Spirituality in Therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spirituality in Therapy - Essay Example Through the years, Psychoanalytic Therapy has evolved dramatically, seeking more effective ways to bring reconstruction to patients from personality conflicts. Among these is Humanistic Therapy which sees the patient as a human being with an innate positive drive for a better life. Dolto and Olthuis adopt humanistic therapy with the addition of Christian spirituality concepts which this paper attempts to discuss. As practicing Christian, Francoise Dolto brought ideas from Christianity into her clinical practice. Dolto was influenced by the Humanism of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, who stressed the need for psychologists to recognize the religious depths of personality in the human person. Adopting Lacan’s insights on the religious personality, Dolto gave importance to the spiritual-psychological dialectic of the â€Å"I† and the â€Å"me† of the human person (Slattery,2002). Beyond Lacan, however, Dolto focused more on the spiritual dialectic with the clien t finding joy and desire to strive for meaning in his life through Gospel truths. In her clinical practice, Dolto worked along an ethics of desire for a loving relationship in the patient. Her therapeutic process consisted in freeing an innate frozen human desire—structured by the Creator-- to rise up towards relational cohesion with all created beings. During the spiritual dialectic, Dolto the therapist helped the patient to project this innate desire onto others consonant with a capacity to love. For Dolto, the Gospel can be instrumental to this spiritual dialectic since it is the seat of Christ’s teachings on compassionate love and openness to others, exemplified by Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan. Dolto believes that if compassionate love fills the world, man can free its innate desire for the cohesion of all of humankind. Meanwhile, James Olthuis in his writings harps on a Christian way of therapy through a relational dialectic between therapist and c lient. Understandably reflective of his career as a philosophical theologian, Olthuis chose Christian Love as the basic theme of his book the Beautiful Risk (Oltuis, 2001). His actual therapeutic methodology is scientific and objective, since he as an analyst related to his clients with clinical skills, but at the same time he filled himself with sensitivity and honesty sourced from Christian compassion. Through the dimension of his Christian faith, Olthuis has enriched the humanist’s view of self-actualization mediated by Christian care, connection, partnership and love. Impact of spirituality in therapy Given the relational spiritual dialectic of Dolto, my therapeutic practice can gain a deeper dimension by including God in my therapy work. To reflect on my education, I was taught therapeutic practice mainly along scientific concepts and procedures. Faith is understandably not within the purview of psychological education and training. I have even observed, for example, tha t clinicians remove from patients all items of faith like crucifixes, rosaries and prayer books prior to treatment or confinement. Dolto, however, makes a radical move as she showed that the path to cure is a deeper dialectic, the spiritual one encompassing the scientific efforts in helping a patient. Complementing this is Olthuis’ idea of professional practice that is imbued with Christian care, connection, partnership and love. Given Dolto’s and Olthuis’ religious perspectives, I believe I can now see my patients in a new light, specifically as seekers of meaning and cohesion within themselves and harmony with life. On their part, clients will see freedom at the end of the tunnel of their entrapment with complex biological, psychic and social forces that complicate their lives. As a therapist, I am both a

Bronfenbrenner Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bronfenbrenner Analysis - Research Paper Example The theory largely illustrates how the environmental factors affect early education of a child towards full maturity. Though many theories put more emphasis on the nurture vs. nature relation (Paquette and Ryan, 2), Bronfenbreenner’s ecological system theory goes deeper into the perspective of the child’s environment in terms of the quality and context of the child’s environment. Therefore, in order to understand human development in a better perspective of the entire ecological system has to be considered and its relation to the growth and development of the child. This involves considering the micro systems that refer to the relationship between the developing person, the environment and the macros system, which refers to institutional patterns that include customs, economy and bodies of knowledge. The theory is much detailed and goes beyond the facts considered by other developmental theories in child development. Bronfebrenner (38) explains that the first proposition of the general ecological model state that especially in the early stages and largely to the entire life, the human development takes process though complex, reciprocal and progressive process that interacts between an active evolving bio-psychological human organism and the persons, objects, symbols that are in the immediate environment. The forms of interaction in the immediate environment are referred to as proximal process and may include, mother –child and child-child relationship. The theory implicates that a child has to be considered in the context of a wider scope to the social spheres of influence. The child cannot develop outside a unique historical, ideological and sociopolicatical set of circumstances. The advantage of this theory is that while others concentrate on the impacts of thinking, perception, motivation and learning that is perceived at an isolated level of

