Exploring malignancies: Narcissism and paranoia today

Lasch's (1978) study of the 'culture of narcissism' is discussed as a model socio-psychoanalytic inquiry. However, in fragmented societies, the search for an encompassing diagnosis is less useful than a strategy of identifying states of mind active in specific situations. In studying more malignant phenomena, paranoid states are important, especially in their combination with narcissism. Hofstadter's (1964) essay on the paranoid 'style' is a key reference point. Comparing Lasch and Hofstadter invites a consideration of broad issues concerning the relations between culture and psyche, and between leaders and followers. The paper ends with a short commentary on narcissistic and paranoid states of mind in the case of President Trump

Giftedness, Talent, and Human Evolution: A Framework for Understanding Extreme Behavior

The number of theories and conceptions endeavoring to understand gifted and talented behavior are surprisingly numerous because of different scholarly convictions, practices impacted by culture, and motives to study and further the achievement potential of this relatively small but extraordinary group of individuals. In spite of intense study all over the world, we do not seem to be much closer to a common understanding of what giftedness and talent are in the scholarly community. This chapter does not present yet another theory, but it does propose a framework of important issues to consider in trying to forge all current theories and conceptions together motivating scholars to seek consensus on the basis of well-established knowledge in biology and evolutionary theory. These offer fundamental and scientifically uncontroversial knowledge shedding important light on the subject matter of education, psychology, and other social sciences and their derived practices. An evolutionary understanding offers new perspectives and will inevitably create a more sustainable knowledge base for understanding the social significance of giftedness, talent, and its education in a collective society by setting boundaries to what is likely to be possible, and perhaps of greater importance, to also suggest what is, in fact, impossible. The latter is likely to limit the impact of cultural and ideological biases on scholarship and educational practices.</p

Facing the fear of failure: An explorative qualitative study of client experiences in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program for university students with academic evaluation anxiety

The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate the subjective experiences of 29 university students who participated in an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program for academic evaluation anxiety. Participants who self-referred to the Student Counseling Service underwent individual semi-structured interviews about how they experienced the personal relevance and practical usefulness of taking the MBSR program. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed through a team-based explorative–reflective thematic approach based on a hermeneutic-phenomenological epistemology. Five salient patterns of meaning (themes) were found: (1) finding an inner source of calm, (2) sharing a human struggle, (3) staying focused in learning situations, (4) moving from fear to curiosity in academic learning, and (5) feeling more self-acceptance when facing difficult situations. We contextualize these findings in relation to existing research, discuss our own process of reflexivity, highlight important limitations of this study, and suggest possible implications for future research