Psychosocial Effects of a Holistic Ayurvedic Approach to Well-being in Health and Wellness Courses.

BackgroundAs individuals are increasingly attending health and wellness courses outside of the conventional medical system, there is a need to obtain objective data on the effects of those programs on well-being.MethodsIn total, 154 men and women (mean age 54.7 years; range 25-83) participated in 3 different holistic wellness programs based on Ayurvedic Medicine principles (Seduction of Spirit, Journey into Healing, and Perfect Health) or a vacation control group. Psychosocial outcomes included spirituality (Delaney Spirituality Scale), mindful awareness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale), psychological flexibility (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire), mood (Center for Epidemiology Studies-Depression), and anxiety (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement System Anxiety Scale).ResultsParticipants in the Seduction of Spirit (P < .004), Journey into Healing (P < .05), and Perfect Health (P < .004) courses showed significant increases in spirituality as compared to vacation controls. Participants in Seduction of Spirit (P < .007) also showed significant increases in mindfulness as compared to vacation controls. Participants in the Seduction of Spirit (P < .001) and Journey into Healing (P < .05) courses showed significant decreases in depressed mood as compared to those in the Perfect Health and vacation control groups. All study participants showed similar increases in psychological flexibility (P < .01) and decreases in anxiety (P < .01).ConclusionParticipation in wellness courses that incorporate a mind-body-spirit approach to health improves multiple domains of psychosocial well-being, which persists even after course participation

Masson\u27s Assault on Truth: A Critique

In his book, The Assault on Truth, j. M. Masson (I) proposes to challenge the very foundations of psychoanalysis by showing how Freud \u27s abandonment of the so-called seduction theory of the etiology of neurosis was erroneously predicated. Masson\u27s argument, in essence, may be summarized as follows. Freud, while studying with the eminent neurologist Charcot in Paris (from October 1885 to February 1886), found himself exposed to the prevalent horrors of ch ild abuse, which were copiously detailed in the French medical literature at the time, and which were very probably demonstrated to him at the Paris morgue. The impression of these revelations would contribute profoundly to Freud\u27s formulation of his seduction theory of the etiology of the neuroses in a trio of papers published in 1896

Musical Viruses for graceful seduction

The +++ Wearable Player is a result of the application of the Rights through Making approach in designing wearables. This approach aims at designing systems, whose use empowers people towards the materialization of values (e.g. human rights). The +++ Wearable Player system elaborates on the previous project Sound Experience, and introduces the concept of viral music exchange as a motivating factor in the context of social health. This paper describes the morphological genesis, the functional aspects and how they have been implemented in a fully working experienceable prototype. The design process and its outcomes are illustrated, in the framework of the “changing behaviour” design trend

Come affinare le armi della seduzione: emozioni e vigilanza epistemica

Seduction is often seen as a deceptive strategic game, which hampers deliberation. However, in case of seduction, emotions play a central role in modulating communicated contents. In this sense, seduction is not a form of deception, but an impulse to know. How to provide a cognitive account of seduction able to distinguish it from deception? Within philosophical Western tradition, emotions have a negative role in deliberation as they are automatic, unconscious and obliged. In contrast with this tradition, Mascaro and Sperber have recently argued that the capacity for epistemic vigilance enables people to filter misinformation, based not only on epistemic but also on affective knowledge. Some of the cognitive mechanisms presupposed by epistemic vigilance are targeted at the source of information, others at its content. Within the framework of the argumentative theory of reasoning, we propose a cognitive account of seduction able to distinguish it from deception, by focusing on the affective component of epistemic vigilance. We argue that in seduction emotions, far from being totally automatic, unconscious and obliged, contribute to the appreciation of both the source and content of information. Diversely from deception, seduction presupposes a positive role of emotions which induces a creative style of argumentation

The Temptation and Fall of Original Understanding

Review of: The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law, by Robert H. Bork (Free Press, 1990

Before the consummation what? On the role of the semiotic economy of seduction

The cultural practice of flirtation has been multifariously scrutinized in various disciplines including sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis and literary studies. This paper frames the field of flirtation in Bourdieuian terms, while focusing narrowly on the semiotic economy that is defining of this cultural field. Moreover, seduction, as a uniquely varied form of discourse that is responsible for producing the cultural field of flirtation, is posited as the missing link for understanding why flirtation may be a peculiar case of non-habitus, contrary to the received notion of cultural field as set of goaloriented practices and actionable habituses. This argument is pursued by highlighting the endemic traits of ambivalence and constant reversibility of signs or multimodal semiotic constellations in the discourse of seduction, while seeking to demonstrate that seduction, and by implication the cultural field of flirtation, does not necessarily partake of a teleological framework that is geared towards the consummation of sexual desire. This thesis is illustrated by recourse to a scene from the blockbuster ‘Hitch’

Eroticism—Politics—Identity: The Case of Richard III

Richard III’s courtship of Lady Anne in William Shakespeare’s King Richard III is a blend of courtly speech and sexual extravaganza. His sexual energy and power of seduction were invented by Shakespeare to enhance the theatrical effect of this figure and, at the same time, to present Richard as a tragic character. Richard’s eroticism in Act 1 Scene 2 makes him a complicated individual. Playing a seducer is one of the guises he uses to achieve his political aims on the one hand, and, on the other, the pose of a sexually attractive lover enables him to put his masculinity to the test. Throughout the scene Richard is haunted by his deformity that, together with his villainy, makes him a stranger to the world and an enemy to his family and the court. In order to overcome his self-image of a disproportional cripple he manifests his sexuality towards Anne to boost his self-esteem and to confirm that the lady will accept him despite his obvious physical shortcomings. This article uses Georges Bataille’s theory of eroticism and erotic desire to characterize Richard as a tragic individual and to explain the reasons behind his unexpected sexual behaviour in the seduction scene

"The Seduction of a Lady" Fringe Festival 2002, October 25-27, 2002

This is the concert program of the Boston University Opera Institute performance of "The Seduction of a Lady," based on Neil Simon's "The Good Doctor" after a story by Anton Chekov, with music and libretto by Richard Wargo, running Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26, 2002 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, October 27, 2002 at 3:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on at the Boston University Theatre, Studio 210, 264 Huntington Avenue. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund