Cults revisited: corporate and quasi-therapeutic co-optation.
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Adolescent↗
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[Psychotherapy in Brazil].
Present conditions in Brazil are characterized by sharp contrasts and rapid social changes. Modern Brazilian civilisation has its roots in Indian, Portuguese and African cultures, which have grown together in the course of many years to form a harmonious union of civilisations. The Indian and Afro-Brazilian elements of this civilisation in particular have brought about a great number of syncretistic cults, hitherto scarcely explored; such as Candomblé, Umbanda, Macumba and Spiritualism, all of which, together with a vigorously active folklore, exert an important psychohygienic function. The institutions created within these cults provide a ritualized therapeutic treatment of psychiatric conditions supplementing the professional psychiatric care available to the population. The variety of forms of the Brazilian psychotherapy stretches from the pre-scientifical methods of the Indian medicine man through the seemingly medieval forms of exorcisme and spiritualism right to the scientifically founded psychotherapy in all its lines. Integrative endeavours towards a culture-anthropological psychotherapy are becoming evident.
Adolescent↗
Toxicologic aspects of voodoo in Haiti.
Voodoo is a folk religion that emerged from the interaction of West African ethnotheologies with European Christian rituals. Haitian Voodoo priests control two major practices which might be of interest to toxicologists: healing and poisoning. Intoxications arising from therapeutic activities pertaining to this cult are of the same kind as those encountered in the practice of Modern Medicine. Remedies used in Voodoo originate generally from plants, as do most prescription drugs; however, the poisons are extracted from both plant and animal tissues, then administered to intended victims as a means of punishment established by a clandestine justice system. The present paper reviews recent attempts at analyzing some of the most lethal Voodoo poisons which appear to induce catalepsy. Although tetrodotoxin was singled out as the probable active ingredient, chromatographic analyses of such poisons as well as the presence of yet unidentified neurotoxicants in Caribbean fish and amphibians familiar to Voodoo practitioners suggest otherwise. To gain more insight into this problem, it is proposed that chemical analyses and toxicological studies be carried out on each ingredient individually, then on combinations of ingredients contained in these Voodoo potions. Such a strategy could help discriminate between active and inactive components and focus on the real toxic elements.
Folklore↗
Severing the bonds of love: a case study in soul loss.
Karo Batak ceremonial curing practices in urban Indonesia take place in a disputed zone of acts and meanings, in which neither social nor cultural coherence can be presumed by the analyst. Examining the therapeutic efforts of an urban Karo spirit possession cult aimed at curing the soul loss suffered by a young man, the Christian son of one of the cult's premier spirit mediums, this paper questions the relevance of the 'integrative model' in such cases, and suggests an alternative approach, looking at the sets of social, cultural and interpersonal tensions that run through the cult's practices and which, at the same time, those practices seek to contain.
Adult↗
[Parks and hydro-mineral springs in the classical world and in the contemporary era. Place in therapeutics].
Are briefly remembered the healing significances of woods and springs--together and separately--in ancient times. At first there were religions cults of them (health Goods, water and woods deities, temples, etc.). Subsequently there were their medicinal, lay uses especially of water. The Spas and Thermae of ancient Rome are well known. Importance in therapeutics of parks and gardens around Spas begins in XVIII century, in Europe. Greater care of parks close mineral waters springs was taken in XIX century, in North America (U.S.A., Canada). Here their importance in Ecology and Medical Hydrology was stressed. Today the use and diffusion of thermal parks can be proposed in order to environmental Psychology and to environmental Therapeutics.
Balneology↗
Satanism, ritual abuse, and multiple personality disorder: a sociohistorical perspective.
During the past decade in North America, a growing number of mental health professionals have reported that between 25% and 50% of their patients in treatment for multiple personality disorder (MPD) have recovered early childhood traumatic memories of ritual torture, incestuous rape, sexual debauchery, sacrificial murder, infanticide, and cannibalism perpetrated by members of clandestine satanic cults. Although hundreds of local and federal police investigations have failed to corroborate patients' therapeutically constructed accounts, because the satanic etiology of MPD is logically coherent with the neodissociative, traumatic theory of psychopathology, conspiracy theory has emerged as the nucleus of a consistent pattern of contemporary clinical interpretation. Resolutely logical and thoroughly operational, ultrascientific psychodemonology remains paradoxically oblivious to its own irrational premises. When the hermetic logic of conspiracy theory is stripped away by historical and socio/psychological analysis, however, the hypothetical perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse simply disappear, leaving in their wake the very real human suffering of all those who have been caught up in the social delusion.
