A comparative study of mental health diagnoses, symptoms, treatment, and medication use among Orthodox Jews

Historical clinical reports and media narratives suggest that Orthodox Jews are reticent to seek treatment for mental illness, present only with serious concerns, and hesitate to comply with treatment in general and psychopharmacology in particular. On the other hand, recent developments, and some limited research, suggest that Orthodox Jews may be likely to seek and comply with treatment. The current study compared the diagnostic, symptomatic, and treatment characteristics of 191 Orthodox Jews and 154 control patients all presenting to a large private mental health clinic with offices throughout greater New York. Results indicated that the groups were largely demographically similar, and that their diagnoses did not significantly differ. Orthodox Jews initially presented with lower levels of symptoms, terminated with similar symptom levels, attended a similar number of sessions, and were equally likely to use psychopharmacological interventions of similar types, compared to controls. This was equally true of ultra-Orthodox and modern Orthodox Jews. Clinicians providing mental health services to Orthodox Jews should be aware of these findings, which contrast with existing clinical and popular stereotypes. Further, excessive efforts to protect Orthodox Jewish patients against stigma may be unnecessary and counterproductive.

Body Image and Emotional Well Being Among Gay and Heterosexual Religious Young Men

This chapter attempts to create a close-up picture of the society of Orthodox Jewish men in regard to their levels of religiosity and sexual identity. The author examines BI, emotional wellbeing, and the connection between them, among three groups of religious Israeli young men: Modern Orthodox (MO) heterosexual men, Modern Orthodox gay men (MOG), and ultra-Orthodox heterosexual men (UO). The findings pose an extremely important challenge to educators in Israel. The young men answered two questionnaires: SWLS and the Body Image Questionnaire. The BI and wellbeing scores for the MOGs were significantly lower than for the MOs and UO. The correlations between BI and wellbeing were different in each group: there was no significant correlation among the MO, among the MOGs there was a negative, medium, and significant correlation, and among the UO there was a positive, high, and significant correlation. These differences were explained by social and educational trends.

EVERYDAY FEARS OF THE ORTHODOX POPULATION ON UKRAINIAN LANDS AS A REFLECTION OF DAILY ROUTINE IN EARLY MODERN TIMES

The article highlights a little-studied problem of role of fears in the everyday life of Orthodox believers in the Ukrainian lands of the second half of the 16th – 17th centuries. It is noted that in the early modern period, the society suffered from an outbreak of violence, and this influenced the formation of the atmosphere of fear among the population. The types of fears from which the society suffered the most are analyzed on an example of most typical cases: fear of war and violence, illness, mutilation, premature death, fear of armed people, foreign invaders and representatives of other denominations. In addition to these objective fears, Orthodox society felt irrational ones, the greatest of which was to sin. To a large extent, everyday life of the Orthodox was characterized by fear of the Last Judgment and Hell, Evil Spirits. Fears inherent in a modern man, manifested in everyday life of an orthodox man of the 16th - 17th centuries much stronger due to much more dangerous living conditions. Fear was a characteristic feature of everyday life in the early modern Orthodox society.

Gospel parable and Orthodox joke: general and special

The purpose of the article is to reveal the specifics of the Orthodox joke by comparing it with the Gospel parable having a similar function. Methodology. Within the framework of the cultural studies approach, the methods of comparative analysis, induction, and deduction were applied. Scientific novelty. The cultural studies analysis of the correlation between the Gospel parable and the Orthodox joke has been carried out for the first time, both unifying and specific characteristics to each of the phenomena have been identified. Conclusions. An Orthodox joke can be called a parable joke. A modern Orthodox joke has a number of characteristics of a parable: describing the particular situation, it is based on the Gospel teaching; like a parable, it has two layers: a form tied to modernity and a timeless deep religious moral meaning; its main goal is to raise the human mind from earthly to heavenly. At the same time, a number of specific characteristics do not allow us to identify them: the Orthodox joke is created based on modern material; unlike a parable, it involves a laughing reaction. The Orthodox joke (as a joke in form, but with a deep parable content) is able to easily penetrate the consciousness of a secular person who is tuned in to ease and not accustomed to reflection. In this way, Orthodoxy, as in the previous period of its existence, seeks to respond to the needs of the time, transforming the form, but not changing the deep essence of the teaching. Key words: joke, parable, Orthodox anecdote, Gospel parable, metanarrative, modern Orthodox culture, secular society.

