Journal articles on the topic 'Drama – Therapeutic use'

Media psychologists have found no empirical support for catharsis as emotional venting or purgation. However, the concept persists in the humanities and everyday use, particularly in beliefs about the presumed effects of catharsis on well-being. This study adjusts the conceptualization of catharsis to include a cognitive aspect, i.e., the clarification of emotion, and examines the health outcomes of the combination of exposure to drama and drama-induced self-reflection. An experiment (N = 152) was conducted to compare the therapeutic effects of cinematic and reading-based dramas. In a mediation analysis, improvements in general health and lowered levels of depression were found for cinematic drama exposure with self-reflection, compared to reading-based drama exposure with self-reflection; this relationship was mediated by identification and emotional self-efficacy. Our results provide preliminary evidence for the therapeutic benefits of cinematic human drama through an altered conception of catharsis. Implications for using media to facilitate emotional fitness and meaningful entertainment are discussed.

This article presents a case study of how drawing paper can be integrated into a therapeutic drama stage. It will propose drawing in drama counseling as a new model of integral drama-based pedagogy. The article illustrates the connection of drawing, drama, and counseling. The model was developed by the author using the methods of integral drama-based pedagogy to counsel a Chinese primary school student who was angry about rejection and exclusion by his classmates. The study demonstrates how the student could use drawing paper to become his drama stage and how a student acted out a drama by drawing on that paper stage. The case study describes a method that could lead to a new therapeutic model in individual mental health counseling allowing for emotional catharsis, expression, and release. The article especially discusses the drawing in drama counseling model from Wu-wei of the Chinese culture.

This exploratory study examines the clinical use of digital resources in contemporary drama therapy by interviewing seven leading practitioners from around the world. The study surveys the digital resources utilized by both therapists and clients; how these resources are used; and how such use relates to drama therapeutic goals, values and techniques. Most notably, interviewees mentioned using Skype for therapy and/or supervision; the use of smartphones to cross the boundaries of the session (introduce or send out material); and the gaze of the camera as a fantasized audience. Interviewees commented on the therapeutic, dramatic, relational and ethical significance and impact of these practices, as well as on the ongoing digitization of society at large and its effects on their practice. The article further delineates the challenges evident in their experiences and proposes theoretical directions for further exploration.

Cluttering is a syndrome characterised by a wide range of symptoms. It always contains one or more key elements such as abnormally fast speech rate, greater than expected number of disfluencies, reduced intelligibility due to over-coarticulation and indistinct articulation, inappropriate brakes in speech pattern, monotone speech, disturbance in language planning, etc. Drama activities and storytelling share a number of features that allow spontaneous use during therapy process and detachment from real-time, concrete place or true identity, and therefore allow unprecedented freedom in choosing and creating speech-language expressions. The use of drama elements and techniques in cluttering therapy enables better focusing of the child during therapeutic process and better integration of acquired speech/language skills and knowledge. During therapy, we should be aware to correct the patient both in speech production and in the perception of his/her own speech. From the aspect of speech pathology, it is important how auditory and visual information during patient’s production influence on his/her overall perception of his/her own speech. For all those reasons, it is especially important to choose the appropriate story or event and to present it in a way that ensures good interaction during therapy. The presentation of dramatisation is the ideal tool for stimulation and development of different speech activities, with focus on fluency, correct articulation and other elements that make up values of spoken language. Drama techniques can be implemented trough drama activities or storytelling. When working with children, storytelling and drama techniques can be integrated and combined in multiple ways in order to provide robust and flexible transition toward a structured language.

The following paper is based on research into a dramatic model of group supervision that was also informed by ideas from Jungian psychology. Postgraduate dramatherapy students were given the opportunity to reflect, embody and dramatise what they considered to be ‘significant moments’ from their placement practice over a period of ten weeks. A semi-structured interview was then carried out with each of the nine participants. Analysis of their responses identified two emerging themes −1) a diversity of perspectives on the same session, where students who participated in the same work had different experiences and 2) working with the drama and the body in supervision offered the chance to reconnect with and investigate body-based experiences from practice. Through continuing to use the art form of drama in supervision (in particular role-playing the client), it seemed that qualities and nuances of the session and the therapeutic relationship could be explored. In particular, some of the unconscious communication between therapist and client seemed to be exposed through working with the body and drama.

The article reflects on the use of story and poetry as tools that facilitated a conversation related to uncomfortable historical conversations. It uses the performance of Krotoa, Eva van die Kaap as a starting point for unpacking the ways in which the play functioned as an extension of a drama therapy process on conversations about historical trauma. The Groote Kerk served as a symbolic meeting place as well as a way of thinking about therapeutic spaces for reparative dialogues.

This article presents an overview of research on the importance and effectiveness of art therapy methods in immigrant and refugee children. The literature on the subject indicates an increased risk of problems in the area of both mental and physical health in immigrants and their children. Refugees and their children are in a particularly difficult situation because, in addition to the challenges of adapting to a new place of settlement, they also experience trauma related to the country of origin. Among the therapeutic interactions and work with refugee and immigrant children, art therapy has a special place. The article adopts a broad definition of it, according to which it is “all forms and methods of therapeutic assistance in which various fields of art are used: painting, drawing, literature, music, dance, drama”. A review of studies examining the importance of art therapy in the context of improving psychological functioning in various age groups of immigrant and refugee children is presented. It turns out that the therapeutic impact with the use of art may be important in the context of coping for dealing with the problems experienced by these groups of people.

Existing research finds that how the client feels towards the therapist and the therapist towards the client will have a direct impact on the therapeutic relationship. Yet little has been written about how to understand and process the therapist‐client relationship in drama therapy. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to illustrate how a relational perspective and use of the Relational-Roles Assessment Protocol (R-RAP) may be implemented in the therapist’s embodied supervision and collaborative therapeutic processes. This article extends the existing R-RAP by providing how-to steps and case illustrations for applying the R-RAP to supervisory settings and in collaboration with clients. The article ends with emergent ideas and considerations for future applications.

The present study is aimed at introducing effective psychological instruments the authors have been using in a therapeutic interaction with people (children, adolescents, and youth) with different problems for a long time in the educational process. The main focus of the study is the metaphors and motivation of fear and anxiety the use of which in the process of providing psychological assistance to students can improve the quality of the educational process and educational influences on them since these tools allow students and teachers to safely (due to the metaphorical distance) address sensitive topics that often present the source of anxiety and fear in students while neglecting these topics often hinders the creation of a safe learning environment. Metaphors are actively used in a variety of psychotherapeutic approaches although very little attention is paid to their implementation in the educational environment. The goal of the present study is to disclose the opportunities of using metaphors of experiencing fear in working with university students. The proposed hypothesis states that the implementation of metaphors of experiencing fear in work with university students will contribute to the improvement of their self-assessment of subjective well-being. The study presents the analysis of the results of focus group studies conducted during experiments with the students of the “Drama Therapy” specialty at the Palacký University of Olomouc in the Czech Republic. With the use of the grounded theory method, it is demonstrated that work with metaphors of experiencing fear leads to becoming aware of self-support mechanisms, processing suppressed emotions, relaxation, inner liberation, and the activation of personal resources. These results open up prospects for the active use of metaphorization of various (including negative) experiences in providing psychological assistance to students.

Antonin Artaud was a distinguished French director, actor, theatre theorist and poet. Artaud's reputation in the theatre world is fundamentally due to his promotion of a series of "anti" theatre theories including, but not limited to, the "theatre of cruelty", which highlights the aesthetics of the therapeutic aspects of Artaud's theatre. The use of theatre as therapy for self-awareness and improvement of the individual's physical and mental condition is a value that has been in play since its emergence, and Artaud's influence on the development of theatre therapy is mentioned in the book Drama Therapy. It is conceivable that the healing presence of Artaud's theatre is obvious and essential. in this paper, we will take Artaud's theatre theory as the main body of discussion, and take three key words-"language, metaphysics, and cruelty" as the starting point to elaborate the healing properties of Artaud's theatre.