Animals↗
Clinical assessment of adolescents involved in Satanism.
Satanism is a destructive religion that promises power, dominance, and gratification to its practitioners. Unfortunately, some adolescents are seduced by these promises, often because they feel alienated, alone, angry, and desperate. This article explores the psychosocial needs of adolescents that are often met by participation in Satanic worship. Gratification of these needs, when met, may make leaving the cult a difficult and lengthy process. Included is a method for determining the adolescents' level of involvement and an assessment strategy for the therapeutic evaluation process. A brief overview of clinical intervention is also discussed.
Adolescent↗
Dilemmas in the evaluation and management of religious cultists.
Religious cultism defies easy generalizations. Motivating forces behind cult membership range from brainwashing-like processes to fulfillment of severe predisposing psychopathological needs; they operate to varying degrees in different individuals. Thus, the formulation of a rational and consistent therapeutic strategy may be difficult, particularly for the clinician inexperienced in this area. Treatment may be further complicated by parental pressures to adopt a deprogramming therapy model, which risks the clinician's independence, objectivity, and effectiveness. Two contrasting case histories highlight these and other evaluation and treatment dilemmas.
Adult↗
Two unconventional testimonies of urolithiasis in the 18th century on the 1600th anniversary of St. Liborius' death (397-1997)
Urolithiasis can be traced back to periods long past, and its pathological substrate was well known from the beginning. This knowledge motivated rational, empirical measures of healing, which included a variety of recipes against stones. The paper presents two unconventional testimonies of urolithiasis in the 18th century. The Croatian Glagolitic prayerbook from the 18th century is a valuable source for identification of therapeutical approaches. On the other hand, a votive painting of Saint Liborius, patron saint against lithiasis, reflects theurgical views of disease and healing. On the occasion of the 1600th anniversary of his death, this paper aims to illustrate how his cult was revitalized in the 18th century.
Complementary Therapies↗
[Saint Antony's healing rituals].
Sant Antonio Abate rouses a particular charm for Italians in general but we focus the attention on Abruzzo people there are many stories and legends about his life and his miracles. This work is a result of a study conducted in the popular culture of Abruzzo Region about the rituals of Sant Antonio. Whom principal function was to protect animals. In the middle of the cult we found his capacities to recover people and animals. The association between the Saint and the fire is connected of his thaumaturgy capacities. The fire is often associated to doctors and to cure sickness, and with him we have therapeutics effects. The hagiographical criticism says that the imagine of Saint has to be referred to a historical fact of IX century in France. Here there was a laic hospital community to recover sick people of cancer egotism that presented hurters blistered skin, fever, eruptions and hallucinations. The pig grass was used to cure egotism and due to this reason sickness was names the evil of Saint Antony or Saint Antonio fire. Due to the multitude of sick people occurring, a hospital run by Augustinians canonists order has been built.
Ceremonial Behavior↗
The therapist and the source of healing among the Yaka of Zaire.
The Yaka of southwestern Zaire and the capital, Kinshasa, practise some ten major healing cults with initiatory treatments. These follow the model of rites de passage and lead the patient to resituate him/herself in the group, while partially redramatizing the cosmology and the fundamental values of the society. The body-self is the source and scene of the healing. The therapeutic drama offers a space-time stage upon which metaphoric correspondents of organs, affects, energies and bodily functions are constituted and manipulated. Acting as the patient's maternal uncle, as trapper-hunter, and as demiurge and weaver, the healer aims at fighting the illness by turning it back against itself autodestructively. The initiate is 'reborn' thanks to the emergence of the vital flow, particularly through trance, leading her or him to take up a transformed presence in the world and the group: this is "the weaving of the vital flow."
Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
Crisis, conversion, and cult formation: an examination of a common psychosocial sequence.
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Attitude↗
[Semantic development of the word "nursing" after 1883].
