Pacifica Graduate Institute

Abstract This qualitative pilot study seeks to bridge problem-focused and resilience- and strengths-based perspectives on the relationships of U.S. couples parenting autistic children to describe how these couples demonstrate resilience in a neuro-normative society. Secondary deductive qualitative analysis with inductive critical discourse analysis used interviews with five married, Christian couples parenting autistic children and examined the data against a Skerrett’s (in: Skerrett and Fergus, Couple resilience, Springer, 2015) theory of couple resilience and the Double ABCX model to better understand how they demonstrate resilience as partners and parents while raising an autistic child. Findings support a preliminary theory of process resilience that integrates Skerrett’s (in: Skerrett and Fergus, Couple resilience, Springer, 2015) theory of couple resilience and the Double ABCX model that is refined and expanded to include the influence of underlying societal structures that privilege neuro-normative meaning making about autism and neuro-normative expectations of marriage and parenting. Implications for practice include the potential importance of systemic brief therapy, teletherapy, or in-home treatments, and future research can consider how language use shapes couples’ experiences of stress in their relationship and in parenting autistic children.

Practitioners at the local and regional scale are under increased pressure to reduce risks to people and property posed by the threats of sea‐level rise (SLR) and associated impacts. To achieve this, a dialog between practitioners and scientists is imperative. Current research documents impacts of SLR, evaluates local SLR adaptation activities, identifies barriers to action, and works to assess local adaptive capacity. Despite this work, there has been little qualitative assessment of practitioners' needs when it comes to translating SLR science into local changes. To fill this gap, we used a combination of semi‐structured interviews and surveys. The interviews revealed practitioners’ needs, the tools they use, the challenges they face, and the contexts in which they make decisions. The survey allowed practitioners to rank potential interventions according to the level of impact they believed it would have on coastal adaptation planning. In total our study includes the perspectives of 142 practitioners from 24 states, Puerto Rico, the Mariana Islands, and Barbados. Corroborating earlier work, we find that resources broadly and funding specifically is the largest barrier faced by practitioners. We find that practitioners need more localized information and models supported by on the ground monitoring, decision support resources that allow for comparison of different scenarios, and communication tools that will enable them to engage with key audiences. These needs suggest a critical shift toward building trusted relationship between scientists and local practitioners and the need to bolster organizations that can support a bridge between these two contexts.

Ketamine has demonstrated early promise for treating substance use disorder (SUD). However, ketamine is also a recreational substance, which raises concerns about its clinical applications to SUD. Despite the emerging evidence for ketamine-based approaches for SUD and these potential risks, little has been published on methods for integrating ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) with existing pharmacologic, psychosocial, and community-based treatment paradigms (e.g., 12-step programs). Here, we present the case of a 28-year-old female treated for SUD involving misuse of alcohol and prescription opioids. We executed an inter-clinic, collaborative treatment plan that involved a psychedelic, ketamine-based regimen in combination with extant psychosocial and 12-step-based treatments for SUD. Qualitative analysis of the patient’s lived experience suggested that ketamine played an important role in her self-reported experience of recovery, as she attributed psychological and spiritual changes to her ketamine treatments. Specifically, this report highlights the extent to which the patient’s ketamine-induced experiences overlapped with the 12 steps, which will be useful for clinicians treating other 12-step-involved SUD patients with ketamine. Additionally, we detail specific clinical practices that we implemented for managing the unique risks of ketamine interventions as SUD treatments.

The intricate balance between chaos and order has fascinated humans for centuries, serving as a recurring theme in culture, psychology, and science. Carl Jung’s insights into archetypes reveal cultural patterns that emerge nearly universally across the globe, independent of history. This paper connects archetypal psychology with contemporary mathematical and quantum concepts. We focus on the profound interconnectedness at the interface between chaos and order, by demonstrating how the Mandelbrot set from contemporary fractal geometry circles round to embody the Oroboros, an ancient symbol of recursive dynamics. Our research bridges micro and macro realms, symbolic meanings, and empirical data, as well as psychological and physical dimensions. By merging age-old symbols with cutting-edge mathematical and quantum ideas, we shed light on the intricate dance of chaos and to underscore the unified nature of existence.