Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Parapsychology And Transpersonal Psychology In Dialogue: Could These Two Movements Be Brought Into Better Alignment?, Harris L. Friedman, Dean Radin, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Parapsychology and transpersonal psychology were founded independently and have evolved separately as two distinct movements, although there is considerable overlap in both their content and in the interests of a number of scholars who are active in both areas. Harris Friedman, Co-President of the Association of Transpersonal Psychology, and Dean Radin, President of the Parapsychological Association, engaged in an informal discussion on the salient commonalities and differences between the two movements, focusing on exploring ways that the two could be brought into better alignment, such as including more transpersonal approaches within parapsychological studies and vice versa. Stanley Krippner, whose seminal …

Meditation-Induced After Death Communication: A Contemporary Modality For Grief Therapy, Neda Wassie

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Meditation-induced after death communication (MI-ADC) was introduced as a potential modality for grief therapy. Traditional and contemporary approaches were compared in order to evaluate effective paradigms and theories of bereavement. The Continuing Bonds theory of attachment emerged as an adaptive framework for grief therapy, especially with attention to meaning-making and the strength of continued bonds. Considerations were implemented from research in psychomanteum, mediumship, and induced after death communication. Specifically, visual stimuli and timing of after death communications were emphasized. The discussion was encouraging for the conceptualization of MI-ADC as an effective construct and as an inquiry for empirical research.

Locating The Embodied Sense Of Self And Examining Its Relationship With Psychological Well-Being, Adam Wesley Hanley, Natalie Lecy, Robert Hanley

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Westerners tend to localize their sense of self in the head, and, to a lesser degree, in the chest. However, single-point, localization studies of the self omit direct exploration of the size and shape of the embodied self. This study explored a) beliefs about the location and spatial distribution of the embodied sense of self, and b) whether individual differences in how the embodied self was represented were associated with psychological and subjective well-being. Results from a sample of 206 American adults confirm extant reports, indicating that the embodied sense of self is most often located in the head and …

Table Of Contents—Masthead

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Harris Friedman: Pioneer Of Transpersonal Psychology As A Science, Harris L. Friedman, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Intimations Of A Spiritual New Age: V. Socio-Cultural Bases Of A Globalizing Neo-Shamanism And Its Relation To Climate Crisis: Possibilities, Inevitabilities, Barriers, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Extending this series of papers on a futural spirituality, and considering the numinous as an inherent human capacity for an awe that confers a sense of all-inclusive meaning, communality, and humility, the question arises whether, in the face of a secularization of traditional world religions, globalization of a techno/capitalist economy of perpetual commodification of planet and person, and a widening sense of loss of meaning and higher purpose, some collective re-newal of the sense of the sacred might be possible —or not. While Jung, Toynbee, and Sorokin regarded such a movement as inevitable, bringing forward to the degree possible the …

Brain Activity During Paired And Individual Mindfulness Meditation: A Controlled Eeg Study, Hessel Engelbregt, Hugo F. Alderse Bass, Sietske De Grauw, Jan Berend Deijen

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Objective: In this study, we evaluated brain electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in healthy participants during the performance of paired and individual mindfulness meditation (MM). We hypothesized that EEG activity is differentially affected by meditation in pairs compared to individual meditation. Methods: A total of 20 healthy female university students (mean age 19.54 years, SD =1.53) with no prior experience in MM participated in this study. All participants had to perform a 5-minute MM task together and individually while the other participant was in rest or performing a concentration task (control condition). To exclude social interaction as main factor, participants were separated …

The Varieties Of Spiritual States Triggered By Sex: A Systematic Review Of The Empirical Literature, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This systematic review integrates the empirical evidence of spiritual experiences triggered by sexual activity, including studies by 10 authors. Despite venerable sexual meditative traditions of embodied spiritual practices, such as Hindu Tantra, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Taoism, empirical studies of sexual spiritual experiences are in their infancy. This review presents the range of sexual altered states experiences identified to date and how they qualify as spiritual experiences phenomenologically and in terms of their lifechanging effects. Seventeen distinct sexual-spiritual states have been identified across authors, with 4 others identified at significant levels in qualitative studies by individual authors. As an emergent area …

