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Spirituality and Healing
Spiritualith and Medicine
Spirituality and Mental Health
Spirituality and the Soul

Psychological

and Physiological

Trauma Research

 

 

Seize Your Journeys

 

_______________________

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.

_______________________

 

 

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
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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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