Spirituality and religion in group counseling: A literature review with practice guidelines.

There has been increased discussion of the need to attend to clients' spirituality and religion as a part of the counseling process, but much of the literature to date has focused on individual counseling. How do the research and resulting practice implications apply to group counseling? This article provides a rationale for attending to spirituality and religion in counseling, explores the opportunities and barriers in attending to spirituality and religion in group counseling, and reviews the literature on the growing number of group interventions with a spiritual or religious focus. The article ends with specific guidelines for when and how to incorporate spirituality and religion into group counseling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tobacco farmers and diversification: opportunities and barriers

PCR/SSOP typing methods were used to analyze the HLA Class II DRB1, DQA1, DQB1 and DPB1 loci of samples from three African American populations of Colombia. Forty samples from the Cauca (Pacific), and twenty samples each from the Choco (North Pacific Coast) and the Providencia (Caribbean island) populations, were collected and the Class II loci analyzed under the auspices of the Expedicion Humana. Despite the limited number of samples analyzed, the African Colombian populations exhibit a very high degree of class II polymorphism. A great diversity of DRB1 alleles was found, with representatives from all serological classes, including 19 DRB1 alleles in the Providencia, 16 in the Cauca and 14 in the Choco groups. In addition, a novel DQB1*02 allele (*0203) was found in two individuals from the Cauca population of the Pacific Coast. The sequence of the DQB1*0203 allele, associated with DR3, differs from DQB1*0201 by only one nucleotide substitution (C-->A) in the second position of codon 57, resulting in an Ala to Asp change. The addition of DQB1*0203 brings the total number of DQB1 alleles identified to date to 26. HLA class II diversity is much greater in these African Colombian populations than that seen in nearby Amerindian populations. Analysis of regional Colombian African American HLA population genetics is discussed with respect to the Colombian Amerindian HLA genetics described in an accompanying paper.     

Religion, Spirituality, and Health.

Comments on the article by W. R. Miller and C. E. Thoresen (see record 2003-02034-003) on spirituality, religion, and health. The authors failed to mention how very far back into history the connections between religiousness, spirituality, and health go. On gender differences in religiousness and spirituality, Miller and Thoresen reported that more people see spirituality and religiousness as overlapping but not the same. However, several other studies have found that this relationship is more complex. Rayburn also comments on the article by P. C. Hill and K. I. Pargament (see record 2003-02034-006) on advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religion, Spirituality, and Health: A Topic Not So New.

Comments on (1) the article by W. R. Miller and C. E. Thoresen (see record 2003-02034-003), which states that the area of spirituality, religion and health is seen as an emerging field; and (2) the article by P. C. Hill and K. I. Pargament (see record 2003-02034-006), which states that conceptualization and measurement of religion as spirituality neglect to consider any of the definitional work that has been completed and reported at the summit conferences of the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling. Richmond asserts that the authors limited their search for resource material. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Galton on Spirituality, Religion, and Health.

Comments on the four articles in the special section on spirituality, religion, and health in the January 2003 issue of American Psychologist (2003, Vol 58, 24-74). These articles acknowledged the long tradition of research in this area but cited no work prior to William James (1902) and Durkheim (1897/1951). This is a pity, as Francis Galton, the father of differential psychology, published pioneering works 30 years earlier in his book Hereditary Genius (1869) and in a paper titled "Statistical Inquiries Into the Efficacy of Prayer" (1872). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Professional psychology and the gifted: Emerging practice opportunities.

Professional psychology has an opportunity to assume a leadership role in working with the gifted. The gifted have many unmet social, emotional, and psychoeducational needs and are arguably one of America's most valuable resources. The Duke University Talent Identification Program conducted a survey to better understand emerging issues in the gifted field. The survey identified a number of areas in which professional psychologists can play an active role. Three specific practice opportunities are discussed: assuming a leadership role in the identification of gifted students, serving as a consultant to promote talent development in the schools, and providing counseling services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spirituality and mindfulness.

Several points of commonality emerged in 3 papers on psychoanalysis and spirituality, independently submitted by Randall Sorenson, by Ellen Lewinberg and Doris Brothers, and by Marianne Spitzform. A central unifying theme was an image of spaciousness that incorporates intersubjectivity and the feminine. Spitzform described Winnicott's "transitional space" in which the intermix of internal and external realities can lead, through the process of symbolization, both to new psychological possibilities and to the spiritual. Brothers and Lewinberg's elaboration of Kohut and of the distinction between institutional religion and the personal experience of spirituality aided access to this territory. Carl Jung's analytical psychology can help articulate these issues, which were at the heart of the Freud-Jung split. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The leadership imperative: Linking strategy and competency requirements for success: Interview with H. Laurence Fuller, Chairman, CEO, and President of Amoco Corporation.

The following is an interview with H. Laurance Fuller, Chairman, CEO, and President of Amoco Corporation, a $28 million petroleum and petrochemical company based in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Fuller highlights the link between business strategy and the factors required of leaders in the successful pursuit of that strategy. Amoco is engaged in a major change process refocusing strategy and reshaping culture. As a part of that change process, an effort is underway to identify leadership competencies to be used in selection, performance appraisal, training, and development, career management and succession planning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology and mental retardation: Emerging research and practice opportunities.

Four questions were asked of 322 authorities in mental retardation: (1) What were the most significant research findings of 1980–1989? (2) What unanswered questions confronting the field of mental retardation will be answered in the next decade? (3) What innovative treatment approaches and services for persons with mental retardation will be the "wave of the future?" (4) What political, economic, and social factors will shape programs and services in the next decade? Biomedical advances, applied behavioral technology, and psychoeducational interventions have led the list for the past decade. The experts predicted advances in community and vocational programs, expanded family support services, and health promotion and prevention activities, which have research and practice implications for not only psychologists in this field but also for program administrators and families of mentally retarded persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spirituality, Health, and the Discipline of Psychology.

Replies to comments by D. J. McCormick (see record 2004-10043-013), L. J. Richmond (see record 2004-10043-014), C. A. Rayburn (see record 2004-10043-015), and F. J. Kier and D. S. Davenport (see record 2004-10043-016) on the special section on spirituality, religion, and health in the January 2003 issue of American Psychologist (2003, Vol 58, 24-74). Each of the comments is addressed in turn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A veterinary President. Interview by Robin Fox

On 21 July, Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior took office as President of the Royal Society of Medicine. He qualified mrcvs from Edinburgh in 1948 and held lectureships in Bristol and Cambridge before appointment as Professor of Parasitology in the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. There he stayed for fourteen years, returning to Cambridge in 1978 as Professor of Animal Pathology (now Emeritus). His work as a parasitologist has taken him to the USSR, Nigeria, India, Australia, South America, China and numerous countries of Europe. Earlier presidencies have included the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the World Association for the Advancement of Parasitology, the Cambridge Society for Comparative Medicine, and the Comparative Medicine Section of the RSM (1993-95); he is Patron of the Fund for Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments. He has been a consultant to international bodies including WHO, the UN Development Programme, FAO, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Created a life peer in 1990 (now on the Opposition benches), he chaired a Select Committee on antibiotic resistance whose report appeared earlier this year. He is interviewed here by Robin Fox.