Cognitive Behavioral-Active Music Pastoral Therapy for Millennials’ Academic Anxiety: How & Why?

This study used quasi-experimental design with repeated measures (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up). Based on the post-test and the follow-up comparison, active music therapy was effective in reducing academic anxiety after two weeks of the treatment. Active music therapy which are integrated in CBT group counseling not only can overcome individual problems, but the therapies can also help individuals analyze their own thoughts and behavior.

Developing pastoral therapy as a professional qualification in South Africa: Rationale and motivation

The professional training of pastoral therapists has been a topic of controversy for many years in South Africa. Up to date, the training of pastoral workers has been limited to the study of ministry and as such is limited by the primary aims and outcomes of this curriculum. In a post-apartheid, post-colonial South Africa, the need for pastoral workers is intensified by the needs of community- and faith-based organisations for trained and registered therapists to alleviate the counselling needs of their beneficiaries on all social levels. This article discusses the current state of affairs of the training and curriculum related to the profession of pastoral therapy in the context of South Africa, the various sociopolitical and religious needs that are still left unanswered in the field, and makes recommendations for the registration and accreditation of the profession with a specific curriculum focused on multicultural, multi-spiritual and post-modern nuances. The author argues that such a curriculum, accredited by a statutory body, can operate as a national health resource, will be more cost-effective than other related health services and may transform the social justice landscape related to both the providers and beneficiaries of this type of care.

Healing liturgy: The role of music and singing

Apart from all the other functions of liturgical singing and music, it also has a pastoral function or aim. Within the normal Sunday-to-Sunday liturgy, singing and music aims at promoting and restoring spiritual well-being. Within communities struck by disaster or grief, liturgical singing aims at healing people and processing their loss and ultimately promoting spiritual wellness by restoring or reshaping their picture of God. A brief look at liturgies in a lamenting congregation by means of an autoethnography illustrates the functional use of music and singing in the process of spiritual or emotional healing, thus illustrating the role of music in worship as an in-between experience: between laughter and lament.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article explores the role of music and singing in healing liturgy in a descriptive way, using ethnography and autoethnography to describe the process. Although the article refers to insights from pastoral therapy, it only makes suggestions for liturgy and in a lesser sense, hymnology.

'I am who I am': Deconstructing orphaned boys' references to God: An application of the post-foundational notion of practical theology

This article investigates and reflects on the religious and spiritual aspects inherent in the narratives of adolescent male orphans, affected by HIV and AIDS, poverty and fatherlessness, and more specifically on aspects which tell us about how these boys understand and experience the presence of God within their specific situations. In coming to such an understanding, this article focuses specifically on the various names attributed to God by the coresearchers and investigates the prominence through social construction behind these names and how it influences the coresearchers� experience of God amidst their unique circumstances. With the use of the perspectives of a post-foundational notion of practical theology and narrative therapy and research, these names and their accompanied significance are deconstructed. The aim of the deconstruction process is to unveil dominant discourses that both inform the use of specific references to God and assist the coresearchers in finding meaning in the use of these names. The larger study employed research methods from the qualitative and case study research design, and included interdisciplinary work based on the post-foundational notion of transversality. Disciplines included in the dialogue were pastoral therapy, critical psychology and social work. This article�s reflections can be useful in all the above-mentioned disciplines and gives insight into understanding the significance behind the phenomenon of naming a deity in one�s personal and public language, and the influence such spiritual affirmations have in the psychosocial sphere of the holistic persona.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The larger study (from which this article originates) is an interdisciplinary study, as to conform to the principles of a postfoundational notion of practical theology and as such supports the assumptions underlying this theoretical framework.Keywords: Names for God; Postfoundationalism; Practical Theology; Co-Researchers; HIV and Aids; Poverty; Father Absence

HIV and AIDS in rural Tonga culture

Thirty-five years has gone by since the first diagnosis of HIV in Zimbabwe. Causes and reasons for the disease and its spread vary from place to place and from society to society. In some cases, the usage of needles and other medical apparatus is blamed for causing the disease. In some other instances, some religious beliefs are held responsible for the pandemic. However, it is a different case with the Tonga females of the Pashu community in Zimbabwe. The belief is that HIV among the Tonga females is perpetuated by some cultural practices and beliefs. The practices and beliefs pose a danger to the lives of the Tonga females from the age of infancy to that of elderly women. The culture of silence, loyalty and submissiveness has even aggravated the suffering of these people. The culture has denied them an opportunity to seek medical aid and pastoral therapy. Hope for life and a future for these people are inevitably lost. The study is, therefore, an effort to validate the assumed claim that the Tonga females are exposed to HIV by some of the cultural practices. It is also the purpose of this study to create a pastoral care methodology which will be used to view the problem from a pastoral perspective. A review of the alleged cultural practices is also the business of this study.

