Understanding trance states from the perspective of South African traditional healers - in relation to psychosis
- Authors: Masia, Ntombifuthi Thato
- Date: 2022-04-07
- Subjects: Trance , Psychoses , Altered states of consciousness , Healers South Africa , Healers South Africa Attitudes , Mental health services South Africa , Psychoses Alternative treatment , Psychoses Alternative treatment Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Master's article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/232877 , vital:50034
- Description: Studies conducted on psychosis, sleep and trance states have indicated that the phenomenon of trance occurs quite similarly to that of psychosis. Trance states (or, altered states of consciousness) are defined as mental states in which there is an alteration in the informational or representational relationships between consciousness and the world, whereby the mechanisms of consciousness have an increased tendency to produce misrepresentations like hallucinations, delusions and memory or temporal distortions. This research study aimed to contribute to the knowledge of trance states, particularly as represented by the language and social processes of traditional healers in South Africa, and as experienced by them. This knowledge is geared towards providing insight on the experience and treatment of the similarly occurring phenomenon of psychosis in clinical settings. Through a qualitative study, this research found that strategies of exploration, building recognition and familiarity, and self-monitoring are used by traditional healers to reduce the distress caused by intrusive and disruptive symptoms of trance, as well as to maintain a stable self-identity while experiencing trance states. , Thesis (MA) -- Humanities, Psychology, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-04-07
‘They do not understand us’: a psychosocial analysis of the everyday lived experiences of a CYCC care worker in semi-rural South Africa
- Authors: Pieters, Cinnamon-Paige
- Date: 2022-04-07
- Subjects: Child care workers South Africa Attitudes , Narrative inquiry (Research method) , Intersubjectivity , Free association (Psychology) , Child care South Africa Psychological aspects , Burn out (Psychology) South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/294482 , vital:57225
- Description: This paper employs a psychosocial framework to analyse the everyday lived experiences of a child and youth care worker in semi-rural South Africa. The aim is to provide a new perspective of care work by drawing on narrative analysis alongside a psychoanalytic approach to qualitative research. With an emphasis on the socially constructed nature of reality, the researcher aims to elucidate the rich unconscious depths of being a care worker and the dynamics of the intersubjective reality of care work. Employing a free association narrative interview technique allows the researcher to gain understanding of the narratives that the care worker draws on in the construction of his identity as a care worker. The use of a psychosocial approach enables the researcher to pay attention to both the social context that influences the narratives that he draws on, but also the psychological ‘pay offs’ of these constructions. Most notably, the study highlights how the care worker’s identity is mediated by a defended subjectivity and argues that his failures in mentalization might stem from the way he is treated as a care worker by other professionals as a result of their mindblindness. This maintains his narrative of invisibility, and the pervasive feeling of being misunderstood as a professional in his own right. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to understanding some of the challenges that CYCC care workers face. , Research Article (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-04-07