Differences Between Concrete and Virtual Manipulatives in Preparing Thesis

Differences Between Concrete and Virtual Manipulatives in Preparing 10th Grade Math Students for Standardized Tests - Thesis Example PAPPAS Montclair State University Montclair, NJ June 2012 ______________________________________ Thesis advisor: Dr. Ken Wolff Copyright  © 2012 by John G. Pappas. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were any differences in student achievement when students had the use of either concrete (also called physical) manipulatives or virtual manipulatives while studying the same mathematical topic at the 10th grade level. The topics were aligned with the objectives defined by the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards and included problems typical to those found on standardized tests such as the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Years ago, mathematics instructors would implement techniques incorporating concrete manipulatives to facilitate the students’ understanding of concepts through the engagement of the senses. Apart from the traditional writing on the board, topics would become more simplified and even exciting when instructors utilized visual, audio and kinesthetic tools for young students to grasp mathematics more readily. Use of concrete manipulatives in the classroom such as cuisenaire rods, mini cubes, patterned blocks, fraction slices, base-ten blocks, and square tiles enabled students to forge relationships with the abstract thus assisting students in observing a more practical application of mathematics. Since the 21st century, however, it was found that these instruments are too elementary especially when instructors attempt to re-introduce the same concepts to upper level high school or even college students. Also in the technological age when computers continue to evolve and pervade the classroom, students are averting their attention to more virtual presentations. As such, programmes on virtual manipulatives have been engineered to stimulate learning, engage and encourage the youth to be technology-savvy. By testing the different contributions of both concrete and virtual manipulatives in a 10th grade setting, findings would confirm the advantages and even disadvantages of each technique for this particular age bracket (15-16 years). It was expected that concrete manipulatives be more effective for younger minds in elementary school than with an older studentship. Moreover, it was estimated that the virtual manipulatives would be best suited for the upper students in view of the sweeping popularity of computers in the classroom and their familiarity with items of a technological nature. Standardized tests are referred to those compulsory assessments taken at the termination of every school year by students. These examinations determine the success rate of students to understand subject taught, of teachers and by extension schools to communicate information to produce high-achieving students. The effectiveness of standardized tests is very hotly debated especially with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001). On one hand , standardized tests regard use the results of specifically stated standards to measure proficiency levels of students in Mathematics,

Socially Responsible Investing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10500 words

Socially Responsible Investing - Coursework Example As the report stresses  the subsequent results revealed that the SRI has not been able to outperform the conventional investment funds rather have clearly underperformed. However, the SRI has been able to experience higher growth rate in the United States of America and Europe and other parts of the world. Overall, this performance reflects that the SRI funds and SRI indices have experienced a reasonable growth over the period of last 13 years and there has been a steady and stable upward growth in the SRI, reflecting that more and more investment is being done in the SRI.According to the paper findings  the conventional investment has considerably violated the ethical and moral standards. In the conventional investment, the firms do not take into account the interests and expectations of society instead they prefer to serve their commercial objectives at the cost of society.  This paper is consisted of five parts: introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis and discussion and conclusion and recommendation chapter. In the introduction chapter, some background information about the SRI has been provided in which the historical development of the SRI has been provided. In addition, in this chapter, research aim, questions, objectives and limitations have also been included.  Subsequently, in the literature review chapter, a comprehensive critical evaluation of the SRI has been provided in which history and definition of the SRI have been detailed and discussed as well.