Spirituality in narratives of meaning

This article forms part of a study which was inspired by the ever-growing need for significance expressed both by my life coaching and pastoral therapy clients as well as the need for existential meaning reported both in the lay press and academic literature. The study reflected on a life that matters with a group of co-researchers in a participatory action research relationship. The study has been positioned within pastoral theology and invited the theological discourse into a reflection of existential meaning. Adopting a critical relational constructionist epistemology, the research was positioned within a postmodern paradigm. The implications for meaning and research were explored and described. This article tells the story of how spirituality was positioned in the narratives of meaning by my fellow researchers.

A theological model for pastoral anthropology within the dynamics of interculturality: Cura animarum and the quest for wholeness in a colo-spirituality

Healing is embedded in relational and systemic networks. In order to heal life (cura vitae) human relationships as determined by paradigms (patterns of thinking and conceptualisation) emanating from cultural settings, should be healed. In order to apply a holistic approach to healing in pastoral therapy, a systemic, relational and qualitative interpretation of soul in cura animarum [cure and care of human souls] was proposed. The notion of a colo-spirituality [spiritual culture] was developed in order to link interculturality to the trans-cultural notion of grace (the eschatological paradigm). The latter is the prerequisite for an intimate space of unconditional love in order to heal the quality of our human identity and attitude or habitus [being functions] within the existential realities of life (i.e. anxiety, guilt or shame, despair, helplessness or vulnerability, anger).’n Teologiese model vir ’n pastorale antropologie binne die dinamika van interkulturaliteit: Colo-spiritualiteit as integrale pastorale terapie binne cura animarum. Die konsep van heling is ingebed binne relasionele en sistemiese netwerke. Ten einde die lewe self te genees (cura vitae) moet menslike verhoudinge soos wat dit bepaal word deur paradigmas (patrone van rasionele denkkonstrukte) en kulturele kontekste genees word. Ten einde ’n omvattende en integrale benadering tot pastoral terapie te volg, word ’n sistemiese, relasionele en kwalitatiewe verstaan van die menslike siel in ’n pastorale model vir cura animarum voorgestel. Ten einde ’n interkulturele benadering in pastorale terapie te volg en heling te verbind met die trans-kulturele konsep van genade (die eskatologiese paradigma) word die konsep van ’n colo-spiritualiteit ontwikkel. Die verstaan van genade as ’n transkulturele konsep is nodig met die oog op die vestiging van ’n ruimte van onvoorwaardelike liefde wat die kwaliteit van menswees en houdinge (habitus) binne verskillende eksistensiële realiteite (d.w.s. angs, skuld en skaamte, wanhoop, hulpeloosheid en weerloosheid, woede) deurslaggewend bepaal.

Space and place in the healing of life: towards a theology of affirmation in pastoral care and counselling

How should healing be viewed and what is the contribution of Chrsitian spirituality to the dimension of pastoral therapy and the healing of life? It is argued that pastoral care should supplement the traditional cura animarum with a cura vitae. In this regard the therapeutice value of place and space is explored. A pastoral model for the making of a pastoral diagnosis is proposed wherein a theology of affirmation plays a pivotal role.

Die rol van die vader by veralgemeende angsversteuring

The role of the father in generalised anxiety disorder While the behavioural sciences have done much research on generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), a justifiable pastoral therapeutic approach, combined with unique etiological insights into a therapy for the individual who suffers from it, is needed. In this study the correlation between the individual’s father image and her/his image of God, as well as its influence on the development of GAD is researched. The correlation between father- and God images and the symptomatology of GAD are graphically indicated. It highlights the phenomenon that a negative father image, which leads to a distortion of the individual’s image of God, results in existential insecurity. This deprivation of security is identified as a causal factor for GAD. Some suggestions concerning pastoral therapy to people suffering from GAD are offered.

Pre-natale sterfte en ritueel: Die behoefte aan ’n betekenisvolle ritueel in die hantering van ’n miskraam of aborsie

Pre-natal death: The need for employing a meaningful ritual towards coping with a miscarriage or an abortion Both religion and ritual amongst others are ways by which people can express feelings in their relationships with others, the world and the Almighty God. Religion and ritual are often used to come to a better understanding and to cope with loss. In the postmodern era, a holistic approach towards therapies has been developed. Pastoral therapy is a part of this process. This article examines the use of rituals as a possible therapeutical method for coming to terms with loss after the occurence of pre-natal death. The article argues that a meaningful ritual can be used to assist people who have experienced miscarriage or abortion.