Personality Pathology And The Dark Side Of Buyer–Supplier Relationships, Simon Croom, Katarina Fritzon, Nathan Brooks

School of Business: Faculty Scholarship

differences amongst the parties to any relationship, thereby ignoring the complex dynamics of human interaction and behaviors on the progress and performance in such relationships. This Notes & Debates paper takes the view that personality matters, particularly toxic personality traits, and argues that for purchasing & supply researchers a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of BSRs will advance our understanding. Our study brought together psychology and supply management researchers. We begin by arguing that much of the extant literature demotes behavior and personality to peripheral, exogenous, or even irrelevant to the study of BSRs. Second, by focusing on the emergent …

Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On Offspring Emotional Development And Stress Response, Alexandra Pritchett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While cannabis may be used by women during pregnancy, its effects on their offsprings’ developing stress response system are still largely unknown. The binding sites for the active chemicals in cannabis are operational at early time points in fetal development and are expressed in key limbic brain structures. The body’s natural endocannabinoid system serves as an important regulator of the stress response. Longitudinal studies have associated prenatal exposure with increased fearfulness and mood disturbances in offspring, but, despite the growing evidence of emotional dysfunction, there remains a critical gap in knowledge explaining how early prenatal exposure may lead to future …

Training And Individual Predictors Of Attitudes Toward Serious Mental Illness Amongst Clinical Psychology Doctoral Students, Lauren K. O'Connor

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clinical psychologists are grossly underrepresented in treatment provision for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI; Roe, Yanos, Lysaker, 2006). Systemic (e.g., emergence of managed care) and training-based (e.g., limitations to SMI specific training) factors contribute to the establishment of this underrepresentation, while mental health stigma amongst psychologists may play a role in perpetuating it. Many individual and experiential factors have been found to impact clinicians’ attitudes toward those with SMI (Henderson et al., 2014; Schulzes, 2007). Though many of these factors are present and relevant from the beginning of one’s career and may involve elements related to training, little research …

Improved Psychological Services For American Indian Communities, Grace Anna Hofer

Honors Thesis

The importance of mental health care is growing. Inadequate psychological aid in underserved areas creates an environment for health disparities. There is a needed emphasis for outreach in rural and ethnically diverse communities with a lack of healthcare professionals to service those afflicted by mental illness. One such group is the American Indian communities of indigent populations that experience multifactorial inequalities. The treatment and reception of mental health care continue to face many challenges such as access to care, lack of education, and stereotypes. To provide effective mental health services to the American Indian population, a collaboration in designing interventions …

Dimensionality Reduction For Classification Of Object Weight From Electromyography, Elnaz Lashgari, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Electromyography (EMG) is a simple, non-invasive, and cost-effective technology for measuring muscle activity. However, multi-muscle EMG is also a noisy, complex, and high-dimensional signal. It has nevertheless been widely used in a host of human-machine-interface applications (electrical wheelchairs, virtual computer mice, prosthesis, robotic fingers, etc.) and, in particular, to measure the reach-and-grasp motions of the human hand. Here, we developed an automated pipeline to predict object weight in a reach-grasp-lift task from an open dataset, relying only on EMG data. In doing so, we shifted the focus from manual feature-engineering to automated feature-extraction by using pre-processed EMG signals and thus …

Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Alzheimer’S Disease Risk: Role Of Exposure To Ambient Fine Particles, Diane Younan, Xinhui Wang, Tara Gruenewald, Margaret Gatz, Marc L. Serre, William Vizuete, Meredith N. Braskie, Nancy F. Woods, Ka Kahe, Lorena Garcia, Fred Lurmann, Joann E. Manson, Helena C. Chui, Robert B. Wallace, Mark A. Espeland, Jiu-Chiuan Chen

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Whether racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk may be explained by ambient fine particles (PM_2.5) has not been studied.

Methods

We conducted a prospective, population-based study on a cohort of Black (n=481) and White (n=6004) older women (aged 65-79) without dementia at enrollment (1995-98). Cox models accounting for competing risk were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for racial/ethnic disparities in AD (1996-2010) defined by DSM-IV and the association with time-varying annual average PM_2.5 (1999-2010) estimated by spatiotemporal model.

