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Tribute to PsySSA Fellow: Prof Josephine Naidoo

Tribute to PsySSA Fellow: Prof Josephine Naidoo

by | Oct 29, 2024 | PsySSA Announcements, PsySSA President's Update, PsySSA Specific

The Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) mourns the passing of Professor Josephine Naidoo, who was awarded the distinguished honour of PsySSA Fellow in 2018. At the time of her passing, she was a Professor Emerita in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada. South African born and Wits University educated, Professor Naidoo was initially a school teacher in Durban and later spent a few years lecturing in Psychology at Pius XII University College in Lesotho.

During the late 1950s, Professor Naidoo sought to connect with fellow psychologists in South Africa and applied for membership in the then-prevailing South African Psychological Association (SAPA). However, she was denied membership because of her skin colour. Unwilling to accept this racial injustice, she travelled to Johannesburg to confront the president of the association, only to find that the association remained steadfast in its support of apartheid policies.

Undeterred, Professor Naidoo’s pursuit of knowledge and justice led her to receive a scholarship to the University of Illinois. Shortly after, she relocated to Canada, where she built a remarkable career in cross-cultural psychology. Ironically, five years after her application was rejected, SAPA’s successor, the Psychological Association of South Africa (PASA), recognised the need for transformation and sought to include a Black member in order to meet the membership requirements of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS). By this time, however, Professor Naidoo had already left the country, further highlighting the missed opportunities for apartheid-era South African Psychology to evolve earlier.

Professor Josephine Naidoo will forever hold a place in the history of South African Psychology as a trailblazer, and serves as an enduring inspiration to future generations, demonstrating that no barrier—whether personal or systemic—can obstruct the path of progress and success. PsySSA extends its heartfelt condolences to Professor Naidoo’s family and loved ones, wishing them strength and comfort during this difficult time.

Mental Health Awareness Month: A Neuropsychological Perspective

Mental Health Awareness Month: A Neuropsychological Perspective

by | Oct 28, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Division of Neuropsychology and Forensic Psychology (DNFP), Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health Calendar

Mental Health Awareness Month; October 2024

by Prof T Lazarus on behalf of the PsySSA Division of Neuropsychology and Forensic Psychology.

Mental health is affected by multiple factors, both biological and socio-economic in nature. Communities from disparate social and economic backgrounds are not immune to mental health challenges, and this may occur across the lifespan. With respect to brain changes resulting from disease or trauma, the ensuing mental health changes encompass multiple domains of functioning, including cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social. Far-reaching consequences that extend beyond the patient, impacting personal, interpersonal, family and work activities are often evident. In the case of brain trauma, it is now recognized the injury to brain, even minor in nature, may impact education and work activities, and personal relationships.

The sequelae may be managed with various forms of interventions such as cognitive rehabilitation but persisting difficulties are found years beyond the post-acute recovery period. Apart from trauma, the impact of brain diseases such as stroke leaves residual problems not only in the physical domain (such as weakness of a limb or loss of speech), but in thinking and emotional functioning. More recently, research has suggested that the COVID virus does enter the brain, impacting various domains of functional capacity, leaving patients who had this infection with persisting problems of thinking (commonly referred to as ‘brain fog’) and emotional difficulties (more often depression and anxiety). Neuropsychologists are called upon to determine to what extent functional capacity is affected in long-term COVID conditions. Thus, long-term care is now commonplace for victims of brain injury and disease, with patients experiencing difficulty returning to employment and resuming relationships.

In addition to the clinical implications of brain disease, the potential impact of brain related disorders is becoming more evident in legal matters. Acting impulsively and displaying aggressive or violent behaviours, showing poor judgment in managing self-behaviours in public and private contexts, and the inability to manage one’s personal affairs is common in brain injury and/or disease. In these instances, neuropsychologists possess the training and skills to formally assess patients with brain disease or injury, providing recommendations in regard to individuals’ functional capacity to return to work, ability to manage their personal affairs such as financial matters, as well as investigating whether a brain injury impacted judgment in cases of violent behaviour or instances suggesting poor judgment or insight into their behaviour. With the increasing burden of disease and injury impacting the brain structurally and its functioning, neuropsychologists are well-placed to offer the South African community expertise in identifying brain dysfunction, make diagnoses and management, and offer pertinent opinion on the impact of brain injury and/or disease on behaviour in medicolegal and forensic settings.