Cause and effect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Cause and effect - Essay Example This paper explores the causes and effects of high rate of divorce. The causes of high divorce rate include but are not limited to changed gender roles in marriage and change in laws whereas some of the effects of high divorce rate include distorted family system, single parenthood, and depression. Gender roles in marriage have changed under the influence of media and this has caused an increase in the divorce rate. The soaps, commercials, and movies have inculcated the concept in the minds of the audience that in order to be modern and successful, it is imperative that both members in a couple work. The media has especially placed emphasis on the work of women. More job opportunities have been created for women in order to make it easy for them to find work. As a result, women have started paying more attention toward their careers and professions than their homes. In the past, men worked and assumed the responsibility of earning bread for the family whereas women stayed at home and took care of the children. â€Å"Women feel caught in the middle, burdened by increased demands from both work and family† (Clarke-Stewart and Brentano 34). More and more women are giving up in their struggle to strike a balance between family and work and are eventually heading for divorce . Before 1970, couples needed to justify their attempt to seek divorce by proving at least one of the partners guilty of something or being at fault. Reasons that made divorce seem justified in the eyes of the law included but were not limited to cruelty, abandonment, intoxication, cheating, and adultery. However, some states introduced the option of no-fault divorce in the 1950s. Under the changed law, the need for couples to prove one of the partners being at fault was obviated. Instead, they could simply state that their marriage was not working. Nearly all states had allowed no-fault divorce by 1970. In the past,

WHY WE ABUSE OUR CHILDREN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WHY WE ABUSE OUR CHILDREN - Essay Example In many instances, public outrage draws attention to the social system's lack of power to prevent and protect children, and the knock on effect that carries into adulthood. There are numberless domestic and international, institutional and social organizations that work toward the prevention of child abuse. Child abuse occurs as a result of broken homes, irresponsible parenting and stress due to financial circumstances. (thesis) Broken home is a social phenomenon which directly can lead to child abuse. This usually occurs, because the couple separates and the signle parent has to take all the responsibility for upbrining the kids. When parents split, this results in decreasing of the income and the single parent is forced to work longer hours, has two jobs and do not spend enough time with his offspring. The lack of parent's presence, control, love and care makes the children to feel unwanted. Thus, they seek reassurance from external sources - such as gangs or street fights. When the single parent faces the fact that she /he can not handle the behavior of his kid in his emotional distress he uses aggression. In most of the cases the aggression has a physical form, transformed into child abuse. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2004) reported that parents dependent on or abusing alcohol a

Physician Assisted Suicide Essay Example for Free

Physician Assisted Suicide Essay Physician Assisted Suicide (Physician Assisted Suicide) also referred to as Physician Aid-in-dying (PAD) is practice in which a physician assist a terminally patient in the termination of his/her own life by prescribing a deadly/lethal medication. â€Å"The term physician aid-in-dying is used to describe the practice authorized under the Washington and Oregon Death with Dignity Acts†¦.† Starks (2009). In other words physician aid-in dying is the politically correct term. The act is only legal if the patient is terminally ill, has six months or less to live and must be mentally stable to make their own decision. I think Physician Assisted Suicide is unjust because I am a Christian, and based on my religion, it is against the law of God to take the life of another human being. Honestly I must say I contradict myself when it comes to this topic. In my personal opinion I would say Physician Assisted Suicide is ethically permissible because I feel the patient should be allowed to make their own decision when it relates to their own life. A physician’s job is to help alleviate the patient’s pain and if the patient has an illness that cannot be cured and the physician is sure there really is no more he can do for the patient why not aid the in dying. I think it will make things a little easier and more convenient because if a person really is tired of suffering they may decide to end their own life which may be very messy and will cause more devastation to the patient’s family. With the physician’s assistance, the family will be prepared and there will not be a big mess to clean up. From the outside looking in, no one knows what the patient is going through or how much they are suffering; no one understands how they may feel or how much pain they can bare. If they feel death would relieve them from th eir misery and remove the suffering, I think it should be their decision. I really do not see a difference in Physician Assisted Suicide and the refusal of life sustaining treatment (which is legal). If a person refuses treatment which without will cause them to die is it not the same as committing suicide, the only difference is the process will take a longer time period. Dr Timothy Quill states â€Å"the analogy is of one person sitting on the beach waiting for the tide to come in to drown and then another person walking into the ocean to drown.