Higher Self – Spark of the Mind – Summit of the Soul: Early History of an Important Concept of Transpersonal Psychology in the West

The Higher Self is a concept introduced by Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, into transpersonal psychology. This notion is explained and linked up with the Western mystical tradition. Here, coming from antiquity and specifically from the neo-Platonic tradition, a similiar concept has been developed which became known as the spark of the soul, or summit of the mind. This history is sketched and the meaning of the term illustrated. During the middle ages it was developed into a psychology of mysticism by Thomas Gallus, popularized by Bonaventure, and radicalized by the Carthusian writer Hugh of Balma. Spark of the soul signifies an organ of the mystical experience. It is argued that the split introduced into history between outer and inner experience has lain dormant ever since the 13th century, with inner experience relegated to the private and mystical realm. By introducing this concept, transpersonal psychology reconnects with this tradition and has to be aware of the legacy: to achieve the theoretical, and if possible scientific, integration of both types of experience by drawing on the experiential nature of this concept and fostering good research

THEORY AND APORY IN HEALING RESEARCH: ''Influence'' ~rsus "Correlational" Models

Healing Energy Research, like any research area, has to make presuppositions, which are normally not discussed. Among them are assumptions about how the mind-matter problem should be solved, and whether the events observed in healings are causal or not. The mind-matter problem is briefly discussed. It is pointed out that a dualist stance in healing research, positing a mind independent from matter, creates specific problems on top of the unsolved duality problem of normal science, especially when combined with a local and causalist view of healing. Problems with a localist view are pointed out and an alternative model for understanding healing effects is proposed. This model operates along the lines of generalizing conditions for entanglement or EPR-like correlations. It is shown that macroscopic entanglement in analogy to the classical EPR correlations of quantum mechanics is, in principle, a possibility under certain conditions. I hold that understanding healing along the lines of a correlational model, with healing being an instance of macroscopic entanglement is more likely to be a correct reconstruction of healing than a causalist one. Nevertheless it could be important for practitioners to adopt a causalist and localist view in order to be able to perform those operations, which in a correlational view are the preconditions for healing to oCCut

Second generation governance indicators

This paper summarizes progress made in a DfID-funded World Bank initiative to test and develop policy-relevant, politically acceptable, quantitative indicators of governance. There are two major components involved in the process of generating indicators that are practical means of reform. Political acceptability is key in developing neutral quantitative benchmarks of good governance that can be embraced by reformers. In addition to political acceptability, measuring governance must be comprehensive and institutionally specific so that reformers know which institutions to reform and how to do so. This paper explores some of the most promising second generation indicators of good governance and elaborates on how they are being used in World Bank operations.governance, institutions, development

Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ Increases Body Contact Surface in the Supine Position: A Randomized-Controlled Experimental Study

Feldenkrais ‘Functional Integration’ (FI) is a widely used type of body work with a focus on the continuous integration of body sensations and awareness with movement. The method is, amongst others, known for improving balance in aging populations, but also for its ability to relax muscles. With participants treated in the supine position FI is potentially changing the surface area of the body in contact with the surface on which a participant is lying. So far, no prior study has assessed this claim. We evaluated objectively and subjectively if a treatment with FI would induce changes in pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat. Thirty volunteers received an individual treatment with FI, in a randomized order on both sides of the body. Pressure and contact surface was documented with the Xsensor-Measurement-System. Subjective sensations were assessed with a self-report scale. Due to two parallel assessments alpha-level was adjusted to α = 0.025. We found that pressure and contact surface of the body on the mat significantly changed after the treatment (factor time: p < 0.0001, ηp2 = 0.90). We also found that pressure and contact surface increased significantly on the left side for the group that started with the left side first (time × group p = 0.016; ηp2 = 0.62), but less so on the right side for the group that started with the right side first (time × group: p = 0.056) although there was still a substantial effect size (ηp2 = 0.54). The subjective reports confirmed the physical measurements. In conclusion our results demonstrate for the first time that the treatment with the Feldenkrais method changes muscle tone leading to a more relaxed supine position with respect to pressure and contact surface on the mat

Identifying factors associated with COVID-19 related deaths during the first wave of the pandemic in Europe

