As long as human rights are violated, there can be no foundation for peace. How can peace exist in a society where some members oppress their brothers and sisters and knowingly violate their fundamental human rights? How can peace grow where truth is not allowed to surface and speaking the truth is a crime? (His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama)
Coined barely two decades ago, the Anthropocene has become one of the most influential and controversial terms in environmental policy. Yet it remains an ambivalent and contested formulation, giving rise to a multitude of unexpected, and often uncomfortable, conversations. This book traces in detail a broad variety of such 'Anthropocene encounters': in science, philosophy and literary fiction. It asks what it means to 'think green' in a time when nature no longer offers a stable backdrop to political analysis. Do familiar political categories and concepts, such as democracy, justice, power and time, hold when confronted with a world radically transformed by humans? The book responds by inviting more radical political thought, plural forms of engagement, and extended ethical commitments, making it a fascinating and timely volume for graduate students and researchers working in earth system governance, environmental politics and studies of the Anthropocene.
This is a volume of nine papers on Tibetan and Buddhist art from the proceedings of the ninth seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies held in Leiden in the year 2000. The papers deal with art and architecture both within and on the periphery of Tibetan cultural areas. Several of the papers examine outside influences on Tibetan artistic traditions and the role of Tibetan patronage in the creation of Buddhist art. (Ben Deitle 2006-03-15)
Social emotional learning (SEL) is common in preschools and schools both in Europe and North America today. Programmes for socio-emotional training and the rise of what is labelled therapeutic education have dramatically increased during the first decade of the millennium. In this article, a manual-based programme used for SEL in a Swedish school context is analysed from perspectives rooted in childhood sociology and post-structural studies. The aim of this study is to analyse the discursive constructions of a context of risk and the instilment of specific corporeal regimes. The main issue concerns the meaning and use of the body in the discursive construction of the social competent child within this context of risk. The analysis shows that the socially competent child is shaped and cultivated through self-regulating techniques aiming at creating a docile body, a body that will be a good citizen, a pliant member of the social order. Social emotional learning (SEL) is common in preschools and schools both in Europe and North America today. Programmes for socio-emotional learning and what is labelled "therapeutic education" (Ecclestone & Hayes, 2007; Furedi, 2009) have dramatically increased during the first decade of the millennium. In Sweden, schools often justify their use of these programmes as a way of organizing their value-based education (von Bromssen, 2011), that is, as a way of realizing the democratic ambitions expressed in educational policy documents, such as the national curriculum.
Equanimity, good health, peace of mind, and long life are the goals of the ancient Taoist tradition known as "internal alchemy," of which Cultivating Stillness is a key text. Written between the second and fifth centuries, the book is attributed to T'ai Shang Lao-chun—the legendary figure more widely known as Lao-Tzu, author of the Tao-te Ching . The accompanying commentary, written in the nineteenth century by Shui-ch'ing Tzu, explains the alchemical symbolism of the text and the methods for cultivating internal stillness of body and mind. A principal part of the Taoist canon for many centuries, Cultivating Stillness is still the first book studied by Taoist initiates today.
The new mixed preparation immunofit has been created using on the prescriptions of Tibetan medicine, and the composition of essential oils isolated from this mixture has been studied. The composition of microelements in the initial mixture and in an aqueous alcohol extract has been determined. Experiments on CBA and F1 (CBA × C57B1/6) mice showed a pronounced immunomodulating activity of the new drug with respect to the model immunodepressed state induced by azathioprine.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the current leading causes of disability worldwide. Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the onset of depression, with MDD affecting 8-20% of all youth. Traditional treatment methods have not been sufficiently effective to slow the increasing prevalence of adolescent depression. We therefore propose a new model for the treatment of adolescent depression - Training for Awareness, Resilience, and Action (TARA) - that is based on current understanding of developmental and depression neurobiology. The TARA model is aligned with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) of the National Institute of Mental Health. In this article, we first address the relevance of RDoC to adolescent depression. Second, we identify the major RDoC domains of function involved in adolescent depression and organize them in a way that gives priority to domains thought to be driving the psychopathology. Third, we select therapeutic training strategies for TARA based on current scientific evidence of efficacy for the prioritized domains of function in a manner that maximizes time, resources, and feasibility. The TARA model takes into consideration the developmental limitation in top-down cognitive control in adolescence and promotes bottom-up strategies such as vagal afference to decrease limbic hyperactivation and its secondary effects. The program has been informed by mindfulness-based therapy and yoga, as well as modern psychotherapeutic techniques. The treatment program is semi-manualized, progressive, and applied in a module-based approach designed for a group setting that is to be conducted one session per week for 12 weeks. We hope that this work may form the basis for a novel and more effective treatment strategy for adolescent depression, as well as broaden the discussion on how to address this challenge.