Abstract The creative arts therapies (CATs) are health care professions that involve the intentional and systematic use of the creative and expressive process of art making to optimize health and well-being. Visual arts, music, dance-movement, drama and poetry provide means of expression to help individuals understand, make sense of, and cope with life challenges within a therapeutic relationship. Older adults develop a better attitude toward CATs, as the creative processes position them as active productive contributors in their own communities, instead of “patients” or “clients”. In this sense, CATs encourage participation, and address the negative attitudes and stigma that are sometimes associated with mental health services. This symposium aims to present a diverse picture of studies on CATs for the aging population. Dr. Nisha Sajnani will present a systematic review of studies on CATs for older adults experiencing depression; Dr. Dovrat Harel will present findings from a qualitative study that explored poems written by poetry groups of men in residential care facilities; Dr. Shoshi Keisari will present an evidence-based model that integrates life-review and drama therapy; Silvia Piol, Talia Elkarif and Giada Mola will present a cross-cultural study that explored the experiences of Italian and Israeli participants during an online intervention that focused on the creation of digital photo-collages during COVID-19; Finally, Racheli Lital Gvili will present a study focused on intergenerational music intervention, as a vehicle to bridge the gap between grandparents and grandchildren, which was conducted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concept of systemic puppet therapy proposed by the authors is described. Therapeutic work with puppets is a promising method of psychological assistance as part of rehabilitation processes. Its insufficient use is due to its low structurality. The phased application of morphological analysis and synthesis made it possible to streamline the known and develop new effective methods of puppet therapy. The proposed systemic puppet therapy is an ordered polymodal set of static (lining on the table or on the floor of a puppet arranged set) and dynamic (presenting history on behalf of the puppet or staging a performance) methods, individual and group methods, face-to-face and remote forms of work, algorithms for their choice.The size, material and design of puppets, quantitative and qualitative composition of their therapeutic set are justified. Methods of puppet therapy of different degree of structuring and depth of exposure for patients with different level of intelligence are described, including category and scope of application of the technique, instructions to the patient, plan of results discussion,transformation procedure providing therapeutic effect. Implementing a polymodal approach, after working with puppets, patients painted, composed and analysed works of literature andart. The field of puppet therapy intersected with the fields of drama-, mask- and art therapy, body-oriented and verbal therapy, psychodrama and system arrangements. Puppet therapy content included work with feelings and emotions, with the process of communication and social roles, with verbal and non-verbal diagnostics and self-diagnostics, with personal features and a system of relationships,with values and needs, with existential problems of patients. Systemic puppet therapy is applicable to a wide range of nosological categories, therapeutic situations, physical condition, intellectual level, gender and age characteristics of patients.The conditions and examples of application of techniques in the National Medical Research Centre of Rehabilitation and Balneology with the tasks of correcting unproductive attitudes and the system of patient relations, correcting perceptions of oneself; capacity-building and resource search; development of a compliance installation and active participation in rehabilitation are given.

They should be provided with new means of communication that emerge with the changing times. They should be able to recognize the advantages of the features of different media so that they can use the media usefully. The author believes that the effective and appropriate use of media literacy for elementary school students with disabilities will result in a positive impact. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the actual level of media literacy among School-age language disorder with disabilities and explore ways to promote it in a therapeutic aspect. Of the 40 people, 4 who did not respond appropriately were excluded, resulting in 36 people. In order to find out the status of media literacy use by speech rehabilitation workers currently working in language clinical sites, an online survey using Google Docs and a paper questionnaire were administered to the subjects. For the purpose of the study, ‘A survey on the use of media literacy by school-age children with language disorder’, the purpose of this study, the direction of data use, and how to complete the questionnaire were explained. We investigated the status and status of media use among school-age children with language disorder. The media used by the target children for more than 3 hours were games, animation, and Youtube. Among media outlets, it can be seen that SNS usage time is less than 2hours. And it was found that the target children were using all media, including TV, Game, Animation, Youtube, SNS, Movie/Drama, and Internet portal search. School-age children with language disorder had excellent use skills related to media devices, such as searching task-related keywords, grasping various contents, and finding task information. On the other hand, the subjects showed a low ability to use online information to evaluate its rationality and fairness. Lastly, all of the target children had low scores on questions related to media production ability. In particular, by understanding the current status of school-age media literacy content, it will be possible to identify the advantages of the characteristics of various media and apply them usefully in treatment.

The United States war on drugs has, for decades now, systematically targeted communities of color. This sustained attack on people of color is accomplished through the use of whiteness. Recently, mainstream news media and elected officials have called for a “gentler war on drugs” to address the opioid epidemic. While some may see this as a welcome change, we take a more critical view. Specifically, we examine the role of White women in two popular television series that feature narratives of addiction as a gendered instance of “white drug exceptionalism.” To do this, we conducted a systematic analysis of a narrative television show, Law & Order, and a reality-based show, Intervention, using nine seasons over the same time period (2000–2010). In the procedural drama Law & Order, White women were featured prominently as part of the carceral state, both as police detectives and as prosecutors. Occasionally, White women are portrayed as victims of drug culture. On the rehabinspired Intervention, the majority of all characters are White, and the audience is invited to view drug use and recovery through a white lens that tells a particular kind of story about addiction. Both the carceral model promoted by Law & Order and the therapeutic model valorized by Intervention rely on particular notions of White womanhood mapped onto neoliberal regimes of citizenship that not only compel us all toward “health” and “sobriety” but also warp our collective imagination, so that we only see some drug users as worthy of a gentleness and compassion.

The article analyses actual ideas on the problem of pedagogical conflict management in universities with the help of art therapy resources. This area of scientific knowledge is designed to help the individual to realize their inner state by creating a visual image, metaphors, symbols, videos (art-therapeutic product). Art therapy is a development in the personality inherent in its creativity, which helps in solving conflicts. Through creative expression, art therapy actualizes personal resources for overcoming pedagogical conflicts and provides an output of accumulated energy (aggression), thus harmonizing the emotional sphere. Creating abstract images, the student finds answers too many topical questions, explores fears and barriers to communication. These images arise unconsciously and spontaneously, which is why anxiety and resistance to self-discovery decrease. This provides a diverse range of tools for dealing with the emotional sphere of the individual. Art therapy provides a specific answer to the global question "How to curb emotions in conflict?". In this context, the content, the historical aspect, the specifics of the use of art therapy in universities are analysed and the essence, characterization, dynamics of pedagogical conflicts are revealed. Types of art therapy in the management of pedagogical conflicts in universities are generalized. According to the questionnaire, students overcome the pedagogical conflicts with the following types of art therapy: music therapy (29%), phototherapy (25%), drawing therapy (12%), bibliotherapy (10%) (especially in electronic format), dance and movement therapy (7%), collage (4%) other types (13%). They are harmoniously complemented by combined logotherapy with the use of virtual communication of social networks, which, from the students' experience, provides a qualitative constructive result in solving pedagogical conflicts. Performance, drama, media-art therapy in the format of blogging on various online platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Telegram channels) are all separate modern types of art therapy that helps creative expression, self-affirmation, self-actualization and selfhealing of the personality.

Sneha kalpanais one of the unique and commonly prescribed Ayurvedic dosage form in day to day practice having increase potency, palatability, shelf life etc. Although lots of verities of Snehas are described in Ayurvedic texts, the most common amongst them are Taila & Ghrita kalpana. It is a pharmaceutical process to prepare oleaginous medicament from the substances like Kalka, Sneha Dravya and Drava Dravyain specific proportion by subjecting to unique heating pattern and duration, to fulfil certain parameters according to need of therapeutics (i.e. Mridu, Maddhya & Khar). Sneha Siddha (fat soluble) drugs have better pharmacokinetic action in comparison to other dosage forms, because the use of Ghrita as a base is presumably to extract or hold lipid soluble active ingredients from the herbal drugs used and these lipid soluble substances readily permeate into the bio membrane of cells due to its lipidnature. The conceptual study suggests that Shatapala Ghritais used to treat Jwaramainly Vata and Kapha Doshapredominant. Standardization is the process of developing and agreeing upon technical standards and provides numerical value which quantifies the parameter and thus denotes the quality of formulations.Murchanaperformed on Go-Ghritamakes it a better medium for the solubility of the drug and imparts all the specific properties to theGhritawhich can be used to increase the efficacy of the drugs. Hence, it can be inferred that the medicated Ghrita should be prepared by taking the Murchhita Ghritaas ingredient rather without Ghrita Murchhana. In so many Ghrita kalpanas, Shatapala Ghritais a ghee based Ayurvedic formulation described in Samhitasand various Rasa textswith different name and slightly changes in contents. It has broad indication such as enlarge spleen (splenomegaly), Vishamajwara, Mandaagni, Rajyakshma etc.

AbstractTreating perpetrators of aggressive behavior, like verbal aggression, intimidation, and bullying behavior resulting in aggressive incidents with others, is difficult. This group is often diagnosed with personality disorders and when legal measures applied, they are more often treated in a forensic setting for their problems. This article presents the case of a 54‐year‐old man, diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder, narcissistic and antisocial traits, mild depressive symptoms, and loss and grief, who has voluntarily had treatment in a forensic outpatient center to reduce aggression and change destructive patterns in relationships. Hating, judging, and self‐defeating were the main reasons why the patient found himself ending up in the same situation repeatedly. The client received individual drama therapy sessions. The drama therapeutic approach included schema therapeutic elements, such as schema mode work with cards, as well as roleplay, imagery (with rescripting), improvisation, and psycho drama elements. As a result of drama therapy, the client reported less (active) aggression, less aggression in his relationships (partners/children/friends), but also an increased level of loneliness, and mild depressive symptoms. The client was more in touch with his vulnerability and was able to behave in a more adequate healthy way in relationships. Although self‐esteem was still building up, there was a decrease of aggression and less conflict‐seeking behavior as a result. Risk assessment tools (FARE‐2 & HONOS) and Schema therapy scales (YSQ and SMI) were used pre‐ and posttreatment confirming the improvements. This case promotes the use of dramatherapy in forensic outpatient care to be valuable in lowering risk recidivism and changing deeply rooted behavioral patterns.