Results

Over an average follow-up of 8.3 (±3.5) years with 158 incident cases (21 in …

Applying Theoretical Models Of Positive Emotion To Improve Pediatric Asthma: A Positive Psychology Approach, Brooke N. Jenkins, Judith T. Moskowitz, Jill Halterman, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Positive emotion, encompassing feelings such as joy and happiness, has been shown to predict a multitude of health outcomes. However, the role of positive emotion in pediatric asthma is not understood. No work to date has examined how positive emotion may offer benefits to children and adolescents with asthma. Based on theory and models of positive emotion and health, we hypothesize that positive emotion may improve asthma outcomes through mediators such as health behaviors and health-relevant physiological functioning. Moreover, boosting positive emotion during times of stress may be particularly relevant in mitigating asthma symptoms. In the present commentary, we elaborate …

Intellectual Disability In The Australian Aboriginal Population: A Critical Review, Ryan Yj Chong, Ritesh Bhandarkar

Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin

Objectives

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Indigenous population of Australia. Australian Aboriginal people represent a small percentage of the overall Australian population. However, this population group has a higher rate of Intellectual Disability when compared to the non-Indigenous Australian population.

This article aims to review the current literature regarding Intellectual Disability in the Australian Aboriginal Population, build on the current evidence base for Intellectual Disability specific to the Australian Aboriginal population, investigate if any changes to the evidence base have occurred, and identify areas where further research is required. This is in comparison to a literature review …

Stair Versus Elevator Use In A University Residence Hall Setting, Vincent Berardi, Benjamin D. Rosenberg, Sophie Srivastava, Noah Estrada-Rand, Julia Frederick

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

Determine the temporal and spatial characteristics of stairs versus elevator use in a university residence hall to inform future physical activity promotion efforts.

Participants

All residents and visitors for a single, four-story residence hall dormitory building located on a college campus in Orange, CA.

Methods

Smart mat systems capable of detecting pedestrian traffic were placed in front of the stairs and elevators on each floor plus a basement. Generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs) were used to compare stair versus elevator usage at different times of the day and on different floors.

Results

Stair versus elevator use varied much more …

Does Feminine Gender Role Stress Moderate The Relationship Between Disordered Eating And Depression?, Paige Nichols

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the moderating effect of feminine gender role stress on disordered eating behaviors and depression. It was hypothesized that feminine gender role stress would significantly moderate the relationship between disordered eating and depression, such that disordered eating behaviors would be more strongly associated with depression when FGRS total and subscale scores were high. These hypotheses were tested by surveying a sample of 334 university students (mean age = 20.54 years), all of whom were cisgender women. Participants completed self-report measures including the Eating Attitudes Test-26, Beck Depression Inventory, Feminine Gender Role Stress Scale, …

Where To Draw The Line: Evaluating Visuospatial And Attentional Processing In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Alisha Steigerwald

University Honors Theses

Objective: We investigated visuospatial processing in individuals with autism using bisection and quadrisection tasks to evaluate the presence of a possible downward vertical spatial bias that could provide insights into the preference for attending to the mouth in ASD populations.

Methods: Twenty participants with ASD and 20 age, IQ, and sex-matched control participants were recruited (ages 6-23). Participants were asked to bisect, quadrisect from the top, and quadrisect from the bottom vertical lines placed in their left, center, and right visual spaces. Distance from the true midpoint and quadripoint were calculated and compared between the two groups.

Results: No significant …

A Systematic Review Of Recommendations For Behavioral Health Services For Transgender And Gender Diverse Adults: The Three-Legged Stool Of Evidence-Based Practice Is Unbalanced, Natalie Holt, Allura L. Ralston, Debra A. Hope, Richard Mocarski, Nathan Woodruff

Trans Collaborations Academic Papers

There is a growing literature of clinical recommendations for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) affirming behavioral health care, yet it is unknown to what extent these recommendations are rooted in evidence-based practice (EBP). This systematic review included 65 articles published between 2009 and 2018 with recommendations for behavioral health services with TGD adults, emphasizing general clinical care. Coded variables included type of article, participant demographics, aspects of EBP, and whether care was informed by objective assessment. Most articles did not equally draw from all components of EBP. Recommendations for specific clinical problems are increasingly available and address diversity within TGD …