AimTo clarify the high variability in COVID-19-related deaths during the first wave of the pandemic, we conducted a modeling study using publicly available data.Materials and methodsWe used 13 population- and country-specific variables to predict the number of population-standardized COVID-19-related deaths in 43 European countries using generalized linear models: the test-standardized number of SARS-CoV-2-cases, population density, life expectancy, severity of governmental responses, influenza-vaccination coverage in the elderly, vitamin D status, smoking and diabetes prevalence, cardiovascular disease death rate, number of hospital beds, gross domestic product, human development index and percentage of people older than 65 years.ResultsWe found that test-standardized number of SARS-CoV-2-cases and flu vaccination coverage in the elderly were the most important predictors, together with vitamin D status, gross domestic product, population density and government response severity explaining roughly two-thirds of the variation in COVID-19 related deaths. The latter variable was positively, but only weakly associated with the outcome, i.e., deaths were higher in countries with more severe government response. Higher flu vaccination coverage and low vitamin D status were associated with more COVID-19 related deaths. Most other predictors appeared to be negligible.ConclusionAdequate vitamin D levels are important, while flu-vaccination in the elderly and stronger government response were putative aggravating factors of COVID-19 related deaths. These results may inform protection strategies against future infectious disease outbreaks

Reconstructing the Meaning Effect - The Capacity to Self-Heal Emerges From the Placebo Concept

Arguably the most important conceptual development in the area of placebo research in recent times was the redefinition of the placebo effect as an “effect due to the meaning of an intervention” (Moerman & Jonas, 2002). The placebo effect was reframed from a nuisance to a potential resource. When Martini in Germany (Martini, 1932) and Beecher in the US (Beecher, 1955; Lasagna, Mosteller, von Felsinger, & Beecher, 1954) started discussing the placebo-effect in the 30ies and 50ies it was a conundrum. Clinical pharmacology set out with the promise to find ever more specific treatments for diseases. This project assumes that through scientific knowledge we will unravel the causal network of diseases that can then be specifically targeted through clearly designed drugs with specific, known and targeted causal pathways of efficacy. This is theory. Or shall we say poetry and fantasy? Following this theory, everything that is not causal can only be background noise and a nuisance (Grünbaum, 1989). And hence the placebo-effect, as it showed in clinical trials that were necessary to prove the specific efficacy of these interventions, was considered a nuisance and, technically speaking, error variance to be minimised. Research and clinical experience showed how powerful such effects can be in practice. The redefinition by Moerman and Jonas captured this cultural move: the placebo-effect grew from a nuisance to be avoided to a resource that can be very helpful (Walach & Jonas, 2004). In this contribution I would like to take this development one step further and argue that this effect is actually the most important therapeutic effect of all. All so called specific effects, causal interventions etc. are only maneouvres that help marshal this most powerful therapeutic ally: the self-healing response. And so my thesis is that behind the placebo-effect we see self-healing at work. I am advocating a kind of figure-ground perceptual change: What has been considered the background, even background noise, namely the placebo-effect, I would hold to be the most important element. It should move to the foreground and become what it actually is: the most important component of every therapeutic system (Wampold, Minami, Tierney, Baskin, & Bhati, 2005). That does not negate that there are specific effects, like in life-saving surgeries in cases of emergencies or when resecting tumours. But they are the background that only allow the figure to emerge: the individual self-healing trajectory

Patients and agents – or why we need a different narrative: a philosophical analysis

Background: The success of medicine in the treatment of patients brings with it new challenges. More people live on to suffer from functional, chronic or multifactorial diseases, and this has led to calls for more complex analyses of the causal determinants of health and illness. Methods:Philosophical analysis of background assumptions of the current paradigmatic model. Results:While these factors do not require a radical paradigm shift, they do give us cause to develop a new narrative, to add to existing narratives that frame our thinking about medical care. In this paper we argue that the increased focus on lifestyle and shared decision making requires a new narrative of agency,to supplement the narrative of“the patient”. This narrative is conceptually linked to the developing philosophy of person-centred care. Conclusions:If patients are seen also as“agents”this will result in a substantial shift in practical decisions: The development and adoption of this narrative will help practitioners work with patients to their mutual benefit, harnessing the patients’motivation, shifting the focus from treatment to prevention and preventing unnecessary and harmful treatments that can come out of our preoccupation with the patient narrative. It will also help to shift research efforts, conceptual and empirical, from “treating” and “battling”diseases and their purported mechanisms to understanding complex contributing factors and their interplay

