins Hypnotherapeutic techniques to facilitate psychotherapy with PTSD and dissociative clients Judith A. Peterson Memory processing and the healing experience Roberta G. Sachs and Judith A. Peterson Inpatient treatment of dissociative disorders Walter C. Young and Linda J. Young Art and the dissociative paracosm: Uncommon realities Barry M. Cohen Psychopharmacology Moshe S. Torem VII. Special topics Clinical aspects of sadistic ritual abuse David K. Sakheim Legal and ethical issues in the treatment of dissociative disorders George B. Greaves and George H. Faust Index history & developmental perspectives & theoretical models & assessment & diagnostic classification & treatment of & special topics in dissociative disorders, handbook ========================================
Title: More alike than different: Treating severely dissociative trauma survivors. Author(s)/Editor(s): Rivera, Margo Source/Citation: Buffalo, NY, US: University of Toronto Press; 1996, (xvi, 248) Abstract/Review/Citation: Confirming that the root of most severe dissociative conditions lies in trauma, most commonly, child abuse, Rivera discusses the general historical and social contexts of dissociation and uses clinical theory, case vignettes, and recorded personal experience to provide practical guidance to its diagnosis and treatment. She also addresses the controversies around 'False Memory Syndrome' and ritual abuse, issues which currently divide professionals treating trauma survivors. Rivera makes a unique contribution to the treatment of lesbian and gay survivors of abuse. She theorizes that all sexuality is a social construct, subject to change over an individual's lifetime, a reality that is nowhere more clear than in highly dissociative individuals, who may identify themselves as alternately heterosexual female, gay male, lesbian, and heterosexual male. This guide will be of interest to professionals who treat trauma survivors as well as to their clients. Notes/Comments: Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Multiple personality in context Multiplicity is the solution, not the problem Learning the language of dissociation Assessment: A joint endeavor Constructing the healing process Boundaries in psychotherapy Abuse and memory in the 1990s Ritual abuse Treating the lesbian and gay survivor of abuse The politics of child abuse and dissociation Conclusion: Who are you? References Index diagnosis & treatment of gay & lesbian & other severe dissociative trauma survivors ========================================
Title: Semper fidelis: The experience of healing from ritual abuse. Author(s)/Editor(s): Kay, Jeffrey Ames Source/Citation: Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering; Vol 55(7-B) Jan 1995, US: Univ. Microfilms International; 1995, 3016 Abstract/Review/Citation: This is a study of the healing experiences of people who remembered being physically and sexually abused repeatedly by a group during childhood and remembered some of this abuse being justified by the perpetrators as part of a ritual or as serving an apparently religious purpose. Nine participants were referred by their current individual psychotherapists, who attested that the metabolism of the trauma was no longer the primary focus of treatment. Participants were posed an open-ended question about their experiences of healing from ritual abuse, and then five more specific questions. Five topics emerged as having been addressed at length by at least five participants in response to the open-ended question. They are: (1) the nature and impact of the abuse; (2) the history and evaluation of structured therapy; (3) receiving witness, affirmation and connection; (4) grieving; and (5) affirming oneself. Responses to the follow-up questions concern (1) the most important healing experiences; (2) the search for meaning; (3) an important healing encounter; (4) turning points in healing and (5) additional healing resources required. The Discussion focuses on (1) grief for the tortured and murdered in the past as a foundation for the love of the living; (2) the role of spirituality in enabling survivors and their helpers to remain connected with one another and able to contain their pain; and (3) the need for healing centers for ritual abuse survivors. ========================================
Title: A twentieth-century demonologic neurosis? Author(s)/Editor(s): Brenner, Ira Source/Citation: Journal of Psychohistory: Special Issue: Cult abuse of children: Witch hunt or reality?; Vol 21(4) Spr 1994, US: Assn. for Psychohistory, Inc.; 1994, 501-504 Abstract/Review/Citation: Discusses the need for addressing the issue of satanic ritual abuse (SRA) in context. The importance of appreciating the complex nature of the factors involved in RCA is stressed, including history, mythology, anthropology, theology, sociology, psychology, law, and forensic pathology. The cynical backlash against the "growth industry" of SRA is discussed, and a recent example of the contagious nature of group hysteria generated by fears of SRA is detailed. It is suggested that allegations of SRA are a puzzling phenomenon that seem to be multiply determined. The field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, especially the professionally guided healing of massive psychic trauma, is still in its infancy, and it may be well into the next century before SRA is fully understood. ========================================
