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Results for “Taboo”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1990

The blood transfusion taboo of Jehovah's Witnesses: origin, development and function of a controversial doctrine.

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to accept a blood transfusion. According to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society this therapy is a transgression of divine precepts. Additionally, in the judgement of the believers, secular proof is abundant these days; to them AIDS is a powerful justification to abstain from blood. Founded on the work of the anthropologist Mary Douglas, it is argued that the rejection of this medical therapy is based on perceptions of pollution and purity inherent in the Watch Tower Society's ideological concept of anti-worldliness. Rooted in the movement's pre-war opposition to vaccination the implementation of the taboo was triggered by the prevailing social-political climate surrounding the Society during the Second World War, resulting in this intriguing and controversial religious proscription. For the community of Jehovah's Witnesses the blood transfusion taboo still functions as a significant mechanism of sectarian boundary maintenance.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1976

The incest taboo and family structure.

The evolutionary advantage of outbreeding has influenced the family structure and the mating, attachment, and dominance behaviors of all animals. Nature has selected for those species that have evolved family structures with detachment and dominance patterns that create a relatively intact incest barrier. Man inherits from his animal forebears the biological imperative of an incest barrier but brings to it his special complexity of psychology and symbolization--incest barrier becomes incest taboo. We present a discussion of human patterns of speparation-individuation and Oedipal conflict and relate this to the detachment and dominance behaviors of animals. This is an interface between psychoanalysis, family theory, and ethology. In addition, we pursue in detail the asymmetrical operation of the incest taboo within the family: that it is stronger for mother-son than for father-daughter than for brother-sister.

Dominance-Subordination↗

PubMed1979

Study of food habits, food practices and taboos in Bangladesh: their implications in nutrition education.

The paper reports the findings of a retrospective study conducted to determine the prevailing food habits, food taboos and practices among 381 mothers selected randomly from twelve villages situated in 4 administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Undesirable food taboos and practices, maldistribution of food, lack of understanding of the nutritional needs of the vulnerable groups and bad cooking practices were found to be widespread in rural Bangladesh. Nutritional and health implications of these are discussed and remedial measures suggested.

Adult↗

PubMed1977

Four taboos that may limit the success of psychotherapy.

Painful though it may be, it must be accepted as fact that psychotherapy has a lower success rate than it should. Whatever questions we therapists raise about the validity of research in psychotherapy, whatever the problems in defining success, whatever the arguments about therapeutic outcome studies, we are stuck with a great deal of evidence which indicates that between one-third and two-thirds of patients do not benefit from treatment (Bergin, 1971; Eysenck, 1952, 1966; Garfield et al., 1971). In contrast, behavior modifiers and those using physical treatments such as psychosurgery claim rates of improvement and success which sometimes exceed 90 percent (Baily et al., 1973; Hunter-Brown, 1972; Paul, 1965; Rachman, 1971). This paper examines four current practices which may contribute to our failure. These practices are linked to taboos and examined with a view toward understanding both the functions they serve and the limits they impose on therapeutic effectiveness.

Emotions↗

PubMed1979

"Totem and Taboo" in a latency boy.

Against the background of Freud's "Totem and Taboo" the case of a seven-year-old boy is discusses, focusing on his identification with a cat. Guided by Freud's dialectic thinking and his discussion of the phenomena of patriarchy and matriarchy, one is led to contemplate the totemism of a matriarchally oriented boy. The attempt to understand this child's pathology is based upon the concept of the specificity of a developmental phase. In the light of anthropological data, clinical phenomena are evaluated ontogenetically, in analogy with the recapitulation hypothesis.

Child↗

PubMed1976

Taboo and Malay tradition.

According to Malinowski there are no peoples, however primitive, without religion and magic; nor are there any societies lacking either in the scientific attitude or in science (Blumberg 1963). Magic and taboo are resorted to when through the normal use of science, or rational techniques, man is unable to control unpredictable events important to him. Where there is difficulty in predicting the outcome of behaviour, where the results of action are not consonant with effort, where there are great limitions on man's knowledge of vital issues, magical techniques are employed--in short, where circumstances of life are uncertain, uncontrolled and unknown. Magic and animism are systems of thought which give not only the explanation of a single phenomenon, but make it possible to comprehend the totality of the world from one point, as a continuity. Of the three systems of thought--animistic, religious and scientific--animism is perhaps the most consistent and the most exhaustive, the one which explains the world in its entirety.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1975

Dietary intakes and food taboos of lactating women in a South Indian community.

The diets of women, studied at regular intervals in the first year of lactation, showed that food taboos adversely affected the daily intake of energy, protein and some nutrients in the first month. Despite the poor intakes, the women breastfed their babies successfully and the weight gained by the babies in the early months was satisfactory. Breast feeding continued until the next pregnancy. Most women believed lactation prevented conception.

Body Weight↗

PubMed1975