Conference Presentations by Fiona Ann Papps
ASCS 42, 2019
The Romans inhabited a world vastly different from the contemporary western world. Nevertheless, ... more The Romans inhabited a world vastly different from the contemporary western world. Nevertheless, the origins of Western civilization and philosophy can be traced to the classical past (Langlands, 2006). The concept of pudicitia, which, following Langlands (2006) and Omar (2017), I define as a moral virtue relating to the regulation of behaviour associated with sex, may have no direct translation in English but it is a concept which continues to resonate in our understanding and interpretation of women’s and men’s sexuality in the postmodern scape. In this paper, I focus on the visual aspects of female sexual virtue as expressed in the contemporary phenomenon of evangelical Purity and Chastity Culture. I use exempla drawn from discussions of pudicitia in classical texts (Valerius Maximus) and sexual purity and abstinence in contemporary texts (from US organisations dedicated to female chastity and purity) to highlight how the texts read sexual virtue from women’s bodies (Langlands, 2006). As a consequence, there is an enduring mapping of a woman’s moral reputation onto her appearance. I argue that the visual elements of female sexual virtue (e.g., dress and public behaviour) in both classical and postmodern exempla function to mark women’s bodies as the property of men (both fathers and husbands; Fahs, 2010), and to reinforce the discursive construction of sexuality whereby men are represented as powerless to control their sexual urges and a woman’s value inheres in her ability to control both men’s urges and her own.
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Australian Society for Classical Studies Conference, 2021
Popular media described the marriage of Prince Harry to bi-racial American actress, Meghan Markle... more Popular media described the marriage of Prince Harry to bi-racial American actress, Meghan Markle, as opening a new era for the British royal family. The Sussex’s decision, therefore, to ‘step back as senior members of the royal family’, announced on January 8, 2020, and labelled ‘Megxit’, was greeted with mixed response. Using thematic analysis of articles in six contemporary Australian tabloid magazines, I show the Sussex’s decision described in terms that closely echo Aeneas’ struggle in Book IV of the Aeneid: Harry attempts to ‘honour his duty’ to the monarchy, while ‘following his heart’ and protecting his family. I argue that, in their construction of Megxit, these texts follow the forms used by Virgil to frame Aeneas’ conflict as he is forced to choose between his duty, as required by pietas, and a relationship with Dido, in which personal commitment, or amor is central. Through a Megxit inspired reading of Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Heroides VII, I explore the tensions between pietas (duty to the will of the gods: McLeish, 1972) and amor (love: Britton, 1984), examining whether for men, pietas is (still) necessarily a public virtue directed toward conventionally dictated objects (e.g., gods, royalty) or whether it can be a private virtue directed toward self-chosen objects (e.g., friends), and manifested in amor (Carstairs-McCarthy, 2018). Using the media response to Megxit as a stimulus, I ask to what extent is it possible for Roman men to blur the boundaries between publicly prescribed duty and personally chosen commitments.
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ACAP Conference: Possibilities Unlocked, ACAP, Melbourne, 2019
A recent study of perfectionism and psychological distress in 1,506 Australian university student... more A recent study of perfectionism and psychological distress in 1,506 Australian university students recommended focused interventions targeting students at risk of developing psychopathology as a result of perfectionistic personality traits. Certain aspects of perfectionism have been associated with the onset and maintenance of psychological disorders, such as depression, and with negative behavioural responses, such as procrastination. Therefore, identification of mechanisms through which perfectionism affects distress and procrastination in students can improve targeted interventions that increase both students’ welfare and academic success and retention. The present study aimed to gain understanding of the ways in which perfectionistic cognitions contribute to student procrastination through emotional responses related to mindfulness-based self-efficacy (emotion regulation and distress tolerance) and distress in a sample of first year students in Australia. Specifically, we predicted that perfectionistic cognitions would directly predict procrastination, and that the relationship between perfectionistic cognitions and procrastination would be mediated by emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and distress. We collected data from 851 first year students in an undergraduate psychological science program in Australia at their entry into the program. Results partially supported predictions. Although perfectionistic cognitions directly and significantly predicted procrastination, both emotional regulation and distress tolerance mediated the relationship between perfectionistic cognitions and procrastination, and distress mediated the relationship between perfectionistic cognitions and procrastination, perfectionistic cognitions directly predicted distress through both emotion regulation and distress tolerance. The resultant theoretical model will be used to facilitate the development and implementation of measures to increase students’ well-being and retention rates in undergraduate programs of study.
