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This is a highly recommended video for better understanding the convergence of meditation and science.
Click Here
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According to Hudson (1999), terrorist groups, including those that endorse militant martyrdom, have similarities with religious cults:
They require total commitment by members; they often prohibit relations with outsiders, although this may not be the case with ethnic or separatist terrorist groups whose members are well integrated into the community; they regulate and sometimes ban sexual relations; they impose conformity; they seek cohesiveness through interdependence and mutual trust; and they attempt to brainwash individual members with their particular ideology. (p. 35)
Leaders of terrorist organizations, secular and religious alike, much like those of religious cults, are typically charismatic, enigmatic, authoritarian figures, possibly with psychosis and/or a clinically paranoid personality disorder (Hamilton-Hart, 2005; Lester et al, 2004; Lester, et al, 2004). These figures exhibit strong influential abilities.
Walsh (2001) outlines the trade techniques used by many cults to control their members. One technique Walsh discusses is milieu control in which communications to and from the outside world are controlled by the group leader. Mystical manipulation, another tool used by cult leaders, involves the leader using "extensive personal manipulation" to elicit desired behaviors, including dependency (p. 122). Indeed, some research suggests that suicide attackers are often chosen because of the ease in which they submit to religious indoctrination (Coney, 2003). Prime candidates reportedly consist of immature and troubled youth with few social connections and an absence of meaning in life (Crenshaw, 1988; Laqueur, 1987; Lester, et al, 2004; Stern, 2003). Plous and Zimbardo (2004) further claim that groups attempt to screen out those that do not prove susceptible to the propaganda and manipulation of the group leaders. Demand for purity, another control technique, divides the world into good and evil as defined by the group itself. In this vain, Islamic teachings seek to instill at a very early age the unquestioning obedience to Allah and the calls for purity by religious authority (Post, 2005). A somewhat related technique is the dispensing of existence, in which a line is drawn determining who has a right to live and who does not (Post, 2005; Walsh, 2001). Additional techniques include the sacred science where members are taught that deeper understanding comes from extensive training and unquestioning of group doctrine and loading the language where new meanings of terminology are established to suit the goals of the group (Walsh, 2001). An example of loading the language can be seen in the modification of the Islamic word jihad by the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders (Knapp, 2003). Another example is the substitution of “martyrdom” for “suicide” (Post, 2005).
Click HERE for the full article.
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Martyrdom is by no means a new concept. In Arabic-Islamic society, the idea of terrorism, or the intentional instillation of fear in the masses, using militant-martyrs appeared in the 11th century in the form of a Shi'i Islam sect known as the Nizari Isma'ilis, or Assassins (Campbell, 2004; Hudson, 1999; Kermani, 2002; Kjeilen, 2003). The Assassins would perform public political murders with nothing more than a dagger so that the act would be well known. In most cases, his target’s bodyguards would immediately kill the Assassin. According to Kjeilen (2003), the Assassins were instrumental in turning terrorism into an Islamic religious duty.
According to Hashhash (2006), “martyrdom is an everyday event that continues to perpetuate itself in Palestine and its representation is a frequent visual motif in Palestinian art, media, and life.” Still, martyrs have been heralded in every religion and every corner of the earth, not just Palestine. However, in recent times, militant martyrdom has almost become synonymous with radical Islam, if not Islam in general, in the minds of some Westerners. After all, Muslim society has endorsed associated tactics. For example, the Shi'ite martyrdom zeitgeist resulted in Iranian soldiers rushing forward into Iraqi mine fields during the Iran-Iraq War (Kermani, 2002). Further, many who were killed or injured were children and teenagers. This same culture of martyrdom opened the door in 1983 for a member of Hezbollah to commit a suicide bombing for the first time in Lebanon (Kermani, 2002).
To read the full article, click HERE
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The psychology of martyrdom is a growing area of interest in today’s world. The need for viable means of confronting, addressing, and ultimately preventing the development of cultures of martyrdom is increasingly drawing the attention of world governments. The following six-part article series, entitled Ego Strength-Frustration Tendencies (ES-FT): Toward a model of predicting militant martyrdom by examining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” reviews relevant literature on the topic of martyrdom. Four typologies of martyrdom are defined, with militant martyrdom (i.e., suicide attacks) serving as the focus of the article series. The author reviews different perspectives of the etiology of militant martyrdom, reviews the literature, and concludes that frustration-aggression theory and the effects of systemic psychological victimization best explain this phenomenon. The author further proposes an ego strength-frustration tendencies (ES-FT) model for predicting the tendency toward related social roles based on the interaction of ego strength and frustration. The article series concludes with a discussion of the advantages, disadvantages, and implications of ES-FT. A complete reference list is provided at the conclusion of the series.