DRM Webinar: Qualitative Meta-synthesis and Psychology

DRM Webinar: Qualitative Meta-synthesis and Psychology

by | Oct 25, 2024 | Division for Research and Methodology (DRM), Events and Announcements, Psychology Events

DRM Webinar: Qualitative Meta-synthesis and Psychology Webinar

Join the PsySSA Division for Research and Methodology for the first of two free webinars in November!

Date:                           7 November 2024

Time:                           12h00 to 13h00

MS Teams Link:          https://shorturl.at/Fq8Uv (no registration is needed to attend)

About the webinar: Qualitative findings are important for the purposes of contextualising and giving voice to others. However, a persistent issue is the difficulty of moving beyond the unique context often required to carry out good qualitative work. Meta-synthesis has been proposed as a plausible solution to extend the contributions of qualitative research by synthesising findings across studies. Meta-synthesis is often touted as the qualitative equivalent of meta-analysis, yet the approach can be used to go beyond describing or accumulating findings across studies. It can provide researchers with the tools to generate broader insights and understand patterns across varied contexts. Since its inception, meta-synthesis has evolved into various approaches, including meta-ethnography, meta-narrative, critical interpretive synthesis, formal grounded theory, thematic synthesis, and meta-study. This webinar will contextualise some of these approaches, focusing on interpretive rather than aggregative versions of meta-synthesis. Specifically, meta-study will be discussed for its usefulness in exploring and synthesising beyond the findings of qualitative work. Thus, meta-study could aid in understanding how psychological topics are constructed by critically examining the theories, methods, and findings of qualitative research.

Can’t join us live? Watch all recordings of the PsySSA DRM Webinars and Research Podcast episodes on the PsySSA DRM YouTube Channel

Click Here To Join!
About the Presenter

Sulaiyman Philander has been lecturing at the University of Pretoria since 2012. Currently, he lectures at undergraduate and postgraduate level. At undergraduate level, he lectures personology and critical psychology and has contributed to the prescribed text used in the introductory modules. At postgraduate level, he enjoys lecturing on the philosophical foundations of qualitative research, critical social psychology, and introducing ATLAS.ti to his students. Sulaiyman also supervises postgraduate students at honours and master’s level.  Since 2023, he has served as an Executive Committee Member for the Division for Research and Methodology of PsySSA. He is currently completing his PhD at the University of Pretoria under the guidance of Professor David Maree and is exploring how emotion is constructed in psychological research. His interests include emotion, uncertainty, procrastination, and qualitative methodology, and he is also developing an interest in exploring psychology within digital spaces.

Mental Health Awareness Month: A Neuropsychological Perspective

A Call to Action: October is Mental Health Month!

by | Oct 25, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Division for Research and Methodology (DRM), Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health Calendar

A Call to Action: October is Mental Health Month!

written by Prof Theo Lazarus, Fatima Peters, and Dr Kyle Bester for the Division for Research and Methodology

Mental health challenges leave no age, socio-economic, gender, educational or occupational group unscathed. From young children to the elderly, mental health challenges, generally referred to as stress, anxiety, or depression, have increased exponentially and it is time to act with conviction and fervour.

Although mental health has been recognised as a critical part of human life, a stark realisation of the vulnerability of individuals to stressful events became evident during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to a widespread increase in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, particularly due to the sudden and untimely loss of loved ones and high levels of uncertainty. As we look ahead, providing support to one another and striving to promote mental well-being for people around the world are paramount.