Keywords: perfectionism, mindfulness-based self-efficacy, distress, procrastination, undergraduate students
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ACAP Conference: Possibilities Unlocked, ACAP, Melbourne, 2019
Therapeutic presence (TP) is the ability to be fully human and fully engaged with another person ... more Therapeutic presence (TP) is the ability to be fully human and fully engaged with another person on multiple levels: emotionally, cognitively, physically, and spiritually. TP is a fundamental skill which underpins efficacious interventions, with research showing that therapist personhood is more important than any particular technique or theoretical orientation in facilitating therapeutic change in clients. The Hakomi method, developed by Ron Kurtz, is a mindfulness based, psychodynamic psychotherapy that integrates the body into the therapeutic process. The Hakomi perspective places significant focus on the personhood of the therapist as a therapeutic tool. Relatively little research has been devoted to the exploration of TP, and none has been conducted with a focus on Hakomi therapy. The present research, therefore, used a qualitative framework informed by phenomenology to explore Hakomi therapists’ understanding of TP. Four graduates of the full professional Hakomi training were interviewed about their lived experiences of TP. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis applied to the resultant verbatim transcripts showed TP as comprised of two elements: therapeutic state of being and a dual awareness. Central to creating TP is a particular personhood of the therapist, in which Hakomi practitioners are explicitly and specifically trained. This personhood is inclusive of particular qualities which enables them to invite the client into TP. This unique Hakomi-based understanding of TP may be particularly important for supporting therapeutic change and one that could be incorporated into future training of mental health practitioners, regardless of therapeutic modality.
Keywords: Therapeutic Presence, Hakomi Therapy, therapist personhood
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Paper presented at the ACAP Conference: Possibilities Unlocked, ACAP, Melbourne, 2019
Modern theories of psychology assume epistemological dualism: the division of mind and body, with... more Modern theories of psychology assume epistemological dualism: the division of mind and body, with definitions of psychology emphasizing the treatment of the mind separate from the body. However, advances in nervous system investigation and neuroscience are encouraging the discipline and profession of psychology toward a mind-body holism, leading to diversification of practice where mindfulness, spirituality, meditation, and yoga (grounded in Eastern philosophies and spiritualities) are being incorporated into research agenda and psychotherapy. A simultaneous move toward the integration of Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) into traditional medicine is encouraging an integrative health practice. Yet, there remains ongoing skepticism about integrative psychology practice, despite a growing evidence base to support the effectiveness of CATs in addressing psychological issues. The present research used a qualitative framework to explore the perspectives of three practitioners trained or training in psychology and CATs around potential benefits of and barriers to an integrative psychology practice. Thematic analysis of verbatim interviews yielded findings that all practitioners had had life experiences that implicitly disrupted their assumptions of mind-body dualism, encouraging them in the belief that an integrated psychology with CATs had greater benefits for clients and psychologists through options for specialization and working within a field that is reflective of the times and embraces holism and a wider evidence base. Individual biases, institutional boundaries, and the scientist-practitioner model were perceived barriers. Results are important in opening conversation about the importance of integrative psychological practice for the 21st century, potentially informing clinically relevant service delivery and policy.
Keywords: integrative psychology practice, CATs, qualitative research
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Since psychology's inception as a discipline, women's bodies have been constructed as sites of pr... more Since psychology's inception as a discipline, women's bodies have been constructed as sites of problem, particularly madness. From Freud's notions of hysteria to current conceptions of premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder, the female body has been represented as unruly and appetitive and as therefore needing to be disciplined.