Purpose The language of participative theatre can be considered immersive in the treatment of its dialectics where participants engage fully with their dichotomies and value systems through physical and psychological exploratory processes as they commit themselves to transformation. Design/methodology/approach The use of drama as an intervention for challenging recurring mental models of oppressive narratives is used extensively in experiential psychotherapy and as a socio-psychological integrative tool. This experiential methodology allows for an organic development and expression of themes and motifs by encouraging a participant to develop a deeper awareness of how he/she interprets their identity and that of the community in which they function. Findings This paper aims to review the implications of applying drama-based interventions as positive psychotherapeutic devices to facilitate self-reflection and active-constructive responding in enabling a rendering of positive patterns of thought and purposeful movement towards emotional and physical well-being. Practical implications Research on the principles of positive psychology suggests that positive emotions lead to therapeutic change. Nurturing positive emotions which are immanent in spirituality, creativity and optimistic perseverance through autonomy and self-regulation enable individual potential to come to meaningful fruition. Originality/value The paper conceptualizes psychodrama as a framing technique in enabling reflexive action in identity transformation and well-being.

This article describes a meaningful therapeutic connection between music therapy and therapeutic theatre that has been done in Brazil. Through describing the relationship between these two fields, it aims to discuss another possibility of intervention in music therapy in the treatment of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Theatre performance can expand therapeutic action physically and subjectively beyond the music therapy room, helping clients expand their creative world and possibilities for social interactions. This practice cannot be characterized as psychodrama or drama therapy but rather the use of a specific music therapy process utilizing the theatre as a resource. In the case described, this resource incorporates and applied creative and therapeutic power to the treatment of a group comprised by eight young adults, most of whom have been diagnosed with ASD. The creation and performance of many musical plays have resulted collective creation and movement related to this group’s psychological, social and cultural needs. The proposal presented is based on a community music therapy perspective.

Abstract: This study describes a crisis-mode field training response project for drama therapy (DT) students in Israel who delivered tele-DT sessions for community-dwelling older adults during the first lockdown. We analyzed interviews with nine students and three field training coordinators thematically to better understand their experiences. This yielded three main themes that point to three trajectories: changes in students’ perceptions of DT for older adults, changes in students’ perceptions of the use of tele-DT over the telephone for older adults, and the value of training during an emergency. Overall, this project may serve as a model for future projects in which therapeutic training frameworks are called upon to address a community’s ongoing needs in times of crisis.

Maternal insightfulness or the capacity to see things from the child’s point of view, is considered to be a crucial construct for therapeutic change. In the present study, we aimed to implement the knowledge gleaned from the studies on attachment theory and maternal insightfulness into clinical practice to create an intervention program for mothers of children-at-risk due to inadequate parental care. We used drama therapy to “practice” maternal insightfulness in more “experiential” ways, because the use of creative expressive means may be accessible and effective for the target population of the study and help improve maternal care. We used a manualized 10-week drama therapy-group intervention, focusing on the core concepts of maternal insightfulness: insightfulness, separateness, complexity, and acceptance. We used various dramatic means to explore and experience these components of maternal insightfulness. Forty mothers of children-at-risk took part in eight groups of parental insightfulness drama therapy (PIDT). To evaluate the efficacy of the intervention, we used the Insightfulness Assessment (IA) interview, which produces 10 scales and a final classification of PI and non-PI. The Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) was used to evaluate a change in children’s behavior problems. The assessment took place at three time points: before the intervention (T1), right after the end of the intervention (T2), and 6 months following the intervention (T3). Results at T2 showed a significant improvement compared to T1 in some of the maternal insightfulness scales, but not in the maternal insightfulness categorical classification. At T3, there was a significant change in the classification of the mothers, from non-insightful to positively insightful. At T3, there was also a significant decline in the children’s externalized and general behavioral problems. The results of this study contribute to an evidence-based practice of using drama therapy in the treatment of mothers and children at risk.

AbstractPersonality disorders (PD) are based not just on maladaptive ideas about self and others, they also are grounded on embodied patterns of behaviors and reactions to interpersonal stressors. There is growing interest in working with the body and through the body so to address automatisms that lead to suffering and dysfunctional social action. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology: In‐Session the use of art and psychomotor therapies for these patients was explored by seven different clinical perspectives. Patients described presented with different PD and associated symptoms. The arts and psychomotor therapies deployed in personality disorder treatment are: (visual) art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, dance (movement) therapy, and psychomotor therapy making psychotherapeutic use of the different modalities: art, music, play, role‐play, performance, improvisation, dance, body awareness and movement. Interventions provide kinesthetic, sensory, perceptual, and symbolic opportunities to invite alternative modes of meaning‐making, accessing own needs and wishes, and communicating them to others. In this commentary we summarize some of the different topics covered by the clinical‐based papers, including working mechanisms of arts and psychomotor therapies, the importance of bottom‐up emotion regulation processes, how to treat trauma in the presence of a PD, how to integrate art and psychomotor therapies in a fine‐grained formulation and how to understand the process of change. Although there is a need for more empirical research, we hope this issue makes a solid case that clinicians can effectively include art and psychomotor therapies when treating the full range of PD.

Ayurvedic dosage forms hold a unique place in pharmaceutics and therapeutics. Sneha Kalpana is a group of products of medicated Taila and ghee. It is an Ayurvedic preparation of oleaginous medicine that is prepared with the use of Kalka (herbal paste of different parts of plants), Kwatha (specifically prepared decoction in accordance with Ayurvedic principles) or Drava Dravya (any other liquid such as milk, juices etc.) With suitable Sneha as base taken in specific proportion, both the ingredients are mixed and heated under a specific temperature to meet the desired therapeutic requirement. In the modern terminology, Sneha can be correlated with Lipids. Materials and Methods: Literature related to Sneha Kalpana and Lipids have been referred from various Ayurvedic texts, modern medical books, research papers and journals. Properties of Sneha Dravya, Sneha sources, phases of Sneha Kalpana, effect of Sneha Paka on therapeutics, Sneha dose, Anupana, shelf-life, lipids and their types have been explained and compiled from different sources. Conclusion: Sneha Kalpana is used to extract fat soluble active principles from drugs and also to increase permeability of drugs so that they can be absorbed easily through the cell membrane. It is the only dosage form that can be administered through all routes of body, viz., Nasya (nasal route), Tarpan (ocular route), Karnapooran (auditory route), Snehapan (oral route), Abhyanga (topical route), Basti (vaginal, urethral, anal route). In the Modern era, various dosage forms can be developed as novel drug delivery system (NDDS) utilizing the concept of Sneha Kalpana (Lipids) to increase the bio availability of drugs to show maximum therapeutic effect.

<p class="abstract">As the digital transformation of medical systems accelerates, digital therapeutics based on digital technology is attracting attention. Research on digital therapeutics has just begun, and the digital therapeutic market is growing internationally. For students to prepare for an intelligent information society, teachers must be prepared to lead and teach the principles of promising convergence technologies in the future. In this paper, we developed textbooks that can teach the principle of digital therapeutics (DTx) to elementary and secondary school teachers. Textbooks for elementary school teachers were designed with the principle of DTx for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and textbooks for middle school teachers were developed with DTx corresponding to digital dramas as the central theme. The textbooks were developed based on the analyze learners, state objectives, select methods, media, and materials, utilize media and materials, require learner participation, evaluate and revise (ASSURE) model and included teaching and learning plans, worksheets, and reading materials for immediate use in the school field. In addition, textbooks can be used in non-face-to-face classes by using customized online teaching tools. In order to confirm the effectiveness of the developed textbooks, we applied the textbooks to 33 Korean teachers. As a result, teachers’ teaching and learning competency and information teaching efficacy were improved in preparation for the intelligent information society of elementary and secondary school teachers. It was a statistically significant result.</p>

Humanized mouse models are valuable tools for investigating the human immune system in response to infection and injury. We have previously described the human immune system (HIS)-DRAGA mice (HLA-A2.HLA-DR4.Rag1KO.IL-2RgKO.NOD) generated by infusion of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-matched, human hematopoietic stem cells from umbilical cord blood. By reconstituting human cells, the HIS-DRAGA mouse model has been utilized as a “surrogate in vivo human model” for infectious diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Influenza, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), scrub typhus, and malaria. This humanized mouse model bypasses ethical concerns about the use of fetal tissues for the humanization of laboratory animals. Here in, we demonstrate the presence of human microglia and T cells in the brain of HIS-DRAGA mice. Microglia are brain-resident macrophages that play pivotal roles against pathogens and cerebral damage, whereas the brain-resident T cells provide surveillance and defense against infections. Our findings suggest that the HIS-DRAGA mouse model offers unique advantages for studying the functions of human microglia and T cells in the brain during infections, degenerative disorders, tumors, and trauma, as well as for testing therapeutics in these pathological conditions.