† Boyd (ND) When considering Physician Assisted Suicide and my religion I must disagree, though I am for people being allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to their own life my religion convicts me and tells me I am wrong because no matter how I feel about this situation personally it is still wrong in the eyes of God. Everyone is at fault, the physician is wrong because the bible says it is a sin to cause harm to someone or to take the life of another persons, even though the intentions are good it is against the laws of God. The patient is wrong because it is a sin the take your own life and it is wrong for all who a re in connection with the act and allowing it to take place. God loves us and he does not want us to suffer in pain or live a sad helpless, hopeless life, he will never put more on us than we can bare, even before he created us he knew what time we would be born and he knows the same about when we will die, who are we to try to take control over this? God performs amazing miracles, I have seen him do it, who is to say, before someone decides to end their life, and just before the physician administer the lethal medication, God does not allow for a breakthrough and heal the person. People do not have faith like they should and they do not believe this can be done therefore this is not a risk they are willing to take, most would rather take the easy road and do anything to relieve the suffering right now. Unfortunately, the bulk of this responsibility falls on the physician. Physicians care about their patients, their goal is to find out what is wrong with the patient, diagnose the patient with what they prove to be wrong and then treat the patient until they can either cure the illness or try to extend their life expectancy as long as possible. Ethical egoist may interpret Physician Assisted Suicide as a selfish act, for example, they could insist the physician is abusing the act by pressuring a terminally ill patient or their family to end the life of the patient by advising them it would be for the best because the patient is suffering and there is nothing more he/she can do for the patient. Of course the family would consider what the physician is saying because they do not want their family member to suffer, however, the physician may only be doing what he feel is best for the patient, at the same time a physician should never bring up this topic for discussion, he should allow the patient to address the concern first. There are many ethical issues facing assisted suicide. Many people get â€Å"the right-to-die† confused with â€Å"assisted suicide†. â€Å"While right-to-die cases are different than assisted suicide cases — right-to-die usually refers to the removal of feeding tubes or ventilators keeping unconscious or vegetative patients alive, as opposed to people actively deciding to end their lives†. (Pickert, 2009) Though Physician Assisted Suicide is considered unethical and illegal, recently there have been more calls in favor of its legalization. Some professional arguments in favor of Physician Assisted Suicide are respect for autonomy; self-determination, covering the facts that people should have the right to make their own decisions, they should be able to determine their own place, date and time of death if they wish. Another argument in favor is justice; fairness, this argument takes the matter to a legal level, it allows the patient the right to refuse treatment to perpetuate their life. Compassion; sympathy is argues that suffering is worse that the pain itself, it causes a person to breakdown physically, mentally, and emotionally due to the lack of independence, one may feel like a burden to others, physicians can give medicines to relieve pain but there is no cure for suffering. Honesty and Transparency would open doors for discussions and options, if it was legal is would make it easier for people to talk about it and for physicians to provide better care concerning the end of a person’s life. To this day people are still fighting to make assisted suicide legal. â€Å"Each year for 14 years, Wisconsin legislators have introduced an assisted-suicide bill. So far, all have died in committee, but 2007’s version is still on the table. California, Hawaii, Arizona and Vermont have repeatedly rebuffed assisted-suicide proposals, but each has faced another proposal in 2007. Most of these bills are virtually identical to Oregon’s assisted suicide law †. (Enouen, 2012) I’m sure many have heard or read or about Dr. Kevorkian, who was also in favor of Physician Assisted Suicide, in 1998 administered a lethal injection to his then patient Thomas Youk, on the 60 minutes TV show. In Oakland County, Michigan Physician Assisted Suicide is considered illegal therefore â€Å"Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder in 1998, and sentenced to a 15-25 year term of which he served 8 years, and was released in 2007† Starks (2009). I’m sure Dr. Kevorkian has been Mr. York’s doctor for many years. I sure they had build a relationship together and Dr. Kevorkian care about him, therefore I’m sure it was not an easy task for the physician to complete, however he (Dr. Kevorkian) did what he felt was best for his patient. On the opposite end there is another group of professionals who oppose Physician Assisted Suicide arguing that it is ethically impermissible. Sanctity of life; due to religious reasons Physician Assisted Suicide is morally wrong. Exodus 20:13 states â€Å"Thou shalt not kill,† Brodman Holman (1979). â€Å"A 1997 study conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that more than half of Americans believe physician-assisted suicide should be legal. Many patients decided to choose assisted suicide because they are afraid of the pain they will endure cause by their illness. There are some alternatives to assisted suicide such as pain management, to make the patients as comfortable as possible. â€Å"With very rare exceptions, physical pain can be eliminated or brought within tolerable limits by aggressive drug therapy-therapy which need not leave the patient in a stupor†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Pain also has a psychological dimension which, if appropriately addressed, can significantly reduce the patients experience of physical pain. The isolation of illness can be reduced through the support of families and the community, as well as the creation of a caring environment in which one is treated†. (Linton, 1993) However, when people are told about alternatives to the technological treatments so many of us fear, and about the availability of pain control and hospice care, their support for physician-assisted suicide goes down to under one-fifth. This study seems to show that when people are informed about all of their end-of-life choices, they are less likely to opt for suicide.† Lynn Harrold (1999, 2006) Many argue that there is a passive vs. active distinction; passive is when one is allowed to die, active is killing someone. When someone refuse treatment or treatment is withheld and they die it is considered justified however when Physician Assisted Suicide is used it is murder and unjustifiable. Others argue that it could be a potential cause for abuse, poor populations with minimal healthcare may be pushed towards Physician Assisted Suicide, and it may become a cost efficient â€Å"way out†. If a family member is a burden to the family, and for insurance purposes, these too may be causes for leaning towards Physician Assisted Suicide. Another argument against Physician Assisted Suicide is professional integrity, it relates to the Hippocratic Oath which states â€Å"I will not administer poison to anyone where asked,† and I will â€Å"be of benefit, or at least do no harm,† Starks (2009) this is the oath that ALL physicians must take before officially becoming doctors. If they agree to Physician Assisted Suicide they are going against the pledge they agreed to, this could initially cause harm to the â€Å"integrity and the public‘s image of the profession,† it may also make it difficult for patients to trust them. Lastly and maybe the most important argument is fallibility of the profession; the fear that physicians could make mistakes, possibly misdiagnosis or prognosis. â€Å"There may be errors in diagnosis or treatment of depression, or inadequate treatment of pain. Thus the State has an obligation to protect lives from these inevitable mistakes and to improve the quality of pain and symptom management at the end of life.† Starks (2009) I think the more research I do agree that Physician Assisted Suicide should remain illegal. I solely make this decision based on my religion. Who are we to make judgment on when to end lives? We did not give life to ourselves or anyone else. I think she should have faith in God and know that he will never put more on you than you can bear. Suicide and assisting someone in a suicide is wrong. As it states in Numbers 35:30, â€Å"whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.† Brodman Holman (1979) People speak of showing compassion and caring for others, â€Å"killing is not compassion. That is Orwellian Newspeak, a language without meaning. If love is death and mercy is killing, then words mean nothing.† St. Clair (2009 Unfortunately the future affects of assisted suicide is currently undetermined. I personally think people will continue to fight for assisted suicide to become legal, however I do not think this will take place because wither way you look at it, many will still consider this murder. If I was in this situation and had to decide whether to allow my family member to live and suffer or allow them to end their life, I would choose to let them live, based only on my religion and knowing who my God is. This does not mean I wish for my loved one to live in pain or uncomfortable, however this does put my Lord and savior to the test. Through my religion and being raised as Christian I have learned that God will not put more on you than you can bare. At a time like this I will turn to what is known, in my religion, as a secret weapon, and at this point I will fast and pray. I will not