The process of semantic enrichment of the word "nursing" with new features of denotation lasted half a century until it finally, at the turn of the century, acquired the denotation of actions rendered to the sick person associated so far with health prevention in to-day sense of the word. The author shows the influence of cultural-social and medical inspirations on forming of the lexical force of the word. She pays attention to the significance of the effect of the romantic cult of woman and maternity on perception of the important role of the female element and its attributes in nursing. Furthermore, the author points to the national connotations and a special role of polish women in their attending the brother soldier wounded in the fight for independence. She brings out the therapeutic role of nursing in fighting pain and of the spiritual realm of a sick person. The author presents the stages of broadening of the definition substantial range including the moment when it was broadened with the psychotherapy elements. Furthermore, the author describes the evolution of the therapeutic - nursing procedures, the stimuli-oriented procedures and the so-called energy-saving effect. Participation of nurses in the observation of a sick person became a very important factor. The author points here to certain lateness in this respect as compared to the existing regulations in Europe. Forming and enrichment of the polish onomatology was accompanied by associating of the ability to nurse with the knowledge that was becoming more and more indispensable at the turn of the century in supporting of the physicians' efforts and in guarantying of the continuity and consistency of medical therapy.
History, 19th Century↗
Iatrogenic symptoms associated with a therapy cult: examination of an extinct "new psychotherapy" with respect to psychiatric deterioration and "brainwashing".
In 1982, the first and only discussion of psychotherapy cults appeared in the literature. Temerlin and Temerlin (1982) studied five "bizarre" groups which were formed when five practitioners of psychotherapy simultaneously served as friends, lovers, relatives, employers, colleagues, and teachers, all to patients who were themselves mental health professionals. In choosing the term "psychotherapy cult," the authors have noted similarities of the groups they reviewed to some religious cults, citing the three definitions of the "cult" in Webster's 1966 Third New International Dictionary: (1) a system for the cure of disease based on the dogma, tenets or principles set forth by its promulgator to the exclusion of scientific experience or demonstration, (2) great or excessive dedication to some person, idea or organization, (3) a religion or mystic regarded as mysterious or unorthodox. The psychotherapy cults studied by Temerlin and Temerlin varied from 15 to 75 mental health professionals held together by their idealization of a shared therapist and the activities which they conducted jointly: workshops, seminars, courses, businesses, professional ventures, and social life. As patients became more involved in the social and personal life of their therapists, they gradually withdrew from all friends and family, becoming increasingly dependent on the therapist and their new "siblings." Upon joining the group, many patients felt a sense of being loved and belongingness. The authors described the "cognitive pathology" of idiosyncratic group jargon which served to maintain an illusion of knowledge, sophistication, and personal growth, while removing all ambivalence and uncertainty. The authors concluded that psychotherapy cult membership is an iatrogenically determined negative effect of psychotherapy. Of the former cult members they interviewed, most had perceived themselves as deteriorating or at an impasse, or had experienced disillusionment with their therapists; however, they were unable to terminate unilaterally because of a pathological symbiosis with the group. This paper focuses on a now defunct school of psychotherapy which had both much in common with these psychotherapy cults and several contrasting qualities. First, the school was officially led by a junta of psychotherapists, in a deliberate attempt to avoid any taint of a personality cult. Second, the group of patients and therapists was far larger than any referred to in the original study. Third, most patients were not mental health professionals. Fourth, liberal usage was made of many novel techniques identified with the California psychotherapy scene.
Adult↗
A retrospective analysis of the in-vitro development of 'spare' human in-vitro fertilization preimplantation embryos using 'in-house' prepared medium and 'Medi-Cult' commercial medium.
In-house prepared medium was used routinely in our in-vitro fertilization (IVF) facility prior to the introduction of the commercial 'Medi-Cult' products. A comparative study of the in-vitro development of embryos cultured in two [T6 and Earle's balanced salt solution (EBSS)] human-inactivated serum (HIS)-supplemented media from days 0 to 5 showed that 44.7% (46/103) of the embryos developed to the blastocyst stage in the T6 medium compared with 22.3% (23/103) in EBSS. Following the introduction of the commercial Medi-Cult IVF M2 medium, which is used routinely to culture fertilized eggs from days 0 to 2, new baseline data were required for the in-vitro development of 'spare' embryos from days 2 to 5. When Medi-Cult M3 medium was used, 35.6% (37/104) of the 'spare' day 2 embryos achieved the blastocyst stage. However, if morphologically similar (four normal nucleated blastomeres with no fragmentation) day 2 embryos were selected, an increase in the blastocyst rate to 50.0% (33/66) was achieved. This compared favourably with the 45.0% blastocyst rate (published in the Medi-Cult literature) for M2/M3 medium cultured human embryos. A small series of experiments with T6 + HIS medium and human serum albumin (HSA)-supplemented Ham's F-10, MCDB 302 and M3 media was undertaken to identify a suitable medium which could be used for the culture of M2 medium day 2 embryos. Results show that M2 medium cultured embryos placed in Ham's F-10 medium supplemented with 10 mg/ml HSA gave an acceptable 37.8% (14/45) blastocyst rate. Therefore, this medium could be substituted for M3 medium in an emergency. A total of 483 IVF embryos donated by patients, which were surplus to the therapeutic IVF programme, were used for these studies over a period of 30 months. Late day 2 IVF spare embryos were assigned an embryo score based on a high-power phase-contrast microscopic examination prior to being placed in culture. The embryo score provides an effective in-vitro parameter with which embryos from different patients can be compared. The cleavage and development of individual embryos were monitored on days 2 to 5. In some cases, the continuing normal development and viability of the day 5 cultured embryo were assessed by monitoring the hatching, attachment and outgrowth of the cavitated blastocyst.
