Non-duality and psychotherapeutic practice: a phenomenological study of psychotherapist experiences of non-duality and implications for psychotherapeutic practice.

The thesis in part describes a research journey of a psychotherapy practitioner engaging in research development. It details, narrates and values the synchronistic events that enabled the ‘story’ to emerge. The central enquiry draws on embodied phenomenological research methods and poetic experiencing to explore the experiences of psychotherapists who have an understanding of nonduality and the perceived impact of this on their psychotherapeutic work. Nondual experiencing is also studied following a synchronistic research visit to Pakistan. Here, embodied spirituality is explored, using video and the concept of ‘Therao’ is studied and utilised as an aspect of skilful practice. These are drawn together and compiled as a summary of skilful means in psychotherapeutic practice. Additionally, as a Doctorate in Professional Practice two studies are presented as part of the practice development component. Both used creative video and performance as part of research presentation. The first, a project based on the Mandala with people living with HIV. The second ‘Beyond Statistics’ is an enquiry into the lifeworld experiences of gay men living with the co-infection of HIV and HCV. The thesis strongly articulates the significance of practice based research as a basis for humanising practice and the development of tacit and pathic knowledge. It identifies 10 key qualities present in practitioners who have a spiritual understanding of nonduality and the positive impact of these on depth connection with client work. The thesis also acknowledges, in line with current developments, the importance of including the cultivation of these depth relational qualities within a psychotherapy training curriculum

I don't want to miss a thing : learning dynamics and effects of feedback type and monetary incentive in a paired associate deterministic learning task

Effective functioning in a complex environment requires adjusting of behavior according to changing situational demands. To do so, organisms must learn new, more adaptive behaviors by extracting the necessary information from externally provided feedback. Not surprisingly, feedback-guided learning has been extensively studied using multiple research paradigms. The purpose of the present study was to test the newly designed Paired Associate Deterministic Learning task (PADL), in which participants were presented with either positive or negative deterministic feedback. Moreover, we manipulated the level of motivation in the learning process by comparing blocks with strictly cognitive, informative feedback to blocks where participants were additionally motivated by anticipated monetary reward or loss. Our results proved the PADL to be a useful tool not only for studying the learning process in a deterministic environment, but also, due to the varying task conditions, for assessing differences in learning patterns. Particularly, we show that the learning process itself is influenced by manipulating both the type of feedback information and the motivational significance associated with the expected monetary reward

Emotion regulation strategies and mental health symptoms during COVID-19 : the mediating role of insomnia

Objectives: COVID-19 has become a major source of stress for people around the world. Stressful life events play a role in the pathogenesis of sleep disorders such as insomnia which is considered a risk factor for anxiety and depression. Emotion regulation is an important factor linked with sleep and mental health problems. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to examine whether insomnia could constitute a media tion mechanism that explains the relationship between emotion regulation strategies (rumination, reappraisal, suppression) and stress-induced mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among young (M±SD 24.8±2.24) individuals (N = 281, 85.4% women) during the time of the third wave of infections in Poland. Data were collected by means of self report questionnaires, including the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; Athens Insomnia Scale; Depres sion, Anxiety and Stress Scale. The direct and indirect effects of emotion regulation strategies on depression, anxiety, and stress were calculated using a bootstrap estimation technique. Results: All analyzed indirect effects were significant. The results show that insomnia mediates the relationships between all 3 emotion regulation strategies and stress, anxiety and depression. Conclusions: The presented results shed the light on the role of in somnia on the relationships between emotion regulation strategies and emotional states experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the present study suggests that educational and therapeutic interventions aimed at improving emotion regulation might be useful for improving symptoms of insomnia and, through it, symptoms of affective disorders

Hobnail hemangioma

We present a case of a 73-year-old woman who developed a small lesion on her tongue. The nodule was resected and hobnail hemangioma was diagnosed. Hobnail hemangioma is a rare vascular lesion with unusual morphology, including bland cells with hobnail appearance, biphasic grow pattern with superficial dilated vessels and slit-like vessels in the deeper portion of the lesion. The infiltrative pattern of grow may cause misdiagnosis. The differential diagnosis with hemangioendothelioma variants, low grade angiosarcomas and Kaposi sarcoma is of particular concern. The lack of recognition of this uncommon entity may result in excessive and unnecessary treatment

Cognitive impairments in occupational burnout : error processing and Its indices of reactive and proactive control