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Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been referred to as " the monstrous, metastatic maligna... more Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been referred to as " the monstrous, metastatic malignancy of psychiatry " – a diagnostic label often shunned by health care professionals and lived with with a sense of shame and hopelessness by those diagnosed with it. Diagnosed using the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, 5 th Edition (DSM-5), BPD is characterized as a pervasive pattern of instability of inter-personal relationships, self-image and affects, and marked impulsivity. According to the DSM-5, individuals with BPD can find themselves making frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment, experiencing disproportionate, intense feelings of anger and anxiety, engaging in recurrent suicidal and/or self-mutilating behaviours and experiencing chronic feelings of emptiness. Approximately 75% of individuals diagnosed with BPD are female (DSM-5). It has been this gender imbalance in diagnosis rates that has encouraged some feminists to suggest that through the application of a diagnosis leading to the label of 'mad', psychiatry acts to discipline women's expression of emotion, sexuality and appetites. My chapter reports upon a thematic decomposition performed on three memoirs charting women's experiences with Borderline Personality Disorder: Girl In Need of a Tourniquet: Memoir of a Borderline Personality (Johnson, 2010), Girl, Interrupted (Kaysen, 1993) and The Buddha and the Borderline (Van Gelder, 2010). My results suggest that excess sexuality and emotion are represented as unsuitable for 'normal' women, leading to an assumption that women who are appetitive are essentially 'mad' and need to be contained and constrained. This same assumption as embedded in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5 th Edition in the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorders, allows psychiatry and psychology to police and discipline female sexuality and appetites such that women who do not conform to traditional conceptions of femininity are stigmatized.
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Martin and Doka (2011) define grief as a reaction to loss, which results from the tension caused ... more Martin and Doka (2011) define grief as a reaction to loss, which results from the tension caused by an individual's desire to " maintain their assumptive world as it was before the loss, accommodate to a newly emerging reality resulting from the loss, and incorporate this reality into an assumptive world " (p. 18). In Western society, expectations for appropriate grieving reactions following the loss of a loved one are that emotional distress is expected and necessary following loss, that the emotions following loss should be worked through and that an intense phase of distress eventually ends, allowing closure and resolution. Furthermore, societal norms governing grief are shaped by gender, with women expected to be expressive in their responses to loss, and disciplined if their responses do not adhere to these gender-based norms. HBO's Girls, created by Lena Dunham and co-produced by Judd Apatow, charts the lives of four upper class, white girls in their mid-twenties, navigating life in Brooklyn, New York. In Season Three's Episode 4, " Dead Inside " , Hannah's editor, David Pressler-Goings, is found dead, and Hannah's reaction is to be more concerned about the fate of her e-book than the loss of her " champion ". Although Hannah's non-normative response to the death of her editor could work to, dismantle gendered norms of grieving through showing what women's mourning practices might look like when not based upon the experiences of women who conform closely to patterns of heterosexual marriage where domestic commitments are privileged over an independent career, the responses of those around Hannah, particularly the men, function to reveal and reinforce traditional ideological codes about grief and grieving, and hysteria as a model of what " appropriate " grieving should look like for women. Martin i Doka (2011) definiują żałobę jako reakcję na stratę, co jest rezultatem napięcia spowodowanego przez pragnienie człowieka, by " jego świat pozostał taki sam, jaki był przed tą utratą, dostosował się do nowej rzeczywistości, po tej stracie i zaadoptował tę nową rzeczywistość do swoich założeń " (str. 18). Według zachodniego świata, poprawne emocje towarzyszące żałobie po stracie ukochanej osoby to m.in. emocjonalne rozbicie, które jest potrzebne, praca nad tymi emocjami oraz fakt, że po jakimś czasie te intensywne emocje miną, pozwalając pogodzić się ze stratą i zakończyć okres żałoby. Co więcej, oczekiwania wobec przeżywania żałoby zależą od płci; po kobietach oczekuje się, że będą ekspresyjnie wyrażać swoje emocje związane ze stratą lub będą powściągliwe, jeśli ich reakcja nie