Abstract Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a substantial global threat to human health and development. In addition to death and disability, the cost of AMR to the global economy is significant. Prolonged illness results in longer hospital stays and the need for more expensive medicines and financial challenges for those impacted. Therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) may offer prevention and control measures against microbial infections without the use of antibiotics. In this study, we developed human antibodies (serum and mAbs) against components of staphylococcus aureus (SA) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and evaluated their capabilities. Methods Humanized DRAGA mice were immunized with 20μg of a combination vaccine comprised of Ultrapure peptidoglycan (PGN, derived from SA) and TB Pep01 peptide (targeting MTB HSP16.3), formulated with AddaVax™ adjuvant. Serum antibody responses to PGN, TB Pep01, and various whole bacteria were analyzed using ELISA. Mice with high antisera titers was selected for hybridoma production. Hybridomas were screened for binding to PGN, TB Pep01, and whole bacteria using ELISA and high producing clones were selected for monoclonal antibody development. Results Early and enhanced serum IgM responses to PGN were observed by Day-21, while IgG responses to PGN were detected at Day-35. Antisera binding to TB Pep01 was demonstrated, albeit lower than PGN. In addition, antisera recognition of whole bacteria was shown. Hybridoma clones (IgM) targeting PGN were identified for monoclonal antibody production. Conclusion Hybridomas developed in humanized DRAGA mice immunized with PGN and TBPep01 bound to the immunogens and showed broad recognition of various microbes. Ongoing studies to evaluate mAb functional activity against various microbes to include mycobacteria and staphylococci are in progress. IgM mAbs that recognize and whole bacteria, and opsonize and kill multiple bacterial strains, may provide an effective antimicrobial strategy for treatment of drug resistant bacterial infections. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

Welcome to this special issue titled “Women’s Life and Trauma in Individual and Collective Narratives” of the East European Journal of Psycholinguistics. Narratives, both oral and written, play an important role in helping the individual make sense of their lives and the world they live in. Narrative research is focused on the elicitation and interpretation of people’s narrative accounts of their lived experiences. In recent decades, there has been an enormous growth in the use of narrative inquiry and narrative-based research with diverse theoretical orientations and methodologies grounded in various disciplines of the social sciences and humanities including anthropology, psychology, psycholinguistics, sociology, history and literary studies as well as in medicine and clinical research (Chase, 2005, 2011; Holstein & Gubrium, 2012; Kleinman, 1988; Charon, 2006). According to Chase (2005), most narrative researchers treat narrative as a distinctive form of discourse that shapes meaning through the concerted ordering of story material with speakers providing particular understandings of personal action and experiences by organizing events and objects into meaningful patterns, connecting subjects, actions, events, and their consequences over time. As narrative research has become increasingly complex and rigorous, this special issue was planned to gain insight into the narrative research being conducted by international scholars with a focus on women and trauma, broadly defined. The call for papers attracted many high-quality submissions from authors representing various countries. The special issue contains a collection of ten papers, each providing a unique perspective and understanding of trauma in women’s lives and its reflection in narrative inquiry. Just as women’s voices are varied, so too are the narratives presented. Women are represented as narrators; as subjects of the narration and as characters in the narrative. The authors also present a broad spectrum of approaches to the empirical analysis of narrative material ranging from social media content, life stories, clinical and educational interventions, and literary works. In the first paper of the special issue, Bifulco’s article seeks to explore links between selected investigative child abuse interview accounts using narratives elicited through the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) clinical interview guide and analyzed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Counts (LIWC) text analysis programme (Francis & Pennebaker, 1992) which identifies characteristics of speech associated with trauma. Her paper examines the potential of combining these approaches to systematically analyze and interpret trauma narratives. In the second article, the contextual backdrop for the narratives is the COVID-19 pandemic. In her article, Kostruba analyzes narratives collected online to gain an understanding of how specific social restrictions, stay-at-home orders particular to the pandemic affected all aspects of life including psychological well-being. Her study also used LIWC psycholinguistic analysis of these current pandemic narratives to identify markers of traumatic experience and identify possible gender differences in the ways women experienced (and continue to experience) the COVID-19 global pandemic. The importance of social and cultural context is apparent in the next article which draws on literary texts as the source material. For Aguilar Lopez & Miguel Borge, the drama The Gold Ribbon by María Manuela Reina, written and situated in the 1980s, a decade that for Spain implied a more obvious abandonment of the most traditional conceptions of the role of women, serves as the unit of analysis. The authors describe the divergent worldview models of the older versus younger characters, reflecting both a generational and gender divide around topics such as success, infidelity, and matrimony. Aguilar Lopez & Miguel Borge aim to identify if, how and why the dramatist is able to reach out to the general public through her play to create social awareness and give voice to the women who rebelled against the traditional social and gender roles. The next paper in this series focuses on the emerging field of post-traumatic growth (PTG) defined by Tedeschi & Calhoun (2004) as a “positive psychological change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging circumstances.” Drawing on therapeutic narratives from women participating in a psychotherapy workshop, Lushyn & Sukhenko utilize dialectical understanding and discourse analysis to identify and assess the women’s descriptions and definitions associated with post-traumatic development and growth with a further attempt to provide practical implications for psychological practice. A set of the articles (#5-7) in this special issue target traumas associated with transition, be it gender transition or women and girls transitioning to another life phase (adolescence; menopause) and the emotional, social and cultural experiences connected to these transitions. Martynyuk’s article combines methodological tools of conceptual metaphor theory and narrative psychology with theoretical assumptions of the intersubjective psycholinguistic approach to meaning making and exploring transgender transition narrative metaphors. Her dataset consists of 16 TED talks videos by transgender individuals discussing their experiences of transitioning which provide Martynyuk the opportunity to conduct a narrative and visual analysis of the metaphors that are given coherence by the textual, social, cultural, and historical context of the narrative, as well as by the interactive situational context reflected in the video recordings. The article by Nair & George puts the menopausal woman as the focus of the narrative inquiry. The authors interviewed a group of male spouses about their knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about perimenopause and their experiences associated with the physical, psychological, and social changes occurring in the lives of their wives. The menopausal transition can be a period of stress, even lead to trauma if left unnoticed or unsupported. Nair & George used qualitative data software to analyze the interview data and thematic analysis to arrive at themes which could inform programs which could raise awareness about the perimenopausal and menopausal life stages of women to help both partners understand and cope with the individual, family and societal changes which occur during this life period. On the opposite end of the life spectrum, Shirazi et al, investigate whether narrative-based interventions in the school context can increase children’s emotional intelligence (EI) and whether oral and written narrative elements have a different effect on students' EI. The underlying premise is that children share their emotional experiences through narratives and stories and high-quality narratives are beneficial for children’s wellbeing and development. The research project was conducted with almost one hundred 12-year old Iranian girls who attend Yasuj city schools in southwestern Iran. Results highlighted the importance of oral and combined oral/written language modes and their merged narrative elements on the development of emotional intelligence, particularly for children who are in the language minority. The final set of articles (#8-10) make use of nostalgia and intergenerational narratives of historical trauma. Todorova & Padareva-Ilieva apply an interdisciplinary and multimodal approach to describe and classify written messages and images collected through social media in Bulgaria during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Findings revealed that much of the communications through social media during that period was largely nostalgic and that the main role of the Facebook social media platform is to unite people in times of isolation, to raise their spirit and save them from the traumatic experience they may encounter during a global health crisis. Zaporozhets & Stodolinska analyze the concept of border through a content analysis of the Little House children’s book series which are narrated from the lived experiences and perspective of the author Laura Ingalls Wilder based on her childhood in a settler and pioneer family in the United States in the late 1800s. The territorial and metaphorical borders depicted in Wilder’s works are interwoven and influenced by her reminiscences of historical, biographical, gender, and psychological peculiarities. This journal issue concludes with a cross-cultural analysis of narrative reflections associated with two 20th century genocides: the Holodomor in Ukraine (1932-1933), and the Holocaust (1939-1944). Zasiekina et al recruited second (“mothers”) and third (“daughters”) generations of Holodomor and Holocaust descendants in Ukraine and Israel to share their family narratives and experiences of the genocide. The study applied inductive thematic analyses that progressed from description to interpretation, and showed the centrality of five emerging themes in both mothers’ and daughters’ narratives. The findings of their research have important implications for future practice of creating narratives with survivors of massive trauma and their offspring and stress the importance of creating a traumatic narrative to aid the healing process resulting from the transmission of historical and collective trauma and provides direction for clinical providers in designing treatment plans for individuals with genocide in their life history. In summary, the articles that make up this special journal issue reinforce the view that narrative research and inquiry provides researchers and clinicians multiple lenses and approaches through which to analyze and interpret narrative data. The subsequent results of each narrative analysis can give voice to a broad range of women and girls, while at the same time guide policy and inform educational interventions and therapeutic programs.

