Back to the Source: Moving Upstream in the Curricular Rivers of Coloniality

This article shares choices made as part of an introductory decoloniality curriculum in a non-clinical community psychology M.A./PhD program where the authors are faculty members. We focus on the basics of decoloniality and decolonial pedagogies in two first-year foundational psychology courses: one course on implications of decoloniality for studying differing psychological paradigms, ontologies, and epistemologies, particularly relational ontologies that might reframe community environments, and another course on implications of decoloniality for post-humanist and indigenous qualitative research methodologies. We present currently emerging forms of theory, content, pedagogy, dialogue, artivism, and methodology in process in our work, as well as responses from students and our own reflections.

From Text to Thought: How Analyzing Language Can Advance Psychological Science

Humans have been using language for millennia but have only just begun to scratch the surface of what natural language can reveal about the mind. Here we propose that language offers a unique window into psychology. After briefly summarizing the legacy of language analyses in psychological science, we show how methodological advances have made these analyses more feasible and insightful than ever before. In particular, we describe how two forms of language analysis—natural-language processing and comparative linguistics—are contributing to how we understand topics as diverse as emotion, creativity, and religion and overcoming obstacles related to statistical power and culturally diverse samples. We summarize resources for learning both of these methods and highlight the best way to combine language analysis with more traditional psychological paradigms. Applying language analysis to large-scale and cross-cultural datasets promises to provide major breakthroughs in psychological science.

Intradermal Thumbtack Needle Alleviates Depressive Symptoms and Resets Executive Control System Function in Young Patients With Subthreshold Depression: A Study Protocol of a Randomized, Controlled, and Single-Blind Trial {1}

Background: Subthreshold depression is the prodromal stage of a depressive episode, which is characterized by depressive symptoms but fails to meet the diagnostic criteria for depression. At present, there is no recognized therapy for subthreshold depression worldwide. Studies have also shown that acupoint stimulation can significantly decrease depressive symptoms by modulating different executive control systems, such as reward circuits and motivational circuits. In this proposed study, our objective is to evaluate the efficacy of intradermal thumbtack needle therapy, a continuous and effective acupoint stimulation therapy, on subthreshold depression and generate hypotheses on the mechanism by which this therapy resets executive control system function in young patients with subthreshold depression.Method: In this randomized controlled trial, all eligible participants are diagnosed with subthreshold depression. Participants are randomly assigned to two groups at a ratio of 1:1 and receive either intradermal thumbtack needle or sham intradermal thumbtack needle therapy. The primary outcome is self-reported depression severity on the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) from baseline to 6 weeks. The secondary outcomes include the Short Form Survey (SF-12) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) complementarity. Two psychological paradigms, the Attention Network Test (ANT) and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to evaluate the mechanism. These two psychological paradigms will explain the mechanism from the perspective of executive control in psychology, and fMRI will reflect the change in functional reset of the executive control system from an imaging point of view. The results are obtained at the start of treatment andthe end of treatment. The entire duration of the study will be approximately 12 months. Discussion: This study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of intradermal thumbtack needle on StD patients. Additionally, mechanisms by which this therapy resets executive control system function will be studied Trial registration: NCT04319562. [ClinicalTrials.gov] [registered before start of inclusion; 24 March 2020] {2a and 2b}

THE PROBLEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT IN THE CONTEXT OF SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATIONS

The article analyzes the features of the impact of the environment in various socio-psychological paradigms. It has been substantiated that the definition of the most important skills of teaching, raising a child, an approach to him, understanding his unique characteristics depend on the sources and patterns of the child's mental development. The article also analyzes certain sections of social psychology from the point of view of the influence of the environment on the child.

Introduction

This text is a dialogue between psychology and theology. In different ways, they both deal with understanding the religiously lived life and with the question of whether there is any validity to living that kind of life. The central question of the book is whether it is meaningful and reasonable to speak of a “spiritual sense,” whether there are ways we can “sense” or perceive the reality of God. The first chapter develops an “embodied-relational” approach to human understanding by drawing on two very different psychological paradigms: clinical psychoanalysis and laboratory research into the role embodiment plays in human understanding. The second chapter builds on this review of the empirical findings to discuss some of their implications for the traditional and virtually universal theological topic of human nature. A popular approach to thinking about religion from a psychological perspective is to treat religions as “meaning systems.” The research cited here suggests that our embodiment directly impacts our understanding of how meanings are arrived at, thus affecting how we understand religious meaning-making—the subject of chapter three. The fourth chapter examines the impact of our embodiment on studying and understanding religion. The fifth chapter explores a case for a “spiritual sense” grounded in an embodied approach to human understanding.

Leadership in 21st century military healthcare: what did clinical psychologists ever do for us?

Psychology is integral to the concepts and practice of leadership. Leadership models often have their roots in psychological paradigms, making it intrinsically easy for psychologists to grasp and apply them alongside clinical models. Psychologists’ ‘second-order’ skills have been used to good effect in the changing landscape of military mental healthcare: modelling adaptive responses to change, understanding the non-conscious aspects of relationships in hierarchical organisations, working with systems, the ability to diagnose situational requirements and act accordingly, drawing on a range of psychological theories and leadership styles. The clinical psychologist as a professional who can help others ‘reframe’ a situation or experience is key to their leadership role within healthcare settings, ‘enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty’. The contribution that clinical psychology has made to leadership in Defence over the past 20 years will be illustrated by personal accounts from ‘experts by experience’.

Metodologiczne podstawy badania zawartooeci prasy lokalnej

The paper contains the author’s considerations on the methodological foundations for the examination of the content of local press. In discussing the content of local press, the author places it in the grid of linguistic as well as politological, sociological and psychological paradigms. He presents the structure of local press content and its criteria, the form of press materials, their topics, division into press genres, the attitude of press materials to reality, and its assessment and evaluation. The paper is concluded with considerations into the territorial aspects of press materials.