Mind the Teachers! The Impact of Mindfulness Training on Self-Regulation and Classroom Performance in a Sample of German School Teachers

Teacher wellbeing and performance is affected by their ability to cope with the demands of the profession. This pilot non-randomized, waitlist-controlled study investigated the impact of a mindfulness intervention (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) on teachers' wellbeing, self-regulation ability and classroom performance applying a mixed-method design. The sample was comprised of 32 German school teachers (93% female) which were distributed to a control and intervention group. Compared to the control condition, the intervention showed medium to high effect sizes on most outcome variables at post-test and results were sustained at follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that changes in mindfulness at post-test mediated changes in outcome variables at follow-up. Unexpectedly, the intervention seemed to negatively affect teacher engagement. Qualitative interviews highlighted the way mindfulness may influence teacher engagement and improve performance. Limitations of this study and future directions of research are discussed.&nbsp

Spirituality: The Legacy of Parapsychology

Spirituality is a topic of recent interest. Mindfulness, for example, a concept derived from the Buddhist tradition, has captivated the imagination of clinicians who package it in convenient intervention programs for patients. Spirituality and religion have been researched with reference to potential health benefi ts. Spirituality can be conceptualised as the alignment of the individual with the whole, experientially, motivationally and in action. For spirituality to unfold its true potential it is necessary to align this new movement with the mainstream of science, and vice versa. Hence, both a historical review, and a systematic attempt at integration is called for, which we are trying to give here. It is useful to go back to one of the roots: parapsychology. Parapsychology was founded as a counter movement to the rising materialist paradigm in the 19th century. Adopting the methods of the natural sciences, it tried to prove the direct infl uence of consciousness on matter. After 125 years this mission must be declared unaccomplished. Surveying the database of parapsychological research it is obvious that it will not convince sceptics: Although there are enough exceptional fi ndings, it has in general not been possible to reproduce them in replication experiments. Th is is, however, a characteristic signature of a category of eff ects which we call eff ects of generalised entanglement, predicted by a theoretical model analogous to quantum theory. Using this perspective, parapsychological eff ects can be understood, and the original aim of the founding fathers can be recovered, as well as a new, systematic understanding of spirituality be gained. Generalised entanglement is a formal and scientifi c way of explaining spirituality as alignment of an individual with a whole, which, according to the model, inevitably leads to non-local correlations

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in Homeopathy: Recommendations for Summarising evidence from Homeopathic Intervention Studies (Sum-HomIS Recommendations).

BACKGROUND Mainly due to the use of different inclusion criteria and quality assessments, systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) with homeopathic intervention studies (HOMIS) have shown inconsistent results. We aimed to build recommendations for "Summarizing evidence from Homeopathic Intervention Studies" (Sum-HomIS recommendations) in order to approach standardization. METHODS Against the background of a framework-project to update the evidence from homeopathic intervention studies, we launched an expert panel on how to assess the quality of HOMIS and how to summarize evidence from HOMIS. The results of a literature review and the expert communications in advance of the panel as well as the consensus from the discussions are presented here. We added specific considerations for homeopathic veterinary research. RESULTS On top of the general guidelines when planning a review we report five basic Sum-HomIS recommendations. These are: 1) A broad literature search including special archives and consideration of so-called grey-literature; 2) The inclusion of controlled observational studies alongside randomized controlled trials; 3) The choice of a clear clinical research question in the terms that, if possible, the review project includes studies with predominantly homogeneous populations, interventions, comparators and outcomes (PICOs); 4) The use of a global quality assessment including the assessment of external, model and internal validity; 5) A summary of evidence using the GRADE-approach if the body of evidence is sufficiently large and homogenous or a descriptive summary if it is not so. CONCLUSIONS We present recommendations for designing, conducting, and reporting SRs and MAs with HOMIS