Let’s begin with the paradox of disavowal. On the one hand, we all “know” that television is hypnotic. On the other hand, we tend to imagine that we each – perhaps alone – remain impervious to the blandishments it murmurs as we watch it, often without being fully aware we are doing so. One of the many things contributing to the invention of television, according to Stefan Andriopoulos, was “spiritualist research into the psychic television of somnambulist mediums” (618). His archaeology of the technological medium of television uncovers a reciprocal relation (or “circular causality”) between the new technology and contemporary cultural discourses such that “while spiritualism serves as a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for the invention of electrical television, the emerging technology simultaneously fulfils the very same function for spiritualist research on psychic telesight” (618). Television and the occult seem to be inextricably linked from the outset, so that perhaps the claims of some schizophrenics: that television addresses them personally and importunes them with suggestions, are not so outlandish as one might at first think. Nor, perhaps, are they merely a delusion able to be safely located in the pathology of the other. In fact it could be argued, as Laurent Gerbereau does, that television, as distinct from film with its historical imbrication of crowds with the image, aims to create the illusion of intimacy, as if the viewer were the only person watching and were being addressed directly by the medium. With two exceptions, the illusion of direct contact is sustained by the exclusion of crowds from the image. The first is major sporting events, which people gather to watch on large screens or in bars (which Gerbereau notes) and where, I think, the experience of the crowd requires amplification of itself, or parts of itself, by the large screen images. The second is the more recent advent of reality TV in which contestants’ fates are arbitrated by a public of voting viewers. This illusion of direct contact is facilitated by the fact that viewing actually does take place more and more in individual isolation as the number of TV sets in households multiplies. And it is true in spite of the growth in what Anna McCarthy has called “ambient television”, the television of waiting rooms, airport terminals and bars, which enables us to be alone with the illusion of company, without the demands that being in company might potentially make. Television can be understood as a form of refuge from the crowd. Like the crowd, it offers anonymity and the voyeuristic pleasures of seeing without being seen. But it requires no special skill (for example, of negotiating movement in a crowd) and it seems, on the face of things, to obviate the risk that individuals will themselves become objects of observation. (This, however, is an illusion, given the array of practices, like data-mining, that aim to make new segments of the market visible.) It also enables avoidance of physical contact with others – the risks of being bumped and jostled that so preoccupied many of the early commentators on modernity. New mobile technologies extend the televisual illusion of direct address. You can receive confidences from a friend on the mobile phone, but you can also receive a lot of spam which addresses “you” in an equally intimate mode. You are, of course, not yourself under these conditions, but potentially a member of a consuming public, as the availability of many visual subscription services for 3G phones, including televisually-derived ones like one-minute soap episodes, makes clear. Television cathects (in Virginia Nightingale’s suggestive psychoanalytically-inflected usage) aspects of the human in order to function, and I have argued elsewhere that what it primarily cathects is human affect (Gibbs). We could think of this investment of media in the human body in a number of different ways: in the terms suggested by Mark Seltzer when he writes of the “miscegenation” of bodies and machines, of nature and culture; or we could adapt Eugene Hacker’s term “biomediation”; or again Bolter and Grusin’s concept of “remediation”, which have the advantage of moving beyond earlier models of the cyborg (such as Donna Haraway’s), in the way they describe how media repurposes the human (Angel and Gibbs). Here I want to focus on the media’s capture of human attention. This returns me to the question of television as a hypnotic medium. But on the way there we need to take one short detour. This involves Julian Jaynes’s remarkable book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind published in 1976 and only since the late nineties beginning to be rescued by its uptake by the likes of Daniel Dennett and Antonio Damasio from its early reception as an intriguing but highly eccentric text. The book proposes taking literally the fact that in The Iliad the gods speak directly to the characters, admonishing them to perform certain acts. In this way, the voices of the gods seem to replace the kind of psychic interiority with which we are familiar. Jaynes argues that people once did actually hallucinate these voices and visions. Consciousness comes into being relatively recently in human history as these voices are internalised and recognised as the formation of the intentions of an “analogue I” – a process Jaynes suggests may have happened quite suddenly, and which involves the forging of closer relations between the two hemispheres of the brain. What drives this is the need for the more diffuse kinds of control enabled by relative individual autonomy, as social organisations become larger and their purposes more complex. Jaynes views some forms of consciousness (those which, like hypnosis, the creation of imaginary friends in childhood, religious ecstasy, or, arguably, creative states, involve a degree of dissociation) as atavistic vestiges of the bicameral state. While he insists that the hypnotic state is quite distinct from everyday experiences, such as being so lost in television that you don’t hear someone talking to you, other writers on hypnosis take the contrary view. So does Dennett, who wants to argue that the voices of the gods needn’t have been actually hallucinated in quite the way Jaynes suggests. He proposes that advertising jingles that get “on the brain”, and any admonitions that have a superegoic force, may also be contemporary forms of the voices of the gods. So we arrive, again, from a quite different avenue of approach, at the idea of television as a hypnotic medium, one that conscripts a human capacity for dissociation. It is perhaps worth noting at this point that, while we tend to associate dissociation with dysfunction, with splitting (in the psychoanalytic sense) and trauma, Jaynes sees it in far more positive terms – at least when it is accompanied by certain kinds of voices. He characterises hypnosis, for example, as a “supererogatory enabler” (379) militated against by consciousness which, to save us from our impulses, creates around us “a buzzing cloud of whys and wherefores”, so that “we know too much to command ourselves very far” [into the kinds of superhuman feats made possible with the assistance of the gods] (402). Most writers on hypnosis speak of the necessity for inducing the hypnotic state, and I want to suggest that televisual “flow” performs this function continuously, even though, as Jane Feuer and Margaret Morse respectively have suggested, television is designed for intermittent spectatorship and is often actually watched in states of distraction. While the interactivity of the internet and the mobile phone militate against this, they do not altogether vitiate it, especially as video and animation are increasingly appearing on these media. The screen has ways of getting your attention by activating the orienting reflexes with sudden noises, changes of scene, cuts, edits, zooms and pans. These reflexes form the basis of what Silvan Tomkins calls the surprise-startle affect which alerts us to a new state of affairs, and technologies of the screen constantly reactivate them (Kubey and Csikszentmihalyi). No wonder, given the need for surprise, that sensationalism is such a well-used technique. While some writers (like S. Elizabeth Bird) link this to the production of “human interest” which creates a focus for everyday talk about news and current affairs that might otherwise be unengaging, I want to focus on the less rational aspects of sensationalism. Televisual sensationalism, which has its origins in the gothic, includes the supernatural, though this may appear as frequently in the guise of laughter as in horror, even if this laughter is sometimes uneasy or ambivalent. Hypnotism as entertainment might also qualify as sensationalism in this sense. A quick survey of Websites about hypnosis on television reveals that stage hypnosis appeared on American television as least as early as 1949, when, for 10 minutes after the CBS evening news on Friday nights, Dr Franz Polgar would demonstrate his hypnotic technique on members of the audience. It has featured as a frequent trope in mystery and suspense genres from at least as early as 1959, and in sitcoms, drama series, comedy sketches and documentaries since at least 1953. If on one level we might interpret this as television simply making use of what has been – and to some extent continues to be – popular as live entertainment, at another we might view it as television’s mise-en-abyme: the presentation of its own communicational models and anti-models for the reception of commands by voices. It’s ironic, then, that the BBC Editorial Guidelines treat hypnotism as a special kind of program rather than a feature of the medium and – in conformity with the Hypnotism Act 1952 – require that demonstrations of public hypnotism be licensed and authorised by a “senior editorial figure”. And the guideline on “Images of Very Brief Duration” (which follows the wording of the Agreement associated with the BBC’s Charter) states that programs should not “include any technical device which, by using images of very brief duration or by any other means, exploits the possibility of conveying a message to, or otherwise influencing the minds of, persons watching or listening to the programmes without their being aware, or fully aware, of what has occurred”. Finally, though, if psychoanalysis is, as Borch-Jacobsen suggests, one more chapter in the history of trance (in spite of its apparent rejection of techniques of suggestion as it attempts to establish its scientific and therapeutic credentials), then perhaps screen-based technologies should be taken seriously as another. What this might suggest about the constitution of belief requires further investigation – especially under conditions in which the pervasiveness of media and its potentially addictive qualities efface the boundary that usually demarcates the time and place of trance as ritual. Such an investigation may just possibly have some bearing on paradoxes such as the one Lyn Spigel identifies in relation to her observation that while the scripting of the “grand narratives of national unity that sprang up after 9/11 were for many people more performative than sincere”, Americans were nevertheless compelled to perform belief in these myths (or be qualified somehow as a bad American) and, further, may have ended by believing their own performances. References Andriopoulis, Stefan. “Psychic Television.” Critical Inquiry 31.3 (2005): 618-38. Angel, Maria, and Anna Gibbs. “Media, Affect and the Face: Biomediation and the Political Scene.” Forthcoming in Southern Review: Communication, Politics and Culture Special Issue 38.3 (2005). Bird, S. Elizabeth. “News We Can Use: An Audience Perspective on the Tabloidisation of News in the United States.” In Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross, eds., Critical Readings: Media and Audiences. Maidenhead: Open UP, 2003. 65-86. Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin. Remediation. Cambridge Mass., MIT P, 1999. Borch-Jacobsen, Mikkel. The Emotional Tie. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1992. Feuer, Jane. “The Concept of Live Television: Ontology as Ideology.” In Regarding Television: Critical Approaches – An Anthology. 1983. Gerbereau, Laurent. “Samples or Symbols? The Role of Crowds and the Public on Television.” L’image 1 (1995): 97-123. Gibbs, Anna. “Disaffected.” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 16.3 (2002): 335-41. Jaynes, Julian. The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Kubey, Richard, and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. “Television Addiction.” http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/drugs/television_addiction.htm>. McCarthy, Anna. Ambient Television: Visual Culture and Public Space. Durham: Duke UP, 2001. Morse, Margaret. “An Ontology of Everyday Distraction: The Freeway, The Mall and Television.” In Patricia Mellencamp, ed., Logics of Television. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 1990. 193-221. Nightingale, Virginia. “Are Media Cyborgs?” In Angel Gordo-Lopez and Ian Parker, eds., Cyberpsychology. London: Macmillan, 1999. Selzer, Mark. Bodies and Machines. New York and London: Routledge, 1992. Tomkins, Silvan S. Affect, Imagery, Consciousness. New York: Springer, 1962. Spigel, Lyn. “Entertainment Wars: Television Culture after 9/11.” American Quarterly 56.2 (2004): 235-70. Thacker, Eugene. “What Is Biomedia.” Configurations 11 (2003): 47-79. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Gibbs, Anna. "In Thrall: Affect Contagion and the Bio-Energetics of Media." M/C Journal 8.6 (2005). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0512/10-gibbs.php>. APA Style Gibbs, A. (Dec. 2005) "In Thrall: Affect Contagion and the Bio-Energetics of Media," M/C Journal, 8(6). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0512/10-gibbs.php>.

