The value of confession and forgiveness according to Jung

A Comparison of the Social-Adaptive Perspective and Functionalist Perspective on Guilt and Shame

Within the field of guilt and shame two competing perspectives have been advanced. The first, the social-adaptive perspective, proposes that guilt is an inherently adaptive emotion and shame is an inherently maladaptive emotion. Thus, those interested in moral character development and psychopathology should work to increase an individual's guilt-proneness and decrease an individual's shame-proneness. The functionalist perspective, in contrast, argues that both guilt and shame can serve a person adaptively or maladaptively-depending on the situational appropriateness, duration, intensity, and so forth. This paper reviews the research conducted supporting both positions; critiques some issues with the most widely used guilt- and shame-proneness measure in the social-adaptive research (the TOSCA) and discusses the differences in results found when assessing guilt and shame at the state versus trait level. The conclusion drawn is that although there is broad support for the functionalist perspective across a wide variety of state and trait guilt/shame studies, the functionalist perspective does not yet have the wealth of data supporting it that has been generated by the social-adaptive perspective using the TOSCA. Thus, before a dominant perspective can be identified, researchers need to (1) do more research assessing how the social-adaptive perspective compares to the functionalist perspective at the state level and (2) do more trait research within the functionalist perspective to compare functionalist guilt- and shame-proneness measures with the TOSCA.

Truth Be Told: Evaluation of a Narrative and Skills Intervention in Two Women's Prisons

This article describes the evaluation of a narrative and skills intervention to enable women to come to terms with their offenses, tell the truth, and then work to deal with the emotions and issues surrounding their offenses, in two southern U.S. women's prisons. The intervention involved skills building in communication, community building, creativity, and caring for the self, using narrative writing, speaking, and movement. There was broad agreement that the intervention had multiple positive impacts, including insight into factors that lead to incarceration, comfort with selves and better ability to express themselves, restorative justice (ability to understand the situation of others, understanding the impact on themselves and their families), better relationships with other inmates, and understanding the challenges that may lead to recidivism. Findings are consistent with the importance of "confession" and the importance of narrative in traumatic life situations in bringing resolution.

Existential and Spiritual Needs in Mental Health Care

This study illuminates how existential needs and spiritual needs are connected with health care ethics and individuals' mental health and well-being. The term existential needs is defined as the necessity of experiencing life as meaningful, whereas the term spiritual needs is defined as the need of deliverance from despair, guilt and/or sin, and of pastoral care. It discusses whether or not patients' needs are holistically addressed in Western health care systems that neglect patients' existential and spiritual needs, because of their biomedical view of Man which recognizes only patients' physical needs. It excludes a holistic health care which considers all needs, expressed by patients in treatment of mental illness. Addressing all needs is important for patients' improvement and recovery. For some patients, this is the only way to regain their mental health and well-being.

Dental caries prevalence in relation to socioeconomic status of nursery school children in Goiânia-GO, Brazil

The study was carried out to assess dental caries in the primary dentition of pre-school children in Goiânia-GO, Brazil, and to assess the influence of socio-economic status. The study population comprised 0-6-yr-old pre-school children (n = 2267) attending public (low SES children) and private (higher SES children) nursery schools. Mean dmft and percent caries-free were 0.09 (96.4%) at 1 year and younger, 0.40 (87.3%) at 2, 1.14 (69.9%) at 3, 2.18 (49.5%) at 4, 3.18 (36.1%) at 5, and 3.94 (29.4%) at age 6 years respectively. Caries prevalence was higher in those attending public nursery school than in those attending private schools (P < 0.05). Amongst children from public nursery schools the highest dmf component was untreated decay while in private nurseries it was filled teeth. The results indicate that social inequalities exist, which influence dental caries experience. It was concluded that oral health programmes for pre-school children emphasizing preventive measures and dental health education should be developed mainly in areas of social deprivation.

The capacity to forgive: An object relations perspective

Forgiveness is commended by Christianity, as well as other religious traditions, as one of the most central of virtues, so central that the New Testament links man's very salvation to his ability to forgive. However, mental health professionals have correctly pointed out that the mandate to forgive is often used by religious patients in the service of defenses such as reaction formation, undoing, and denial. The forgiveness ideal is often misunderstood as a command not to experience aggressive feelings.It is the thesis of this paper that the capacity for genuine forgiveness is central not only to spiritual development but to psychological development as well. It is suggested that Kernberg's object relations theory provides the best model for understanding the nature and importance of forgiveness. Mature forgiveness does not involve the elimination of negative feelings toward others (or oneself) but the integration of negative and positive self-object representations and their connected affect. Anger at the offending persons must then be tempered by appreciation for their concomitant good qualities and motivations or, at the very least, empathy for the flaws which prompted them to behave destructively. The result is a more realistic and balanced view of others (and oneself), a more genuine relationship to the full range of one's own inner experience, and a greater ability to respond constructively to frustrating persons and situations.

"Heroic struggle": A medieval and modern dilemma

In the medieval tale ofSir Gawain and The Green Knight there is a portrait of an archetypal hero who succumbs to the pressures of living up to his reputation by resorting to behavior which compromises the code of ethics of knighthood. The lives of contemporary men and women are much more complex by comparison, though not always quite so dramatic. The pressures we face on a daily basis are cumulatively greater. Choices we make may be determined by our need to filter the realities of our world through a "characterological lie" which we have fashioned in ourselves as a way of protecting a vulnerable psyche from the truths of existence. Events in this fourteenth-century narrative are reexamined in the light of Dr. Ernest Becker'sThe Denial of Death, which strongly implicates the confrontation between the individual and the environment.

Spirituality and well-being in terminally ill hospitalized adults

Initial research into the significance of spirituality among terminally ill adults was extended. Two hypotheses were examined using three groups of 100 adults matched on age, gender, education, and religious background: a) Terminally ill hospitalized adults indicate a greater spiritual perspective than nonterminally ill hospitalized adults and healthy nonhospitalized adults. b) Spiritual perspective is positively related to well-being among terminally ill hospitalized adults. All 300 participants completed the Spiritual Perspective Scale, Index of Well-Being, and other information. Planned comparisons analysis results supported the first hypothesis; low but significant correlation lent support to the second hypothesis. Differences among groups on recent change in spiritual views also were examined; a significantly larger number of terminally ill adults indicated a change toward increased spirituality than did nonterminally ill or healthy adults.