CANONICAL STRUCTURE OF CONSTRUCTION OF ORTHODOX CHURCHES

The Orthodox Church in a number of other Christian denominations is characterized by the stability of dogma and rituals, which in turn determines the symbolic significance of the subject environment of the church, the canonization of church paraphernalia and iconography. Thus, the canon, created on the requirements of the liturgy — the main action in the church, determines the structure of the church and the purpose of its premises. The article considers the creation of modern Orthodox churches based on the use of traditions and the formation of temple action in them as a synthesis of arts. Gaining Independence of Ukraine, the growth of self-awareness and the restoration of religious life put forward a number of major architectural tasks of building new, reconstruction of destroyed and restoration of temples adapted to other functions in the period of "militant atheism". Serious typo­logical problems are faced by architects who design modern sacred buildings and structures, as well as by urban planners, as this process has a significant impact on the urban situation in cities and villages, changes the public microclimate and infrastructure in the vicinity of temples areas. Despite the fact that the construction "boom" of the 90s of the twentieth century-calmed down a bit, the issues of typology and imagery of modern temple building remain relevant. The new urban policy on the development of spirituality and meeting the needs of religious orga­nizations is carried out in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Principles of Democracy" of April 23, 1991. № 988 (as amended in 1992–2019). Temple construction, as a special, but at the same time once significant part of the architectural activity of architects of Ukraine (pre-October period), is being restored. But this is a very complex process, based on the still insufficient practice of designing and building modern Orthodox churches, which requires the improvement of their typological and figurative solutions. On the basis of the author's research, practice of design and construction of sacred buildings and structures will be prepared the third edition of the design manual "Cult houses and buildings of different denominations", the provisions and requirements of which will contribute to the development of modern Ukrainian church building.

Orthodox joke as a phenomenon of modern Orthodox culture

The purpose of the article is to reveal the specifics of the Orthodox joke as a phenomenon of modern Orthodox culture. Methodology. In the context of the culturological approach, the method of comparative analysis, induction, deduction, typology, and classification was used. Scientific Novelty. For the first time the phenomenon of the Orthodox joke was investigated in the context of cultural studies; assumptions were made regarding the time and reasons for its appearance; its sources are highlighted, the typology of the Orthodox joke is proposed; supplemented with data on the cultural specificity of this phenomenon. Conclusions. In secular and folk culture, a joke is a form of uncensored folk art, a sphere of dissent. The Orthodox joke, by contrast, is one of the ways of preachingand does not oppose the official church line. A parable in the form of a joke is more understandable and acceptable to the cultural consciousness of a modern person. The following types of Orthodox jokes are distinguished: curious cases from the history of the church, the life of individual parishes, or pastoral practice; «Children's perception of religion»; «In front of Paradise doors»; «Dialogue between a believer and an unbeliever»; self-irony of Orthodox monks and laity. The development of the genre of the Orthodox joke testifies to the processes of adaptation of the Orthodox culture, which exists under the prevailing secular culture.

Orthodoxy and Liberalism in Russian Politics

Russia, in contrast to other modern Orthodox European count ries, has never experienced struggle for church autocephaly and the formation of political pluralism simultaneously, which naturally brought the church and liberals closer together. The distinguishing feature of the Russian liberalism is its late, or “catch up”, development. In the 19th century, libera lism no longer needed a religious approval; the appeal to the Holy Scriptures looked archaic. Another Russian distinguishing feature — divergence of secu lar and spiritual traditions — is also very important. After the emergence of the dualistic monarchy in Russia (1906—1917), religious topics were no lon ger a taboo, but Christian liberalism as an influential trend failed to develop. The attempts of combining liberal and Christian ideas in the pre-revolutiona ry Russian politics faced a number of problems. The results in practice were modest either due to the lack of the electoral demand, or due to the blocking of specific initiatives at the state and church levels. The promotion of liberal va lues contradicted Ortho dox tenets, and the target electoral group — the lower clergy — heavily depended on the episcopate. In the post-Soviet Russia, in contrast to the count ries in Central Europe, Christian politics, including its liberal version, did not revive. At the end of the day, all such projects have remained marginal. The episcopate focuses on cooperation with the authorities, and there is little support for liberal ideas among the faithful. The future might see a gradual strengthening of liberal tendencies within the church, but at the same time, the Russian version of Christian democracy remains extreme ly unlikely.