Theories of mind and trauma after war in Uganda.

After years of armed conflict in northern Uganda, many local people have turned to Evangelical churches for help with healing and recovery. We observe that the healing practices in these churches encourage particular notions of what the mind is, how the mind works and whether it is bounded or porous to the outside world. In the traditional cultural setting in which these people grew to adulthood, many accept that vengeance can attack supernaturally from without.

Prayer and Perceptual (and Other) Experiences.

Prayer, a repeated practice of paying attention to one's inner mental world, is a core behavior across many faiths and traditions, understudied by cognitive scientists. Previous research suggests that humans pray because prayer changes the way they feel or how they think. This paper makes a novel argument: that prayer changes what they feel that they perceive.

A critical analysis on quality-of-life in women with visible facial disfigurements.

Aims: This study aimed to examine whether surgical treatment for a facial disfigurement influenced an individual's quality of life.

Methods And Results: One-on-one interviews were conducted with the aim of synthesizing participant's medical experiences into common themes. Additionally, participants completed the World Health Organization's Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire.

The Shaman and Schizophrenia, Revisited.

This paper presents evidence that some-but not all-religious experts in a particular faith may have a schizophrenia-like psychotic process which is managed or mitigated by their religious practice, in that they are able to function effectively and are not identified by their community as ill. We conducted careful phenomenological interviews, in conjunction with a novel probe, with okomfo, priests of the traditional religion in Ghana who speak with their gods. They shared common understandings of how priests hear gods speak.