Fig. 1: Photo by Miguel Orós, from unsplash.comFeminism has stalled at the bedroom door. In the post-#metoo era, more than ever, we need intimate civil rights in our relationships to counter the worrisome prevailing trends: Intimate partner violence. Interpersonal abuse. Date rape. Sexual harassment. Online harassment. Bullying. Rage. Sexual Assault. Abusive relationships. Revenge porn. There’s a lot of damage done when we get up close and personal. In the 21st century, we have come far in terms of equality and respect between the genders, so there’s a lot to celebrate. We also note that the Australian government has stepped in recently with the theme ‘Keeping Australians safe and secure’, by pledging $78 million to combat domestic violence, much of which takes place behind closed doors (Morrison 2019). Herein lies the issue: while governments legislate to protect victims of domestic violence — out of the public eye, private behaviours cannot be closely monitored, and the lack of social enforcement of these laws threatens the safety of intimate relationships. Rather, individuals are left to their own devices. We outline here a guideline for intimate civility, an individually-embraced code of conduct that could guide interpersonal dynamics within the intimate space of relationships. Civility does not traditionally ‘belong’ in our most intimate relationships. Rather, it’s been presumed, even idealised, that intimacy in our personal lives transcends the need for public values to govern relationships between/among men and women (i.e., that romantic love is all you need). Civility developed as a public, gendered concept. Historically, a man’s home – and indeed, his partner – became his dominion, promoting hegemonic constructions of masculinity, and values that reflect competition, conquest, entitlement and ownership. Moreover, intimate relationships located in the private domain can also be considered for/by both men and women a retreat, a bastion against, or excluded from the controls and demands of the public or ‘polis’ - thus from the public requirement for civility, further enabling its breakdown. The feminist political theorist Carole Pateman situated this historical separation as an inheritance of Hegel’s double dilemma: first, a class division between civil society and the state (between the economic man/woman, or private enterprise and public power) and second, a patriarchal division between the private family (and intimate relationships) and civil society/the state. The private location, she argues, is “an association constituted by ties of love, blood … subjection and particularity” rather than the public sphere, “an association of free and equal individuals” (225). In Hegel’s dilemma, personal liberty is a dualism, only constructed in relation to a governed, public (patriarchal) state. Alternately, Carter depicts civility as a shared moral good, where civility arises not only because of concern over consequences, but also demonstrates our intrinsic moral obligation to respect people in general. This approach subsequently challenges our freedom to carry out private, uncivil acts within a truly civil society.Challenges to Gender EthicsHow can we respond to this challenge in gender ethics? Intimate civility is a term coined by Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Abigail Bray. It came out of their discussions proposing “a new poetics of romance” which called for rewritten codes of interpersonal conduct, an “entente cordiale; a cordial truce to end the sex wars”. Reid Boyd and Bray go further:Politeness is personal and political. We reclaim courtesy as applied sexual and social ethics, an interpersonal, intimate ethics, respectful and tolerant of difference. Gender ethics must be addressed, for they have global social and cultural ramifications that we should not underestimate. (xx)As researchers, we started to explore the idea of intimate civility in interpersonal violence, developing an analysis using social construction and attachment theory simultaneously. In defining the term, we soon realised the concept had wider applications that could change how we think about our most intimate relationships – and how we behave in them. Conceptualising intimate civility involves imagining rights and responsibilities within the private sphere, whether or not loving, familial and natural. Intimate civility can operate through an individually embraced code of conduct to guide interpersonal dynamics within the intimate space of relationships.Gringart, Grobbelaar, and Bender explored the concept of intimate civility by investigating women’s perspectives on what may harmonise their intimate relationships. Women’s most basic desires included safety, equality and respect in the bedroom. In other words, intimate civility is an enactment of human-rights, the embodiment of regard for another human being, insofar as it is a form of ensuring physical and mental integrity, life, safety and protection of all beings. Thus, if intimate civility existed as a core facet of each individual’s self-concept, the manifestation of intimate partner violence ideally would not occur. Rage, from an intimate civility perspective, rips through any civil response and generates misconduct towards another. When we hold respect for others as equal moral beings, civility is key to contain conflicts, which prevents the escalation of disagreements into rage. Intimate civility proposes that civility becomes the baseline behaviour that would be reciprocated between two individuals within the private domain of intimate relationships. Following this notion, intimate civility is the foremost casualty in many relationships characterised by intimate partner violence. The current criminalisation of intimate partner violence leaves unexplored the previously privatised property of the relational – including the inheritance of centuries of control of women’s bodies and sexuality – and how far, in this domain, notions of civility might liberate and/or oppress. The feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray argues that these kinds of ‘sexuate rights’ must apply to both men and women and the reality of their needs and desires. Equality, she argued, could not be achieved without a rewriting of the rights and obligations of each sex, qua different, in social rights and obligations (Yan).Synonyms for intimacy include, amongst others, closeness, attachment, togetherness, warmth, mutual affection, familiarity and privacy. Indirectly, sexual relations are also often synonymous with intimate relationships. However, sex is not intimacy, as both sex and intimacy both exist without the other. Bowlby proposed that throughout our lives we are attentive to the responsiveness and the availability of those that we are attached to, and suggested that “intimate attachments to other human beings are the hub around which a person’s life revolves, not only when he is an infant or a toddler, but throughout his adolescence and his years of maturity as well, and on into old age” (442). Although love is not by nature reciprocal, in intimacy we seek reciprocity – to love one another at the same time in a shared form of commitment. Kierkegaard hypothesised that genuine love is witnessed by one continuing to love another after their death as it obviates any doubt that the beloved was loved and was not merely instrumental (Soble).Intimate Civility as a Starting PointCivility includes qualities such as trust, duty, morality, sacrifice, self-restraint, respect, and fairness; a common standard allowing individuals to work, live and associate together. Intimacy encourages caring, loyalty, empathy, honesty, and self-knowledge. Thus, intimate civility should begin with those closest to us; being civil in our most intimate relationships. It advocates the genuine use of terms of endearment, not terms of abuse. We can only develop qualities such as morality and empathy, crucial for intimate relationships, if we have experienced secure, intimate relationships. Individuals reared in homes devoid of intimate civility will be challenged to identify and promote the interest or wellbeing of their intimate counterparts, and have to seek outside help to learn these skills: it is a learnt behaviour, both at an interpersonal and societal level. Individuals whose parents were insensitive to their childhood needs, and were unable to perceive, interpret and respond appropriately to their subtle communications, signals, wishes and mood will be flailing in this interpersonal skill (Holmes and Slade). Similarly, the individual’s inclusion in a civil society will only be achieved if their surrounding environment promotes and values virtues such as compassion, fairness and cooperation. This may be a challenging task. We envisage intimate civility as a starting point. It provides a focus to discuss and explore civil rights, obligations and responsibilities, between and among women and men in their personal relationships. As stated above, intimate civility begins with one's relationship with oneself and the closest relationships in the home, and hopefully reaches outwards to all kinds of relationships, including same sex, transgender, and other roles within non-specific gender assignment. Therefore, exploring the concept of intimate civility has applications in personal therapy, family counselling centres and relationship counselling environments, or schools in sexual education, or in universities promoting student safety. For example, the 2019 “Change the Course” report was recently released to augment Universities Australia’s 2016 campaign that raised awareness on sexual assault on campus. While it is still under development, we envision that intimate civility decalogue outlined here could become a checklist to assist in promoting awareness regarding abuse of power and gender roles. A recent example of cultural reframing of gender and power in intimate relationships is the Australian Government’s 2018 Respect campaign against gender violence. These recent campaigns promote awareness that intimate civility is integrated with a more functional society.These campaigns, as the images demonstrate, aim at quantifying connections between interactions on an intimate scale in individual lives, and their impacts in shaping civil society in the arena of gender violence. They highlight the elasticity of the bonds between intimate life and civil society and our collective responsibility as citizens for reworking both the gendered and personal civility. Fig. 2: Photo by Tyler Nix: Hands Spelling Out LOVE, from unsplash.comThe Decalogue of Intimate Civility Overall, police reports of domestic violence are heavily skewed towards male on female, but this is not always the case. The Australian government recently reported that “1 in 6 Australian women and 1 in 16 men have been subjected, since the age of 15, to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous cohabiting partner” (Australian Institutes of Health and Welfare). Rather than reiterating the numbers, we envisage the decalogue (below) as a checklist of concepts designed to discuss and explore rights, obligations and responsibilities, between and among both partners in their intimate relationships. As such, this decalogue forms a basis for conversation. Intimate civility involves a relationship with these ten qualities, with ourselves, and each other.1) Intimate civility is personal and political. Conceptualising intimate civility involves imagining rights and responsibilities within the private sphere. It is not an impingement on individual liberty or privacy but a guarantor of it. Civil society requires us not to defend private infringements of inter-personal respect. Private behaviours are both intimate in their performance and the springboard for social norms. In Geoffrey Rush’s recent defamation case his defence relied not on denying claims he repeatedly touched his fellow actor’s genitalia during their stage performance in a specific scene, despite her requests to him that he stop, but rather on how newspaper reporting of her statements made him out to be a “sexual pervert”, reflecting the complex link between this ‘private’ interaction between two people and its very public exposé (Wells). 