This paper examines Earth System Science as a novel approach to global environmental change research. Drawing upon Michel Foucault's governmentality concept, the paper opens up the Earth System metaphor to political analysis and asks what it does to our understanding of nature and society as a governable domain. We trace the scientific practices that have produced the Earth System as a thinkable analytical category back to the International Geophysical Year in 1957. We also identify ‘the Anthropocene’ as a central and yet ambiguous system of thought for Earth System Science that harbours different strategies for sustainability in terms of (1) the persons over whom government is to be exercised; (2) the distribution of tasks and actions between authorities; and (3) contrasting ideals or principles for how government should be directed.
The effectiveness of an 8-week mindfulness training for adolescents aged 11–15 years with ADHD and parallel Mindful Parenting training for their parents was evaluated, using questionnaires as well as computerized attention tests. Adolescents (N = 10), their parents (N = 19) and tutors (N = 7) completed measurements before, immediately after, 8 weeks after and 16 weeks after training. Adolescents reported on their attention and behavioral problems and mindful awareness, and were administered two computerized sustained attention tasks. Parents as well as tutors reported on adolescents’ attention and behavioral problems and executive functioning. Parents further reported on their own parenting, parenting stress and mindful awareness. Both the mindfulness training for the adolescents and their parents was delivered in group format. First, after mindfulness training, adolescents’ attention and behavior problems reduced, while their executive functioning improved, as indicated by self-report measures as well as by father and teacher report. Second, improvements in adolescent’ actual performance on attention tests were found after mindfulness training. Moreover, fathers, but not mothers, reported reduced parenting stress. Mothers reported reduced overreactive parenting, whereas fathers reported an increase. No effect on mindful awareness of adolescents or parents was found. Effects of mindfulness training became stronger at 8-week follow-up, but waned at 16-week follow-up. Our study adds to the emerging body of evidence indicating that mindfulness training for adolescents with ADHD (and their parents) is an effective approach, but maintenance strategies need to be developed in order for this approach to be effective in the longer term.
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Studies on the effects of mindfulness interventions on mental health and behavioral problems in children show promising results, but are primarily conducted with selected samples of children. The few studies investigating school-based interventions used self-selected samples, provided training outside of the classroom, and did not report longer-term effects. The immediate and longer-term effects of a class-based mindfulness intervention for elementary school children were investigated as a primary prevention program (MindfulKids) to reduce stress and stress-related mental health and behavioral problems. Children (8–12 years) from three elementary schools participated. Classes were randomized to an immediate-intervention group (N = 95) or a waitlist-control group (N = 104), which received the intervention after a waitlist period. Twelve 30-min sessions were delivered in 6 weeks. At baseline, pretest, posttest, and follow-up, variables indicative of stress and metal well-being were assessed with children, variables indicative of mental health problems were assessed with parents, and teachers reported on class climate. Multilevel analysis revealed that there were no significant changes from baseline to pretest. Some primary prevention effects on stress and well-being were found directly after training and some became more apparent at follow-up. Effects on mental health problems also became apparent at follow-up. MindfulKids seems to have a primary preventive effect on stress, well-being, and behavior in schoolchildren, as reported by children and parents. Exploratory analysis revealed that children who ruminate more are affected differently by the intervention than children who ruminate less. It is concluded that mindfulness training can be incorporated in elementary schools at the class level, letting all children benefit from the intervention.
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BackgroundSuicidal ideation (SI) is common in chronic depression, but only limited evidence exists for the assumption that psychological treatments for depression are effective for reducing SI.
Methods
In the present study, the effects of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; group version) plus treatment-as-usual (TAU: individual treatment by either a psychiatrist or a licensed psychotherapist, including medication when indicated) and Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP; group version) plus TAU on SI was compared to TAU alone in a prospective, bi-center, randomized controlled trial. The sample consisted of 106 outpatients with chronic depression.
Results
Multivariate regression analyses revealed different results, depending on whether SI was assessed via self-report (Beck Depression Inventory suicide item) or via clinician rating (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale suicide item). Whereas significant reduction of SI emerged when assessed via clinician rating in the MBCT and CBASP group, but not in the TAU group while controlling for changes in depression, there was no significant effect of treatment on SI when assessed via self-report.
Limitations
SI was measured with only two single items.
Conclusions
Because all effects were of small to medium size and were independent of effects from other depression symptoms, the present results warrant the application of such psychotherapeutical treatment strategies like MBCT and CBASP for SI in patients with chronic depression.