ask God to allow my loved one to live or die, however I will ask that his will be done, and if it is his will for my loved one to live I ask for a full quick recovery, if its Gods will to discontinue their life, I will only ask for peace. No matter what situation I encounter I put God first and he enables me to make precise decisions. Personally I feel it must be very difficult to watch as a person you love and care for lay helpless, in pain, suffering from an illness, watching as they deteriorate not only physically, but mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Stepping outside of my spiritual realm I would feel terrible because I would feel I am allowing my loved one to suffer even if they had asked to be â€Å"put down† I may feel God is not healing fast enough and things are not going the way I think they should. Only for the love of the my loved one and to relieve their suffering would I agree with physician assisted suicide, however I think in the end I will feel terrible because I would have assisted in the role to determine when to end their life, knowing it was not my decision to make and not knowing if God was going to open a door and make way for a breakthrough for them to overcome the illness. Just knowing my God I know he can perform miracles and he can make a way out of no way, the hardest thing to do is to be patient. Therefore in the meantime, I would do what I could to make my loved one as comfortable as possible; I will encourage them and continue to pray. I cannot honestly say how I would react in this situation; just the thought of hearing of the death of a loved one and their request to end their life makes me feel as if my heart has been cut in half. At the same time it makes me ask myself, am I being selfish? Do I only want my loved one to live because I love them and I do not feel ready to deal with the death of them? Do their feelings even matter to me? Do I not care that they are suffering? There is so much more to making this decision than I have not really given thought to. If I do agree with the assisted suicide, how would the rest of my life go, will I have to live with the weight on my shoulders that I assisted in the death of my loved? Now this is something I do not think I can live with, just the pressure in the back of my mind would potentially cause depression to set in which will lead to other problems in my life as far as preventing me from giving myself fully to the remainder of my family and being all that I can be, it may also affect my job performance and other areas of my life. I do not think that is something I want to cope with. Therefore I think I would allow the doctors to do all they can do to make my loved one comfortable and ease their pain; I will pray sit back and allow Gods will to be done. I will try to make the last days as enjoyable as possible by spending as much time with them as I can and talking with them, reminiscing about our lives together and special memories. Until Physician Assisted Suicide is legalized nationwide, it should be brought to the forefront and to the attention of the public. Many do not know of this practice until they are face to face with having to make a life or death decision, or until they or a family member is on their death bed. The public should be educated on Physician Assisted Suicide, not to persuade them to agree but for information purposes, they will base their decision on their own understanding, however until everyone gets a full understanding they will all be skeptical. There is a big debate in the topic of Physician Assisted Suicide and both sides present convincing arguments, however it does not look as if an agreement is in the near future, however the Supreme Court did allow each state to pass their own laws on Physician Assisted Suicide and whether it would be legalized or not, nevertheless, as of right now the only state where it is legal is in Oregon, which means at the present moment, if a patient decides he/she wants to terminate his/her life they will need to book a flight to Oregon. References Andrew D. Boyd, University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas, Physician-Assisted Suicide: For and Against (ND) Retrieved from www.amsa.org/AMSA/Libraries/Docs/PhysicianAssistedSuicide.sflb.ashx Brodman Holman Publishers, King James Version (1979) Enouen, S. (2012) Life Issues Institute. Current Attempts to Legalize Assisted Suicide in the U.S. Retrieved from http://www.lifeissues.org/euthanasia/current_attempts.htm Helen Starks, PhD, MPH Assistant Professor, Bioethics and Humanities (2009) Retrieved from http://depts.washingtonedu/bioethx/topics/pad Jane St. Clair, 30 Logical Reasons Against Physician-Assisted Suicide (2009) Retrieved from http://janestclair.net/30-logical-reasons-against-physician-assisted-suicide/ Joanne Lynn, M.D. and Joan Harrold, M.D, Handbook for Mortals: Hastening Death: Arguments against physician-assisted suicide (1999, 2006) Retrieved from http://www.growthhouse.org/mortals/mort2526.html Linton, P.B., (1993) Chicago Tribune. Better Solutions Than Assisted Suicide. December 26, 1993 Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-12-26/news/9312260140_1_suicide-assisted-pain Pickert, K. (2009). Time U.S. A Brief History of Assisted Suicide. March 03, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1882684,00.html