The presented study refers to cognitive aspects of burnout as the effects of long-term work-related stress. The purpose of the study was to investigate electrophysiological correlates of burnout to explain the mechanisms of the core burnout symptoms: exhaustion and depersonalization/cynicism. The analyzed errorrelated electrophysiological markers shed light on impaired cognitive mechanisms and the specific changes in information-processing in burnout. In the EEG study design (N=80), two components of error-related potential (ERP), error-related negativity (ERN), and error positivity (Pe), were analyzed. In the non-clinical burnout group (N=40), a significant increase in ERN amplitude and a decrease in Pe amplitude were observed compared to controls (N D 40). Enhanced error detection, indexed by increased ERN amplitude, and diminished response monitoring, indexed by decreased Pe amplitude, reveal emerging cognitive problems in the non-clinical burnout group. Cognitive impairments in burnout subjects relate to both reactive and unconscious (ERN) and proactive and conscious (Pe) aspects of error processing. The results indicate a stronger ‘reactive control mode’ that can deplete resources for proactive control and the ability to actively maintain goals. The analysis refers to error processing and specific task demands, thus should not be extended to cognitive processes in general. The characteristics of ERP patterns in burnout resemble psychophysiological indexes of anxiety (increased ERN) and depressive symptoms (decreased Pe), showing to some extent an overlapping effect of burnout and related symptoms and disorders. The results support the scarce existing data on the psychobiological nature of burnout, while extending and specifying its cognitive characteristics

Psychophysiological characteristics of burnout syndrome : resting-state EEG analysis

Introduction. The consequences of chronic work-related stress are related to various emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms. Occupational burnout as a complex syndrome is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and lower professional efficacy. Moreover, the growing amount of research on the neural correlates of burnout broadens the existing knowledge on the mechanisms underlying this syndrome. Aim of the Study. The aim of the study is to explore possible differences in brain activity between burnout and nonburnout employees. Frequency-specific EEG power analyses in a resting-state condition in burnout subjects and controls are presented. Materials and Methods. Burnout employees (N=46; 19 men) were matched with the control group (N=49; 19 men; mean age: 36.14 years, SD=7.89). The Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS) and the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) scale were used to measure burnout symptoms and work conditions, respectively. A 256-channel EEG (EGI System 300) was used to collect psychophysiological data. A repeated measures ANOVA was performed with condition (eyes-open vs. eyes-closed) and region (6 levels: extracted scalp regions) factors; burnout (2 levels: burnout vs. no burnout) was the grouping factor. Results. A significant difference was observed only in the alpha frequency band: the burnout group revealed significantly lower alpha power in the eyes-open condition compared to the controls (p<0.05). The correlation analysis revealed that gender may significantly change the pattern of relations between EEG spectral characteristics and burnout symptoms. Conclusions. Reduced alpha power in burnout individuals suggests cortical hyperactivity and may be related to greater mental effort and the possible development of compensatory mechanisms by burnout subjects

To freeze or not to freeze? Epidemic prevention and control in the DSGE model with agent-based epidemic component

The ongoing epidemic of COVID-19 raises numerous questions concerning the shape and range of state interventions, that are aimed at reduction of the number of infections and deaths. The lockdowns, which became the most popular response worldwide, are assessed as being an outdated and economically inefficient way to fight the disease. However, in the absence of efficient cures and vaccines they lack viable alternatives. In this paper we assess the economic consequences of epidemic prevention and control schemes that were introduced in order to respond to the COVID-19 outburst. The analyses report the results of epidemic simulations obtained with the agent-based modeling methods under different response schemes and use them in order to provide conditional forecasts of standard economic variables. The forecasts are obtained from the DSGE model with labour market component

Occupational burnout and its overlapping effect with depression and anxiety

Objectives: The problem of defining burnout concerns its overlapping effect with other syndromes and disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Additionally, some individual characteristics influence susceptibility to burnout (e.g., neuroticism). Therefore, the question arises whether burnout is or is not a distinct syndrome. The aim of the study is to compare 2 distinct burnout measures by analyzing their connections with organizational and individual variables. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in the Institute of Applied Psychology at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland on a group of employees (N = 100; 40 men; mean age 36.03 years). All participants completed 2 burnout scales: the "Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey" (MBI-GS) and the "Link Burnout Questionnaire" (LBQ). Organizational and individual factors were controlled with "Areas of Worklife Survey, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, NEO Five-Factor Inventory and Beck's Depression Inventory" scales. A structural equation path model was created to quantify the relations between organizational factors and burnout, as well as to control the individual factors of anxiety, neuroticism and depression. Results: The results indicate high compatibility between MBI-GS and LBQ on burnout diagnosis. The MBI-GS and LBQ revealed stronger connections with organizational context and individual characteristics, respectively. Depression explains dimensions of exhaustion (MBI-GS, LBQ), sense of disillusion (LBQ), neuroticism-exhaustion (MBI-GS); anxiety explains sense of professional inefficacy (LBQ). Conclusions: Besides organizational variables, individual characteristics also play an important role in explaining burnout syndrome. Exploring the 2 burnout models has revealed that depression is an important determinant of exhaustion. Cynicism and relationship deterioration have consistently been explained only by organizational context