The authors hypothesized that a social and emotional learning (SEL) program involving mindfulness and caring for others, designed for elementary school students, would enhance cognitive control, reduce stress, promote well-being and prosociality, and produce positive school outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 4 classes of combined 4th and 5th graders (N = 99) were randomly assigned to receive the SEL with mindfulness program versus a regular social responsibility program. Measures assessed executive functions (EFs), stress physiology via salivary cortisol, well-being (self-reports), prosociality and peer acceptance (peer reports), and math grades. Relative to children in the social responsibility program, children who received the SEL program with mindfulness (a) improved more in their cognitive control and stress physiology; (b) reported greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, optimism, school self-concept, and mindfulness, (c) showed greater decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and peer-rated aggression, (d) were rated by peers as more prosocial, and (e) increased in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity). The results of this investigation suggest the promise of this SEL intervention and address a lacuna in the scientific literature-identifying strategies not only to ameliorate children's problems but also to cultivate their well-being and thriving. Directions for future research are discussed.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a fundamental part of education. Incorporating high-quality SEL programming into day-to-day classroom and school practices has emerged as a main goal for many practitioners over the past decade. The present article overviews the current state of SEL research and practice, with a particular focus on the United States. The need for a model of SEL that goes beyond the classroom is illustrated, and a systemic approach to implementing SEL school-wide is introduced. It is argued that school-wide SEL maximises the benefits of SEL programming by becoming the organising framework for fostering students' potential as scholars, community members, and citizens. Further, a Theory of Action (ToA) developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is presented that serves as a blueprint for implementing systemic SEL in schools. Potential challenges and barriers involved in moving toward school-wide SEL implementation are considered and discussed.
A groundbreaking synthesis of evolutionary theory arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can reduce teachers’ stress. The purpose of this mixed-method study, conducted within the context of a randomized-control trial of an MBI for teachers, was to examine four potential ways by which the MBI reduced teacher stress, including by (1) increasing their efficacy for regulating emotion on the job; (2) improving their ways of coping with stress at work; (3) increasing their efficacy for forgiving colleagues and students at work following conflict, as well as the tendency to do so; and (4) increasing teachers’ tendency to feel compassion for people generally, and for challenging students in particular. Public school teachers (n = 59) were randomized to an MBI or a waitlist control condition. They completed surveys at pre/post/follow-up and interviews at post-program designed to assess their coping with work stressors and their appraisals of their most challenging students. Survey data showed that efficacy beliefs and the tendency to forgive changed from pre/post for teachers in the MBI, and partially mediated reductions in stress from baseline to 4-month follow-up. Interview results showed a trend for teachers in the MBI to report more adaptive strategies for coping with job stress, and a tendency to evaluate challenging students in a more positive affective light. Implications for MBIs in teacher professional development are discussed.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can reduce teachers’ stress. The purpose of this mixed-method study, conducted within the context of a randomized-control trial of an MBI for teachers, was to examine four potential ways by which the MBI reduced teacher stress, including by (1) increasing their efficacy for regulating emotion on the job; (2) improving their ways of coping with stress at work; (3) increasing their efficacy for forgiving colleagues and students at work following conflict, as well as the tendency to do so; and (4) increasing teachers’ tendency to feel compassion for people generally, and for challenging students in particular. Public school teachers (n = 59) were randomized to an MBI or a waitlist control condition. They completed surveys at pre/post/follow-up and interviews at post-program designed to assess their coping with work stressors and their appraisals of their most challenging students. Survey data showed that efficacy beliefs and the tendency to forgive changed from pre/post for teachers in the MBI, and partially mediated reductions in stress from baseline to 4-month follow-up. Interview results showed a trend for teachers in the MBI to report more adaptive strategies for coping with job stress, and a tendency to evaluate challenging students in a more positive affective light. Implications for MBIs in teacher professional development are discussed.
Even the best work can wear us down. How do we find inspiration and purpose again?
Game theory is a branch of decision theory focusing on interactive decisions, applicable whenever the actions of two or more decision makers jointly determine an outcome that affects them all. Strategic reasoning amounts to deciding how to act to achieve a desired objective, taking into account how others will act and the fact that they will also reason strategically. The primitive concepts of the theory are players (decision makers), strategies (alternatives among which each player chooses), and payoffs (numerical representations of the players’ preferences among the possible outcomes of the game). The theory’s fundamental assumptions are (i) that all players have consistent preferences and are instrumentally rational in the sense of invariably choosing an alternative that maximizes their individual payoffs, relative to their knowledge and beliefs at the time and (ii) that the specification of the game and the players’ preferences and rationality are common knowledge among the players (explained under Common Knowledge). Game theory amounts to working out the implications of these assumptions in particular classes of games and thereby determining how rational players will act. Psychology is the study of the nature, functions, and phenomena of behavior and mental experience, and two branches of psychology provide bridges to and from game theory: cognitive psychology, concerned with all forms of cognition, including decision making, and social psychology, concerned with how individual behavior and mental experience are influenced by other people. Psychology uses empirical research methods, including controlled experiments, and its usefulness for studying games emerges from three considerations. First, many games turn out to lack determinate game-theoretic solutions, and psychological theories and empirical evidence are therefore required to discover and understand how people play them. Second, human decision makers have bounded rationality and are rarely blessed with full common knowledge; consequently, except in the simplest cases, they do not necessarily choose strategies that maximize their payoffs even when determinate game-theoretic solutions exist. Third, human decision makers have other-regarding preferences and sometimes do not even try to maximize their personal payoffs, without regard to the payoffs of others, and psychological theory and empirical research are therefore required to provide a realistic account of real-life strategic interaction. Psychology has investigated strategic interaction since the 1950s; behavioral game theory, a branch of the emergent subdiscipline of behavioral economics, has used similar techniques since the late 1980s.
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