pasuje do tych oczekiwań. Serial " Dziewczyny " , stworzony na potrzeby kanału HBO przez Lenę Dunham i współprodukowany przez Judda Apatowa, opowiada historię czterech białych, młodych, dwudziestokilkuletnich kobiet pochodzących z klasy wyższej, które prowadzą swoje życie na Brooklynie w Nowym Jorku. W odcinku 4 sezonu 3 " Martwa w środku " , redaktor Hanny, David Pressler – Goings, zostaje znaleziony martwy, lecz dziewczyna jest bardziej zmartwiona przyszłością swojego e-booka niż utratą " guru ". Nietypowa reakcja Hanny na śmierć jej wydawcy odrzuca wszystkie normy społeczne dotyczące żałoby. Przedstawiono kobietę, która odrzuca wzór zachowania typowych kobiet zaangażowanych w heteroseksualny związek małżeński, gdzie zobowiązania rodzinne są ważniejsze niż kariera i sposób, w jaki ludzie wokół niej, zwłaszcza mężczyźni, na to reagują. Jednakże reakcja Hanny jedynie mocniej podkreśla i umacnia tradycyjne, ideologiczne i głęboko zakodowane w ludziach wierzenia dotyczące przeżywania żałoby, a także ukazuje histerię jako " odpowiednią " cechę przeżywania żałoby przez kobiety.
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Publications by Fiona Ann Papps
Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2020
Background and purpose
Although Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) are currently inco... more Background and purpose
Although Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) are currently incorporated into psychotherapy, scepticism remains among professional and practicing psychologists about integration of CATs into professional practice. This research explored perceived benefits and barriers to integrating CATs into psychology practice with individual clients.
Materials and methods
We used a qualitative framework informed by Transpersonal Psychology to explore benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six practitioners trained or training in psychology and CATs and analysed verbatim transcripts using thematic analysis.
Results
Participants reported personal, career-based, and epistemological benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. Benefits were improved therapeutic relationships, specialisation options, and a time reflective psychology. Barriers included stigma and bias, regulations, and dominance of the scientist-practitioner model. Superordinate themes were holism, connectedness, and governance.
Conclusion
Results activate conversation about the importance of a transpersonally oriented integrative psychological practice for the 21st century.
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Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1995
The disciplinary practices used by 20 mothers to control their children in 4 ethnic groups (Greek... more The disciplinary practices used by 20 mothers to control their children in 4 ethnic groups (Greek, Lebanese, Vietnamese, and Anglo) in Australia were compared from a developmental perspective. Ss from the same socioeconomic level and geographic area were randomly chosen from lists of families that met criteria for inclusion. A vignette approach was used in which each S was asked to say how she would deal with 12 situations involving her oldest child at 8 yrs of age and at 4 yrs of age. Responses were coded as power assertion (PA), love withdrawal, induction (IND), and permissiveness (PRM). For all 4 groups, PA was the most frequently used disciplinary technique. However, PA was reported less frequently by the Vietnamese mothers than by mothers from the other ethnic groups. IND was practiced relatively more often with 4-yr-old children, and PRM was used more with 8-yr-old children.
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Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 2021
Therapeutic presence (TP) is the ability to be fully human and fully engaged with another person ... more Therapeutic presence (TP) is the ability to be fully human and fully engaged with another person emotionally, cognitively, physically, and spiritually, and underpins all efficacious interventions. Ron Kurtz’s Hakomi method is a mindfulness based, psychodynamic psychotherapy that integrates the body into the therapeutic process, emphasising the personhood of the therapist as a therapeutic tool. The present research used a qualitative framework to explore Hakomi therapists’ understanding of TP. Four graduates of the full professional Hakomi training were interviewed about their lived experiences of TP. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) applied to resultant verbatim transcripts showed that two elements comprised TP: felt state of being and dual awareness. Central to creating TP is a particular personhood of the therapist, in which Hakomi practitioners are explicitly and specifically trained. This unique Hakomi-based understanding of TP can support therapeutic change and could be incorporated into training of mental health practitioners, regardless of therapeutic modality.
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The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2021
The Harry Potter universe is both widely accessible and incredibly popular, and this feature comb... more The Harry Potter universe is both widely accessible and incredibly popular, and this feature combined with its depth of narrative and genre may make it uniquely suitable to supporting mental health recovery. The current study aims to address a gap in the literature around how engagement with the Harry Potter universe, in the tradition of unguided creative bibliotherapy, may allow people to derive psychologically-relevant meanings from these narratives as part of their mental health recovery journey. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six individuals who identified as Harry Potter fans, had experienced mental health challenges, and were in recovery. Interviews were transcribed and analysed inductively to identify themes. Three superordinate themes were established that captured participants’ experiences of using Harry Potter along their mental health recovery journey: Early Engagement, Immersive World, and Connection. Although participants employed Harry Potter in creative and individual ways, best suited to their lived experience of mental health recovery, the superordinate themes pointed to several commonalities in how these fans used the series, and these reflected contemporary models of mental health recovery.
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Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2020
Background and purpose
Research needs to take a sex positive approach to the development of sexua... more Background and purpose
Research needs to take a sex positive approach to the development of sexual health, with sexual intimacy, orientation, and eroticism understood as central to well-being. Embodiment is central to this project. This qualitative study explores how regular embodied practice might encourage the development of sexual potential.
Materials and methods
Four women who engaged in a regular embodied practice (e.g., yoga) participated in semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological framework.
Results
Three superordinate themes were identified that captured the participants’ journey toward the development of sexual potential: Other-validated Sexuality, Embodiment Practice, and Self-validated Sexuality.
Conclusion
Engagement in regular embodied practice encouraged the development of sexual potential in this sample of women by shifting focus from sexuality as experienced from the perspective of the other to the lived experience of sexuality as connected to their bodily states and enabling integration of the spirit and flesh.
Keywords: differentiation of self, embodiment, sex positivity, sexual potential, sexual subjectivity
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Psychology of Women Quarterly, 2018
Internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness and subscription to gender-based discours... more Internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness and subscription to gender-based discourses are significant predictors of disordered eating attitudes in fully sighted women. Yet, whether these variables predict the disordered eating attitudes of women who are legally blind is underexplored. In the current study, we examined how internalization of White European cultural standards of attractiveness and subscription to gender-based discourses (body surveillance and self-silencing) and body shame predicted the disordered eating attitudes of 80, primarily White, heterosexual, Australian women who are legally blind. Participants completed an online survey comprising existing validated measures of all variables. A path analysis was performed using the Hayes PROCESS approach. As predicted, in women living with vision impairment, body surveillance, self-silencing, and shame fully mediated the relation between internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness and disordered eating attitudes. Results showed that in much the same way as sighted women, women living with vision impairment are susceptible to internalizing harmful messages related to socio-cultural standards of attractiveness. We provide further support for including subscription to gender-based discourses in research on women's body-image disturbances.