Blastocyst↗
"Marina-Trinkkur" and a few more modern-time hydrotherapeutic myths from the Kvarner region of NW Croatia.
PURPOSE: The present paper tries to address the rise and decay of the sea-water "cult" in regional health tourism in NW Croatia, concentrating upon and analysing more thoroughly the example of Marina, chemically processed sea water, an invention of Dr Géza Fodor, the Hungarian physician practicing in that part of Croatia. METHOD: The original documents and archived items related to the topic were examined. Furthermore, we investigated numerous communal bulletins and medical authorities' records of respective time. RESULTS: Our research showed that the sea-water baths, introduced thanks to the influence of balneologists (like J. Glax), and "drinking cures" (advocated by M.-J. Ortel, for instance) were surprisingly popular not only among tourists of the time, but also among the physicians that used them extensively for therapeutical purposes. These baths and "drinking cures" enriched and completed the medical offer of the resorts regardless of their sometimes dubious effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: This simple distilled sea-water preparation, advertised as a real panacea, demonstrates a paradigm that elucidates the mentality of physicians, merchants, and patients/consumers of the time.
Balneology↗
Asclepius and temple medicine in aelius Aristides' Sacred Tales.
If the activities attributed to Asclepius in the tablets of Epidaurus are compared with Aelius Aristides' report of the god's miracle working upon him, the reader is struck by one considerable difference: in Epidaurus the god operates directly. He does surgery while the patient is dreaming; he heals without intermediaries. In Aelius Aristides' dreams, however, the god gives insight and advice, as well as a feeling of belonging to a therapeutic community. But he heals no less in Pergamum in the second century AD than he did in Epidaurus in the fourth century BC. A second difference seems to be related. Whereas in Epidaurus doctors are rarely mentioned--they seem to belong to a different domain and do not seem to practise within the temple precincts--in Aristides' Pergamum the god acts only indirectly, in dreams and visions, which consequently are interpreted with the help of skilled doctors and members of the temple staff. The god appears 'to have learned medicine', as Ludwig Edelstein called it. In this paper I intend to look for an answer to the question: what is the role of (Hippocratic) medicine in Aelius Aristides' Sacred Tales? How are the two rationales, of (Hippocratic) medicine and of the Asclepius cult, related? There are apparent inconsistencies and contradictions. How are they dealt with? Did the god acquire a medical education indeed? Is a balance ever struck between Hippocratic and temple medicine?
Ancient Lands↗
A prospective comparison of 'in house' and commercially prepared Earle's balanced salt solution in human in-vitro fertilization.
A prospective, randomized study was undertaken to compare the use of Earle's balanced salt solution (EBSS) prepared 'in house' with that produced commercially, in 448 cycles of therapeutic in-vitro fertilization. Outcome was assessed in terms of fertilization and cleavage rates, embryo morphology, and implantation rates following embryo transfer. The only differences that were found between the two media in any of the outcome parameters were in the number of cycles with failed fertilization (1/218 in 'in house' medium compared with 10/230 in commercially prepared medium; P = 0.0186), and in the rate at which embryos cleaved. Thus, while the median number of blastomeres per embryo was no different in the two groups at 46-49 h post insemination (three in embryos cultured in 'in-house' medium, compared with four in those cultured in commercially prepared medium; P > 0.1), the number of embryos per cycle that had cleaved to the 4-cell stage by 46-49 h post insemination was significantly greater in the Medi-Cult than in the EBSS medium (P < 0.001).
Adult↗