For Article One of the series, click HERE
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Exerpt from the guide
RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS AND PERSISTENT
MENTAL ILLNESS IN TIMES OF MAJOR DISASTER
PREFACE
Since the mid-1970's, the Federal Government has provided grant support to deal with the psychological consequences of major disasters. Funds for these grants are provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The crisis counseling program managed first by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and now by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) provides counseling and training to all who live and or work in areas declared disasters by the President. Within these general guidelines, CMHS and FEMA recognize that there are groups of people who are at greater risk for disaster-related stress, whose needs may require special attention by service providers, or who may have more difficulty using the variety of government services that become available following disasters.
In that spirit, the CMHS Emergency Services and Disaster Relief Branch has produced this technical assistance document to address the needs of people with serious and persistent mental illness following major disasters. Several people with direct experience in disaster services to this population were asked to develop chapters for the publication. Drafts of the document were shared with colleagues, CMHS staff, and an even broader audience for review and comment.
The task was more complex than anticipated. The writers struggled with how to address the needs of people with mental illness while not stigmatizing them further. They explored how, or even whether their needs differ from those who are impacted by largeBscale disasters but do not have a mental illness. And they struggled with the realization that when people with a serious mental illness experience the same disaster-related stress as anybody else, they often are inappropriately and unjustly labeled as experiencing an acute exacerbation of their illness.
This process has yielded two significant results:
First, we identified the need for this document, which is the first guide to use narrative and illustration, from providers, program planners and designers, and administrators of disaster response and recovery programs.
Second, we learned that the needs and desires of people with serious mental illness are closer to the needs desires of the general population following a disaster than previously thought. People with mental illness have the same need for housing, stability, and support as their neighbors in the days following a disaster. They are as capable as anybody else in behaving heroically during and after the disaster event. They have the same difficulties maneuvering through the complexities of the recovery process. And they share the desire to see their lives and communities restored.
In this attempt to identify how to best meet the needs of people with serious mental illness following major disasters, the developers of this document hope that the principles noted here might be generalized to other groups of people who, for a variety of reasons, find it more difficult to access the resources available following disasters.
The most gratifying part of my many years in disaster mental health work has been the privilege of witnessing firsthand the strength and resiliency of the human spirit following major trauma. I have been reminded of how much more the mental health field needs to learn about mental health as compared with mental illness. This project serves as a dramatic reminder that the presence of a mental illness does not preclude an individual from having the resources and strength to physically and psychologically survive a major disaster, and from assisting in the rebuilding of their lives and community following disaster. Indeed, people with mental illness do share the same pain and fear as everybody else.
Ironically, disasters provide a unique opportunity for individuals and communities to focus on the commonality of the human condition when the walls that separate us are both literally and figuratively knocked down. All those who participated in the writing of this document were reminded that the commonality of our needs and desires overshadows our differences.
Brian W. Flynn, Ed.D.
Chief, Emergency Services and Disaster Relief Branch
Center for Mental Health Services
Click HERE for the full guide.
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The final step of most psychological assessment is the write-up. This is when the examiner outlines the assessment process and discusses the results and conclusions drawn from them. It is the final product that will be delivered to the consumer, whether that be the courts, another mental health provider, or a school referrer. It helps to have a template report that a student or examiner can build on to produce a top quality product. I am providing an example of a template I used as a student. It is not intended for students to take as their own, but rather to use as an example of how a simple but thorough template can look.
Click HERE for the example.
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This Guide is intended to provide helpful information. The Guide is not a substitute for professional medical advice, care, diagnosis or treatment, and is not designed to promote or endorse any medical practice, program or agenda or any medical tests, products, treatment or procedures. The Guide may not be completely accurate and does not contain information about all diseases, nor does it contain all information that may be relevant to a particular medical or health condition.
The Guide is brought to you by MedicineNet.com. Click HERE for your free copy.
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Download the contraversial article entitled Social Psychology of Alcoholics Anonymous. This article has been the subject of much debate and contention. Read it and provide your comments.
Click HERE for your free copy.
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