Title: Ethnomedical pathogenesis and Hmong immigrants' sudden nocturnal deaths. Author(s)/Editor(s): Adler, Shelley R. Source/Citation: Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry; Vol 18(1) Mar 1994, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 1994, 23-59 Abstract/Review/Citation: Investigated Hmong traditional beliefs to isolate the trigger event underlying sudden unexpected death syndrome (SUNDS) among Hmong refugees. Interviews with 118 Hmong Ss revealed that dab tsog or nightmare attacks on Hmong men are more frequent as a result of recent and severe sociocultural change. These attacks can result in extreme stress for the victim. Compounded with factors such as the trauma of war, migration, rapid acculturation, and the inability to practice traditional healing and ritual, the power of traditional belief in the nightmare appears to cause cataclysmic psychological stress that can result in death from SUNDS among male Hmong refugees. Case studies of 4 men (aged 31-58 yrs) are also included. ========================================
Title: Embodiment and experience: The existential ground of culture and self. Author(s)/Editor(s): Csordas, Thomas J. Source/Citation: New York, NY, US: Cambridge University Press; 1994, (xi, 294) Cambridge studies in medical anthropology, 2. Abstract/Review/Citation: Students of culture have been increasingly concerned with the ways in which cultural values are "inscribed" on the body. These essays go beyond this passive construal of the body to a position in which embodiment is understood as the existential condition of cultural life. From this standpoint embodiment is reducible neither to representations of the body, to the body as an objectification of power, to the body as a physical entity or biological organism, nor to the body as an inalienable center of individual consciousness. This more sensate and dynamic view is applied by the contributors to a variety of topics, including the expression of emotion, the experience of pain, ritual healing, dietary customs, and political violence. Their purpose is to contribute to a phenomenological theory of culture and self--an anthropology that is not merely about the body, but from the body. Notes/Comments: Print (Paper) Human 10 List of illustrations List of contributors Preface Introduction: The body as representation and being-in-the-world [by] Thomas J. Csordas Part I: Paradigms and polemics Bodies and anti-bodies: Flesh and fetish in contemporary social theory Terence Turner Society's body: Emotion and the "somatization" of social theory M. L. Lyon and J. M. Barbalet Part II: Form, appearance, and movement The political economy of injury and compassion: Amputees on the Thai-Cambodia border Lindsay French Nurturing and negligence: Working on others' bodies in Fiji Anne E. Becker The silenced body--the expressive Leib: On the dialectic of mind and life in Chinese cathartic healing Thomas Ots Part III: Self, sensibility, and emotion Embodied metaphors: Nerves as lived experience Setha M. Low Bodily transactions of the passions: El calor among Salvadoranwomen refugees Janis H. Jenkins and Martha Valiente The embodiment of symbols and the acculturation of the anthropologist Carol Laderman Part IV: Pain and meaning Chronic pain and the tension between the body as subject and object Jean Jackson The individual in terror E. Valentine Daniel Rape trauma: Contexts of meaning Cathy Winkler (with Kate Wininger) Words from the Holy People: A case study in cultural phenomenology Thomas J. Csordas Index experience of embodiment in existentially grounded phenomenological theory of culture & self, essays Conference Proceedings/Symposia 0600 ========================================
Title: Testimony as ritual and evidence in psychotherapy for political refugees. Author(s)/Editor(s): Agger, Inger; Jensen, Soren B. Source/Citation: Journal of Traumatic Stress; Vol 3(1) Jan 1990, US: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; 1990, 115-130 Abstract/Review/Citation: Political refugees who have suffered torture may experience testimony as a ritual both of healing and of condemnation of injustice. When political refugees give testimony to their torture, the trauma story can be given a meaning and be reframed: Private pain is transformed into political dignity. In the context of testimony, shame and guilt connected with the trauma can be confessed by the victim and reframed. In the transcultural meeting between the political refugee and the Western therapist, the common goal of creating evidence against repression becomes both a meeting place and a joint point of departure. The testimony method is demonstrated by 2 case histories of a 25-yr-old African man and a 30-yr-old man from the Middle East. ========================================
Title: Treating the Vietnam veteran. Author(s)/Editor(s): Wilson, John P. Source/Citation: Post-traumatic therapy and victims of violence., Philadelphia, PA, US: Brunner/Mazel, Inc; 1988, (xiv, 370), 254-277 Brunner/Mazel psychosocial stress series, No. 11. Source editor(s): Ochberg, Frank M. (Ed) Abstract/Review/Citation: traumatic neurosis / Horowitz's modern phase-oriented treatment / PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] / PTSD and personality disorders: complex treatment issues / Figley's algorithmic approach to treatment / catastrophe assessment / traumatic induction recapitulation / trauma neutralization / trauma resolution / cultural considerations / Native American healing and purification rituals / Lakota sweat lodge purification ritual / psychological dimensions of the ceremony / preconditions for effective psychotherapy with Vietnam veterans

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