Issue 5 – October 2009

Editorial
Enikő Albert-Lőrincz

ARTICLES

Theoretical study
Bartha Dávid Péter: The basic questions of the practice, training and ethics of transpersonal psychotherapy
Questions of practice
Stuart W. Twemlow, Peter Fonagy, Frank C Sacco:: A developmental approach to mentalizing communities: The Peaceful Schools experiment. Part 2. Translated by Ágota Gaskó, Boglárka Horváth and Borbála Sarkadi
Case study
Ferenc Túry: Gypsy saga — a story of a big family: 13 family members, 13 years
Pearls
Patricia L. Ryan: Spirituality among adult survivors of childhood violence: a literature review
Translated by Gánti Bence

PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Point of view
The practicing doctor and the „psycho”-professional — Márta Kóri
Interview with Gretel Leutz — Gábor Szőnyi
News and reports
Conferences —Ágota Süli, Adrienn Horváth ¨Gábor Szőnyi
About this journal Emőke Bagdy
Book reviews József Csürki¨ Judit Simon¨ Gábor Szőnyi¨István Tiringer
Lists of professional books — Animula ¨ Lélekben Otthon¨ Ursus libris
Professional programs

Theoretical study
Bartha Dávid Péter: The basic questions of the practice, training and ethics of transpersonal psychotherapy

Since the Hungarian professional literature deals only with certain aspects of transpersonal psychotherapy this article addresses the basic question of practice, training and ethics building on explicit transpersonal literature. Transpersonal psychotherapy is presented as a healing endeavor that integrates the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of well-being. To reach this aim transpersonal psychotherapy is using traditional techniques of therapy together with the techniques of the spiritual traditions such as meditation, yoga and prayer, to utilize the healing potentials of spiritual experiences and the healing potentials of dealing with spiritual questions. One of the main aims of the therapeutic work is to choose the right traditional and/or spiritual technique for the problem and developmental level of the client, and the effective differentiation of the personal and the transpersonal dimensions of the personality. Transpersonal techniques can be effectively used in both personal and transpersonal issues and in cases when the focus of the therapy is the working through of spiritual experiences and crises. In the transpersonal approach spiritual crises are developmental stages available to everyone, while from a traditional standpoint they are the exceptional experiences and perceptions of an especially sensitive, vulnerable and potentially creative group of people. However the two approaches agree on the usefulness of the spiritual context for integrating such experiences. The article also addresses some of the most important questions of ethics and traps of transpersonal therapy, and the American and European model of training transpersonal psychotherapists.

Key words: transpersonal psychotherapy — transpersonal differential diagnosis — spiritual emergency/crisis — ethics of transpersonal psychotherapy — transpersonal psychotherapy training

Questions of practice
Stuart W. Twemlow, Peter Fonagy, Frank C Sacco:: A developmental approach to mentalizing communities: The Peaceful Schools experiment. Part 2. Translated by Ágota Gaskó, Boglárka Horváth and Borbála Sarkadi

This paper summarizes a theoretical argument for the use of a mentalization-based approach to the systemic problem of school bullying. The Peaceful Schools Project of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, is an experimental test of this model. Data is presented from a randomized controlled trial of this intervention in nine elementary schools in the Midwest.
Applying attachment theory and mentalization concepts to complex social systems is an innovative use of these ideas. This second paper (Twemlow, Fonagy, and Sacco 2005b), a companion piece to the first article in this issue (Twemlow, Fonagy, and Sacco 2005a),contrasts a social systems approach to school bullying and violence with a mentalization approach to the same problem and then attempts a synthesis of the two. We then summarize the findings of a test of these ideas in a randomized controlled trial involving several schools and more than 3,000 children. In the first paper (Twemlow, Fonagy, and Sacco 2005a), we extrapolated these ideas and findings in a proposal for a series of projects that tested out these applications in a larger community.
Our goal in this paper is to see if the serious contemporary problem of bullying and interpersonal violence in schools could be approached using a focus on the relationships between the members of the social system as a whole, rather than the more traditional strategy seen in prevention studies, that is, that of identifying disturbed and at risk children and separating them from the social system for special attention.

Keywords: school bullying — social systems approach — mentalization-based approach — Peaceful Schools Project — randomized controlled trial

Case study
Ferenc Túry: Gypsy saga — a story of a big family: 13 family members, 13 years

The case report describes the therapy of 13 members of a gypsy family, which lasted for 13 years. The special therapeutic relationship was influenced by the magic thinking of the gypsy ethnicity, and the cohesion of the big family was also essential. The first family member, who recovered from conversion palsy, became the sender of other family members, and directed them to psychotherapy. Identification with the therapist has to be stressed, which was a central element of the long therapy. During the therapy the family members suffering from the following disorders were treated: conversion palsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and, at several patients, nocturnal enuresis, or somatisation disorder. Besides of multiple individual therapies the systemic approach came into the foreground, and there were also a number of family sessions.

Key words: gypsy ethnicity — psychotherapy — hypnosis — systemic approach — cultural anthropology

Pearls
Patricia L. Ryan: Spirituality among adult survivors of childhood violence: a literature review
Translated by Gánti Bence

What is the impact of childhood violence upon one’s adult spirituality? Does the violence destroy all belief in a meaningful universe or a higher power, or do survivors turn to spirituality as the only thing greater than the awful reality of their experience?
Or do both of these outcomes occur?
Does the child’s belief system shatter, with a new one eventually taking its place?

Because spirituality is as much a part of human experience as emotionality or mentality, mental health professionals who desire to be of assistance  to survivors, and survivors themselves, need to hear answers to these questions.
Melissa Jarrard, a clinical nurse who specializes in working with trauma victims, underscores the need to attend to survivors’ spiritual lives when she states, „ I’ve never met anybody who got through a violent event (who) did not use spirituality to cope.” ( Jarrard, 1997)

There seems to be general agreement that therapist and researchers have tended to neglect the spiritual aspect of mental health in general and of survivors’lives in particular.
In fact, religious or spiritual content is sometimes viewed as pathology by the mental health professions. At the same time, some of the most influential thinkers in the field have included religion or spirituality in their theories, e.g. Freud, James, Erikson, Jung and Maslow. Also interest in the interaction of spirituality and mental health is currently growing.

This paper reviews the mental health literature for research, theoretical observations and interventions related to the spiritual experiences of survivors of childhood violence.

Key-words: spirituality — transpersonality — abuse — childhood rape — religious beliefs

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