2) Intimate civility is an enactment of a civil right, insofar as it is a form of ensuring physical and mental integrity, life, safety and protection. Intimate civility should begin with those closest to us. An example of this ethic at work is the widening scope of criminalisation of intimate partner abuse to include all forms of abusive interactions between people. Stalking and the pre-cursors to physical violence such as controlling behaviours, online bullying or any actions used to instil fear or insecurity in a partner, are accorded legal sanctions. 3) Intimate civility is polite. Politeness is more than manners. It relates to our public codes of conduct, to behaviours and laws befitting every civilian of the ‘polis’. It includes the many acts of politeness that are required behind closed doors and the recognition that this is the place from which public civility emerges. For example, the modern parent may hope that what they sanction as “polite” behaviour between siblings at home might then become generalised by the child into their public habits and later moral expectations as adults. In an ideal society, the micro-politics of family life become the blueprint for moral development for adult expectations about personal conduct in intimate and public life.4) Intimate civility is equitable. It follows Luce Irigaray’s call for ‘sexuate rights’ designed to apply to men and women and the reality of their needs and desires, in a rewriting of the social rights and obligations of each sex (Yan and Irigaray). Intimate civility extends this notion of rights to include all those involved in personal relations. This principle is alive within systemic family therapy which assumes that while not all members of the family system are always able to exert equal impacts or influence, they each in principle are interdependent participants influencing the system as a whole (Dallos and Draper). 5) Intimate civility is dialectical. The separation of intimacy and civility in Western society and thought is itself a dualism that rests upon other dualisms: public/private, constructed/natural, male/female, rational/emotional, civil/criminal, individual/social, victim/oppressor. Romantic love is not a natural state or concept, and does not help us to develop safe governance in the world of intimate relationships. Instead, we envisage intimate civility – and our relationships – as dynamic, dialectical, discursive and interactive, above and beyond dualism. Just as individuals do not assume that consent for sexual activity negotiated in one partnership under a set of particular conditions, is consent to sexual activity in all partnerships in any conditions. So, dialectics of intimate civility raises the expectation that what occurs in interpersonal relationships is worked out incrementally, between people over time and particular to their situation and experiences. 6) Intimate civility is humane. It can be situated in what Julia Kristeva refers to as the new humanism, emerging (and much needed) today. “This new humanism, interaction with others – all the others – socially marginalised, racially discriminated, politically, sexually, biologically or psychically persecuted others” (Kristeva, 2016: 64) is only possible if we immerse ourselves in the imaginary, in the experience of ‘the other’. Intimate civility takes on a global meaning when human rights action groups such as Amnesty International address the concerns of individuals to make a social difference. Such organisations develop globally-based digital platforms for interested individuals to become active about shared social concerns, understanding that the new humanism ethic works within and between individuals and can be harnessed for change.7) Intimate civility is empathic. It invites us to create not-yet-said, not-yet-imagined relationships. The creative space for intimate civility is not bound by gender, race or sexuality – only by our imaginations. “The great instrument of moral good is the imagination,” wrote the poet Shelley in 1840. Moral imagination (Reid Boyd) helps us to create better ways of being. It is a form of empathy that encourages us to be kinder and more loving to ourselves and each other, when we imagine how others might feel. The use of empathic imagination for real world relational benefits is common in traditional therapeutic practices, such as mindfulness, that encourages those struggling with self compassion to imagine the presence of a kind friend or ally to support them at times of hardship. 8) Intimate civility is respectful. Intimate civility is the foremost casualty in many relationships characterised by forms of abuse and intimate partner violence. “Respect”, wrote Simone Weil, “is due to the human being as such, and is not a matter of degree” (171). In the intimate civility ethic this quality of respect accorded as a right of beings is mutual, including ourselves with the other. When respect is eroded, much is lost. Respect arises from empathy through attuned listening. The RESPECT! Campaign originating from the Futures without Violence organisation assumes healthy relationships begin with listening between people. They promote the understanding that the core foundation of human wellbeing is relational, requiring inter-personal understanding and respect.9) Intimate civility is a form of highest regard. When we regard another we truly see them. To hold someone in high regard is to esteem them, to hold them above others, not putting them on a pedestal, or insisting they are superior, but to value them for who they are. To be esteemed for our interior, for our character, rather than what we display or what we own. It connects with the humanistic psychological concept of unconditional positive regard. The highest regard holds each other in arms and in mind. It is to see/look at, to have consideration for, and to pay attention to, recently epitomised by the campaign against human trafficking, “Can You See Me?” (Human Trafficking), whose purpose is to foster public awareness of the non-verbal signs and signals between individuals that indicate human trafficking may be taking place. In essence, teaching communal awareness towards the victimisation of individuals. 10) Intimate civility is intergenerational. We can only develop qualities such as morality and empathy, crucial for intimate relationships, if we have experienced (or imagined) intimate relationships where these qualities exist. Individuals reared in homes devoid of intimate civility could be challenged to identify and promote the interest or wellbeing of their intimate counterparts; it is a learnt behaviour, both at an interpersonal and societal level. Childhood developmental trauma research (Spinazzola and Ford) reminds us that the interaction of experiences, relational interactions, contexts and even our genetic amkeup makes individuals both vulnerable to repeating the behaviour of past generations. However, treatment of the condition and surrounding individuals with people in their intimate world who have different life experiences and personal histories, i.e., those who have acquired respectful relationship habits, can have a positive impact on the individuals’ capacity to change their learned negative behaviours. In conclusion, the work on intimate civility as a potential concept to alleviate rage in human relationships has hardly begun. The decalogue provides a checklist that indicates the necessity of ‘intersectionality’ — where the concepts of intimate civility connect to many points within the public/private and personal/political domains. Any analysis of intimacy must reach further than prepositions tied to social construction and attachment theory (Fonagy), to include current understandings of trauma and inter-generational violence and the way these influence people’s ability to act in healthy and balanced interpersonal relationships. While not condoning violent acts, locating the challenges to intimate civility on both personal and societal levels may leverage a compassionate view of those caught up in interpersonal violence. The human condition demands that we continue the struggle to meet the challenges of intimate civility in our personal actions with others as well as the need to replicate civil behaviour throughout all societies. ReferencesBowlby, John. Attachment and Loss. Vol. 3. New York: Basic Books, 1980.Carter, Stephen. Civility: Manners, Morals and the Etiquette of Democracy. New York: Basic Books, 1998.Dallos, Rudi, and Ros Draper. An Introduction to Family Therapy: Systemic Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. Open University Press: Berkshire, 2005.Australian Institutes of Health and Welfare, Australian Government. Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence in Australia. 2018. 6 Feb. 2019 <https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/domestic-violence/family-domestic-sexual-violence-in-australia-2018/contents/summary>. Fonagy, Peter. Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis. New York: Other Press, 2001.Gringart, Eyal, Madalena Grobbelaar, and Alise Bender. Intimate Civility: The Perceptions and Experiences of Women on Harmonising Intimate Relationships. Honours thesis, 2018.Holmes, Jeremy, and Arietta Slade. Attachment in Therapeutic Practice. Los Angeles: Sage, 2018. Human Trafficking, Jan. 2019. 14 Feb. 2019 <https://www.a21.org/content/can-you-see-me/gnsqqg?permcode=gnsqqg&site=true>.Kristeva, Julia. Teresa My Love: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila. New York: Columbia UP, 2016.Morrison, Scott. “National Press Club Address.” 11 Feb. 2019. 26 Feb. 2019 <https://www.pm.gov.au/media/national-press-club-address-our-plan-keeping-australians-safe-and-secure>.Pateman, Carole. “The Patriarchal Welfare State.” Defining Women: Social Institutions and Gender Divisions. Eds. Linda McDowell and Rosemary Pringle. London: Polity Press, 1994. 223-45.Reid Boyd, Elizabeth. “How Creativity Can Help Us Cultivate Moral Imagination.” The Conversation, 30 Jan. 2019. 11 Feb. 2019 <http://theconversation.com/how-creativity-can-help-us-cultivate-moral-imagination-101968>.Reid Boyd, Elizabeth, and Abigail Bray. Ladies and Gentlemen: Sex, Love and 21st Century Courtesy. Unpublished book proposal, 2005.Commonwealth of Australia. Respect Campaign. 2018, 9 Jan. 2019 <http://www.respect.gov.au/the-campaign/campaign-materials/>.Shelley, Percy Bysshe. A Defence of Poetry. London: Ginn and Company, 1840.Soble, Alan. Philosophy of Sex and Love. St Paul, MN: Paragon House, 1998.Weil, Simone. Waiting on God. London: Fontana Collins, 1968.Wells, Jamelle. “Geoffrey Rush, Erin Norvill and the Daily Telegraph: The Stakes Are High in This Defamation Trial.” ABC News 12 Nov. 2018. 23 Feb. 2019 <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-10/geoffrey-rush-defamation-trial-a-drama-with-final-act-to-come/10483944>.Yan, Liu, and Luce Irigaray. “Feminism, Sexuate Rights and the Ethics of Sexual Difference: An Interview with Luce Irigaray.” Foreign Literature Studies (2010): 1-9.