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The mental health Consumer Movement of the 1970s challenged the status quo of the dominant psychi... more The mental health Consumer Movement of the 1970s challenged the status quo of the dominant psychiatric discourse of mental illness that is furnished with pathologising and deficit-based language. The present research investigates how the language used in contemporary mental healthcare settings sustains the social construction of mental illness and explores whether the dominant discourse about mental health has shifted in response to critiques framed by the Consumer Movement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three consumers, three mental health professionals, and two consumer professionals. Data were analysed using Foucauldian discourse analysis. Two primary sets of findings emerged from the analysis. First, the social construction of mental illness is drawn up by two principle discourses: professionals pathologise mental illness and consumers contextualise mental illness. Second, analysis of the social practices of mental healthcare settings as revealed in language foregrounded central concerns around administration. Mental healthcare as an institution has produced what Foucault names 'procedural techniques' for recording information. These are techniques of control that prescribe the rules of conduct for professionals and consumers in the institution of mental healthcare. These techniques reduce the agency and personal responsibility of professionals and marginalise the self-knowledge of consumers. Overall, the dominant discourse of mental healthcare has retained paramount status by incorporating parts of the Consumer Movement on its own terms. Positioning mental health consumers as individuals with participation rights is a political euphemism that disguises the dominant paradigm that is still built upon deficit-based constructions of mental illness.
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With the international trend towards individualised funding packages that allocate funds to indiv... more With the international trend towards individualised funding packages that allocate funds to individuals to spend on disability support needs, the challenge of ensuring parents can readily access useful information to make decisions becomes paramount. The present research used a two stage, mixed method sequential approach (with 291 parents surveyed and 56 parents participating in focus groups) to determine how parents acquire information to enhance their understanding of their child's disability and determine how to use an individualised funding scheme to benefit their child and family. Parents attested to the importance of person‐to‐person communication and valued information that originated from other parents of a child with a disability, and from professionals who knew their child. Parents also spoke about the limitations of the internet, noting that reliance on the internet could cause confusion as the validity of information could not be assured. Early childhood intervention services emerged as a key instrument in developing the capacity of families to make informed choices. Understanding families'’ perspectives on the utility of information sources is critical and timely as policy‐makers and service providers within the disability sector shift practice to meet the rise of individualised funding internationally.
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Research suggests that exposure to sociocultural norms for idealized appearance can reduce both w... more Research suggests that exposure to sociocultural norms for idealized appearance can reduce both women's and men's body satisfaction. Despite comparable effects for both genders in the lab, in the “real-world” women's body satisfaction is chronically lower than men's. Real-world gender differences may arise from discrepancies in men's and women's everyday exposure to norms. Across eight studies using a variety of content analysis, survey, and experimental methods, we examine differences in sociocultural norms for ideal appearance pertaining to women and men in “daily life” contexts. We demonstrate that appearance norms encountered by women in daily life are more rigid, homogenous and pervasive than those for men, and that more messages implying the attainability of the ideal appearance are directed at women. Finally, experimental results show that homogeneous, rigid norms (like those typically encountered by women) are more harmful to body image than heterogeneous, flexible norms (like those typically encountered by men).
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Cimicifuga racemosa is a member of the Ranunculaceae family and is a medicinal plant that has his... more Cimicifuga racemosa is a member of the Ranunculaceae family and is a medicinal plant that has historically had a diverse array of uses. Most recently however, this plant has received attention from the scientific research community for its actions on the female reproductive system, in particular on the vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause. This paper presents an exploration of this research and discusses the possible biochemical mechanisms which might be responsible for the actions associated with this medicinal plant. It is concluded that while the plant clearly has oestrogen mimetic activity, the exact biochemical pathway by which such activity occurs has yet to be clarified.
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Books by Fiona Ann Papps
Schizo: The Liberatory Potential of Madness, 2019
The term madness continues to perplex, to puzzle and to provoke. As such, questions about madness... more The term madness continues to perplex, to puzzle and to provoke. As such, questions about madness circulate around the place of madness across historical, cultural, and social boundaries. Regardless of the place that madness assumes in our world, madness can be understood as having the potential to liberate individuals from a society of control. Because madness can be understood not merely as one end of the binary of reason and unreason but as a form of art that allows us to transcend reason, it provides us with the ultimate liberation: to accept, know and understand the possibilities of a multiplicity of meanings and senses beyond reason, beyond the commonsense. And with such liberation, we gain the power not only to change our own lives, but society as a whole.
