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Biomedical subjects

E E Griffith

Publications and source records attributed to E E Griffith.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

The significance of ritual in a church-based healing model.

Four major ritual patterns are exhibited in a church-based clinic in Jamaica that represents a model of collaborative clinical care catering to spiritual, psychological, and orthodox medical needs. Three of the ritual patterns correspond to the three sectors of care, with their different beliefs and values, and this creates tension. The fourth pattern has the potential to be a superordinate ritual that could bring the clinic together in a cohesive approach to the task of health care, but this does not occur, as staff and patients remain bound in their unique sociocultural traditions and heritage.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1982

The impact of culture and religion on psychiatric care.

Culture and religion have a strong impact on clinical relationships, and attention to these issues has been shown to improve psychiatric care. Current issues in psychiatry and religion are explored, in order to demonstrate the clinical relevance of new findings in this area.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

The black autobiography as a teaching tool in psychiatry.

The author outlines a seminar which is aimed especially at improving the capacity of psychiatrists and medical students to understand the emotional conflicts of their black patients as well as the therapists' own race-related attitudes and behaviors. The course is based on the study of black autobiographical literature, which is illustrated here by use of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The author shows how the black autobiography can be a powerful catalyst for the discussion of issues such as the symbolic value of black skin color and pervasive black-white distrust.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1981

Legal rights and involuntary transfer following voluntary admission.

Despite careful screening, community mental health centers occasionally admit to their inpatient units patients who prove difficult to manage and who require treatment in a more restrictive setting, or they admit patients who, by the nature of their pathology, require treatment in a long-term facility. It is not unusual for such patients, who have entered treatment voluntarily, to be transferred to other facilities on involuntary status under an emergency certificate and without benefit of a probate court hearing. In a study at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, the authors found that only a small percentage of the population (3.5 per cent) was involuntarily transferred. However, all the patients had entered treatment voluntarily, and in no case was the transfer made after a court hearing. The authors consider the question of whether routinely bypassing probate court hearings in making such transfers is an infringement of the patients' civil rights.

Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders↗
PubMed1981

Communitas and charisma in a black church service.

The authors describe the midweek evening service of an independent black church which employs prayer, testimony, and spirit possession. They compare this religious group experience to the theoretical model of the healing community and emphasize the concepts of "communitas" and "healing charisma." The authors suggest that the model of a healing community, as represented by this form of the black church service, represents culturally relevant and functional therapeutic assets for some black people.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1980

Possession, prayer, and testimony: therapeutic aspects of the Wednesday night meeting in a Black church.

The value of the church as a psychological support system in the daily lives of many people is taken for granted. Yet, assiduous attention has not been paid to the specific mechanisms which churches may use to achieve this end. Even less attention has been given to black churches, particularly those which are independent institutions, with a loose regional or national affiliation to the well-known major denominations that allows the maintenance of the church's own autonomy. In this paper, we describe the Wednesday night prayer-meeting in an independent black church and outline the structure of the service which facilitates its use as a vehicle for mutual aid. We also discuss the ways in which members of the group experience the service as therapeutic. The utility of this exercise for some black people is explored, and the manner in which it may serve as a coping device is delineated. This special church service is presented as a model of a therapeutic group experience which functions to help some black underprivileged people adapt to the stresses of urban living.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Suicide and parasuicide in Barbados, 1974-1978.

This paper examines all the cases of suicide and parasuicide (non-fatal self-destructive acts) which took place on the Caribbean island of Barbados between 1974 and 1978. There were two females and 18 males who committed suicide in that period, and 14 of them were below age 44. There were 250 individuals who had attempted suicide for the first time, with a male to female ratio of 1:2.33. Most of the parasuicides were young and female, and the phenomenon is increasing. Health care officials on the island would seem to be legitimately unconcerned about the low suicide rates. However, the increasing parasuicide numbers may require more organized psychiatric care to meet the needs of this subgroup of the island's population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

On the professional socialization of black residents in psychiatry.

Residents in psychiatry, in addition to acquiring technical knowledge and skills, undergo the process of professional socialization during which they assimilate the values, attitudes, and normative behavior of their professional group. The socialization of any group of trainees is fostered by the clarity and precision of a socialization structure and by the visibility and contribution of certain specific agents of socialization. The authors outline the areas of this process that create problems for black residents in psychiatry and suggest alternatives to the present experience encountered in most training programs.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1977

Cultural factors in the training of psychiatric residents in an Hispanic urban community.

This paper describes a resident's experience with his first Puerto Rican patient who practiced spiritualism, also elaborating on the major problems encountered, in so far as training for psychiatric residents is concerned. Furthermore, an attempt is made to analyze the role that residency training programs should play in preparing the student psychiatrists to assume a more sophisticated role when confronted with such patients, who are so common in the urban ghettoes of the United States.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Elective mutism in a first grader: the remediation of a complex behavioral problem.

Teachers frequently deal with unusual and perplexing behavioral problems in their classes. This study demonstrates how spontaneous and prompted speech were produced in a six-year-old mute by a first-grade teacher and her aide. A reinforcement system for peer-prompted speech and spontaneous speech was employed in three separate school classes in a multiple-baseline fashion. The reinforcement system produced prompted and spontaneous speech in each situation. Postchecks in the second grade indicated the child was still speaking and conversing spontaneously with his peers. This study suggests a method that teachers can use in the classroom to deal with this severely handicapping condition.

Behavior Therapy↗