Me? "I" am everywhere. The 'self' permeates contemporary culture. Through capitalist individualism and conservative politics, 'self' must be considered first above the needs of the group - "looking after no. 1". In therapeutic, religious and consumerist discourses of self-improvement, self-help or self-actualisation, 'self' is obscured; an entity which needs to be sought and found, changed or accommodated, an entity which one needs to become "in touch with". Within these permutations "self" carries the assumption of its own existence, as either a stable, unchanging entity or as a contextually sensitive and dynamic identity. We invited submissions on the broad subject of "self" and were overwhelmed by the range and ambition of responses tendered. As a result, the "Self" issue of M/C contains a Feature Article and three sub-sections: 1. Performances and the Public Self, 2. The Self and the Physical, and 3. Representing Selves, Consuming Selves. We are very pleased to have Michael Clyne as the feature writer for this issue. "Saving Us From Them -- The Discourse of Exclusion on Asylum Seekers" is a timely and relevant critique of the rhetoric currently being adopted by Australian political leaders and the media around asylum seekers. Clyne discusses the negative construction of asylum seekers through this public discourse, particularly focussing on various events such as the "children overboard" affair. The use of such terms as "queue jumpers" and "border protection" are examined to reveal an exclusionary and damaging discourse which both reflects and is enacted in public attitudes and ultimately political policy. The first of our sections, "Performance and the Public Self" investigates manifestations of self across film, television, theatre and writing. Sandy Carmago, in "'Mind the Gap': The Multi-Protagonist Film Genre, Soap Opera, and the Emotive Blockbuster" explores the self in American cinema, and more particularly, in "multi-protagonist" or "emotive blockbuster" films, using the example of Magnolia. Carmago argues that although these films represent very different selves to those in mainstream (single-protagonist) action blockbusters, principally via their use of multiple protagonists, ultimately "[t]he emotive blockbuster supports rather than critiques the view of the self as isolated, solipsistic, and focused on personal rather than social distress." "Performing the Self", by Deidre Heddon, surveys performances of self, focusing on performance artists. Counter to critical claims that such autobiographical performances are solipsistic, Heddon seeks to unveil why such criticisms are so commonly levelled at performances of self, using autobiographical criticism and questions of performativity to offer alternative readings. Heddon reveals the politics and complexities of self-performativity through an exploration of personas, multiple selves and self-parody. In "Modernity and the Self: Explorations of the (Non-) Self-determining Subject in South Korean TV Dramas", Angel Lin explores the cultural constructions of self/self-determining subject in popular South Korean television programmes. Lin argues that the programmes create spaces for the contestation of contemporary notions of self, particularly the conflicts between traditional culture and the influences of Western notions of self. "What is Real? Where Fact Ends and Fiction Begins in the Writing of Paul Theroux" is Andie Miller's examination of Paul Theroux's construction of truth and self within his travel writings, particularly Fresh-Air Fiend and My Secret History. Miller describes Theroux's ability to perplex his readers by mixing fact within fiction and fantasy with non-fiction, which then influences the manner in which he is described within reviews and comments on his own public self. The first section concludes with Mark Peterson's "Choosing the Wasteland: The Social Construction of Self as Viewer in the U.S.". In this piece, Peterson attempts to resolve the contradiction between the high level of television consumption in the U.S. and the criticism of television content in individual and public discourse. Peterson suggests that the term "veging out" and its associated discourse provides a window into this paradox by allowing American consumers to construct themselves as "sensible, choice-making persons" whilst also watching large amounts of television. The second section of articles, "The Self and the Physical" revisits the mind/body dichotomy which has perplexed philosophers for thousands of years. This section begins with Paula Gardner's "The Perpetually Sick Self: The Cultural Promotion and Self-Management of Mood Illness". In this article she investigates the cultural promotion of a 'script' that assumes sick moods are possible, encouraging the self-assessment of risk and self-management of dysfunctional mood. Gardner suggests that this form of self assessment has helped to create a new, adjustable subject. Continuing the theme of self health management, Nadine Henley, in her article "The Healthy vs the Empty Self: Protective vs Paradoxical Behaviour", looks at behaviours, such as smoking, and the effectiveness of health promotions based on models which falsely assume that people are motivated to protect themselves from harm. Henley uses Cushman's concept of the hungry, empty self to explain why some people are more susceptible to cravings than others. Kerry Kid brings us back to the self's sickness in "Called to Self-care, or to Efface Self? Self-interest and Self-splitting in the Diagnostic Experience of Depression". She examines one of the primary disorders of self, clinical depression. She suggests that depression is being seen more as a "a trivial, socially manageable adjunct to the human condition of being", resulting in this condition and its drug-focussed becoming normalised. Kid is interested in the dilemma of the mind/body divide and how that affects the self/diagnosis and treatment of depressive disorders. In Derek Wallace's " 'Self' and the Problem of Consciousness" the issue of the link between the physical and cerebral is again examined. Wallace succinctly links the writings of philosophers and neuroscientists on 'self', explicating the emerging view that self is "a biologically generated but illusory construction, an effect of the operation of what are called 'neural correlates of consciousness' ". Wallace supplements this view with a term he coins 'verbal correlates of consciousness' which takes into account much of the recent post-structuralist work on self. The third section of articles, "Representing Selves, Consuming Selves" traverses issues such as self-reflexivity, the socially constructed self, self-identification, consumption and photographic selves. Matt Adams, in "Ambiguity: The Reflexive Self & Alternatives" examines the attention given to reflexivity in recent theoretical accounts of contemporary selfhood, as an "increasingly central organising phenomenon in being a self." Focusing on Anthony Giddens in particular, Adams critically explores this interest in self-reflexivity. He argues that although such accounts reveal important aspects of modern self-identity, they neglect "many areas of experience relevant to the contemporary self - tradition, culture and concepts of fate, the unconscious and emotions". Adams suggests that selves are far more complex and "ambiguous" than Giddens and others suggest. Moving from contemporary selves to Victorian selves -- in "Portrait of the Self: Victorian Technologies of Identity Invention" Gabrielle Dean uses the 19th century daguerreotype to provide a captivating context for examining notions of self. Dean investigates how the photograph affects notions of self – particularly notions of authorship, objectivity, truthfulness and the public self. As Dean suggests, "[w]hat photography mummifies, distorts and murders, among other things, is the sense that the reality of the self resides in the body, the corporeal and temporal boundaries of personhood." The conception of death is irrevocably connected to questions of self. Back in the 21st century, Lelia Green begins her article "Who is Being Helped When We Help Our Self?" by revisiting the continuing dilemma of whether self-deception is possible. Green then examines the plethora of self help literature now available at most bookshops, which she links to the need to cater for "our sense of accelerating change". The final two articles in this section explore questions of self, identity and autonomy. Simone Pettigrew, in "Consumption and the Self-Concept", considers the notion of self via the self that is reflected in "consumption decisions". Pettigrew reviews the research on consumer behaviour that suggests consumer autonomy in consumption decisions. She argues that this research is "simplistic and fails to appreciate the extent to which culture influences individuals' perceptions of the desirability of different 'ways to be'; certain objects are required to communicate particular selves. In "Conflicting Concepts of Self and The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival" Ianto Ware uses the Michigan Womym's Music Festival as a context to explore the difficult socio-biological constructions of gendered selves. Ware explores the gender/identity politics inherent within notions of "collective selves" and assumptions of shared identity. In problematising the continuous creation of new social identities, Ware argues that new approaches are needed for addressing and communicating identities as fluid entities. What this collection of articles succeeds in doing is to demonstrate that the self is multitudinous and changing, along with the various stakeholders invested in these selves. Just as philosophers, social scientists, behavioural and medical scientists have been investigating the existence and significance of individual consciousness, self-perception, self-promotion and other notions of "the self" for centuries, the research included in this feature demonstrates the continuing need to do so. Citation reference for this article Substitute your date of access for Dn Month Year etc... MLA Style Douglas, Kate and Meakins, Felicity. "Editorial" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5.5 (2002). [your date of access] < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Editorial.html &gt. Chicago Style Douglas, Kate and Meakins, Felicity, "Editorial" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5, no. 5 (2002), < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Editorial.html &gt ([your date of access]). APA Style Douglas, Kate and Meakins, Felicity. (2002) Editorial. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 5(5). < http://www.media-culture.org.au/mc/0210/Editorial.html &gt ([your date of access]).