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Uploads
Conference Presentations by Fiona Ann Papps
Keywords: perfectionism, mindfulness-based self-efficacy, distress, procrastination, undergraduate students
Keywords: Therapeutic Presence, Hakomi Therapy, therapist personhood
Keywords: integrative psychology practice, CATs, qualitative research
Publications by Fiona Ann Papps
Although Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) are currently incorporated into psychotherapy, scepticism remains among professional and practicing psychologists about integration of CATs into professional practice. This research explored perceived benefits and barriers to integrating CATs into psychology practice with individual clients.
Materials and methods
We used a qualitative framework informed by Transpersonal Psychology to explore benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six practitioners trained or training in psychology and CATs and analysed verbatim transcripts using thematic analysis.
Results
Participants reported personal, career-based, and epistemological benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. Benefits were improved therapeutic relationships, specialisation options, and a time reflective psychology. Barriers included stigma and bias, regulations, and dominance of the scientist-practitioner model. Superordinate themes were holism, connectedness, and governance.
Conclusion
Results activate conversation about the importance of a transpersonally oriented integrative psychological practice for the 21st century.
Research needs to take a sex positive approach to the development of sexual health, with sexual intimacy, orientation, and eroticism understood as central to well-being. Embodiment is central to this project. This qualitative study explores how regular embodied practice might encourage the development of sexual potential.
Materials and methods
Four women who engaged in a regular embodied practice (e.g., yoga) participated in semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological framework.
Results
Three superordinate themes were identified that captured the participants’ journey toward the development of sexual potential: Other-validated Sexuality, Embodiment Practice, and Self-validated Sexuality.
Conclusion
Engagement in regular embodied practice encouraged the development of sexual potential in this sample of women by shifting focus from sexuality as experienced from the perspective of the other to the lived experience of sexuality as connected to their bodily states and enabling integration of the spirit and flesh.
Keywords: differentiation of self, embodiment, sex positivity, sexual potential, sexual subjectivity
Books by Fiona Ann Papps
Keywords: perfectionism, mindfulness-based self-efficacy, distress, procrastination, undergraduate students
Keywords: Therapeutic Presence, Hakomi Therapy, therapist personhood
Keywords: integrative psychology practice, CATs, qualitative research
Although Complementary and Alternative Therapies (CATs) are currently incorporated into psychotherapy, scepticism remains among professional and practicing psychologists about integration of CATs into professional practice. This research explored perceived benefits and barriers to integrating CATs into psychology practice with individual clients.
Materials and methods
We used a qualitative framework informed by Transpersonal Psychology to explore benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six practitioners trained or training in psychology and CATs and analysed verbatim transcripts using thematic analysis.
Results
Participants reported personal, career-based, and epistemological benefits and barriers to integrative psychology practice. Benefits were improved therapeutic relationships, specialisation options, and a time reflective psychology. Barriers included stigma and bias, regulations, and dominance of the scientist-practitioner model. Superordinate themes were holism, connectedness, and governance.
Conclusion
Results activate conversation about the importance of a transpersonally oriented integrative psychological practice for the 21st century.
Research needs to take a sex positive approach to the development of sexual health, with sexual intimacy, orientation, and eroticism understood as central to well-being. Embodiment is central to this project. This qualitative study explores how regular embodied practice might encourage the development of sexual potential.
Materials and methods
Four women who engaged in a regular embodied practice (e.g., yoga) participated in semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological framework.
Results
Three superordinate themes were identified that captured the participants’ journey toward the development of sexual potential: Other-validated Sexuality, Embodiment Practice, and Self-validated Sexuality.
Conclusion
Engagement in regular embodied practice encouraged the development of sexual potential in this sample of women by shifting focus from sexuality as experienced from the perspective of the other to the lived experience of sexuality as connected to their bodily states and enabling integration of the spirit and flesh.
Keywords: differentiation of self, embodiment, sex positivity, sexual potential, sexual subjectivity