The recent spate of athletes who have either left their respective sporting pursuits permanently or temporarily or resorted to self-destructive behaviours, is unprecedented. The adage that ’good physical health equals good mental health’ is being challenged daily. The impact of mental health challenges on individuals and families, as well as on employers, has become pervasive in modern societies. Furthermore, the technological uptake of online interaction for work and learning has added to the burden on people’s mental health and finding new ways to manage school and work environments contributes to the mental burden. At an individual level, self-care is important especially when managing demanding work and learning environments. Economical but high reward physical and social activities can enhance work life balance and address aspects of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Like physical health, mental health requires regular ‘maintenance’ sessions to identify areas of potential emotional or relational difficulties. Without regular self-appraisal by the individual (in the case of an adult) or by a parent (for a child) or a partner in adulthood, mental health challenges may quickly escalate into crises of daily life that impact health, educability, relationships, employability, and society as a whole.

Ongoing strife between countries and ethnicities continue across the globe, filtering across media platforms and leaving a sense of doom, helplessness, and despair. There is likely to be a numbing of emotions at the continuous and increasing destruction of people, leaving a sense of despair that plays out in aberrant behaviours in daily life.

It has been long recognised that mental health difficulties are at the core of most physical illnesses, often described as the psychosomatic component of health and disease, and therefore constitute a foundational pillar of all health programmes. Against this background, a call is made for individuals and families to protect and enhance their mental health as well as that of their loved ones, particularly in the pervasively traumatic circumstances that confront societies worldwide. In light of these living conditions, access to psychological services should become part of all healthcare provisions across countries, and increased attention to training mental health professionals should be given utmost urgency.

Therefore, mental health professionals, and particularly health care professionals in South Africa, should consider availing their services, where possible, to communities where they work, to include financially disadvantaged communities in their service offerings. Group interventions and activities that facilitate affordable psychological wellness would meaningfully connect people to each other for support and further the creation of sustainable support networks.

To achieve the above, we call on the South African government to make available suitable and appropriate compensation, treatment, and recovery environments to mental health professionals. In addition, a significant effort should be made to destigmatise psychological interventions in communities by showcasing the impact appropriate interventions have on individual and family functioning and society in general. Furthermore, the South African government should consider making available funding instruments for mental health care professionals to provide psychological support services with the aim of initiating interventions that can be sustainable for the communities most vulnerable and in need in South Africa.

Mental Health Awareness Month: A Neuropsychological Perspective

From Couch to Clarity: Exercise as Intervention for Mental Health Disorders

by | Oct 23, 2024 | Community and Engagement, Mental Health Advocacy, Mental Health Calendar, The South African Association for Counselling Psychology (SAACP)

Willem Pieters

Willem, a registered biokineticist currently completing his internship as a counselling psychologist at Life Hunterscraig Hospital in Gqeberha, is researching how exercise is being integrated by South African psychologists when working with clients experiencing mental illness and general distress. He is interested in exploring new approaches to incorporate physical activity and exercise prescription as part of treatment for mental health disorders.

From Couch to Clarity: Exercise as Intervention for Mental Health Disorders

 

The numerous physical and mental health benefits of exercise have been recognised for centuries. Plato (427-347 BCE) is quoted as saying, “lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save and preserve it” (n.d., as cited in Cooper, 2015). Although pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are the primary treatments for many mental disorders, there is growing interest in using exercise as both a complementary and stand-alone intervention.

A substantial body of evidence now supports the positive outcomes of physical activity and exercise interventions for people with mental illness. Furthermore, exercise has a wide range of health benefits outside of those related to mental health outcomes, so it should be considered an intervention that has general health-promoting benefits over and above any desired changes in mental health outcomes. While exercise regimes appear to be feasible and effective as therapeutic interventions that carry low risk in both inpatient and outpatient mental health settings, exercise is generally not included in treatment programs.

The recommendations for individuals with depressive and anxiety disorders are similar to those for healthy individuals, but with consideration for lower-intensity activities when moderate-intensity activities are too challenging. It is important to note that even small amounts of physical activity can still provide mental health benefits, especially since people with mental health disorders are more likely to be physically inactive (Teychenne et al., 2020). Therefore, sedentary individuals may have more to gain by increasing levels of physical activity compared to those who are already active.

It has also been suggested that the most benefits in terms of exercise and depression are realised when moving from no activity to at least some (Pearce et al., 2022). This is an encouraging finding, especially for those who may find it daunting to start an exercise program. Furthermore, while most benefits related to exercise are achieved through regular and sustained practice, research has shown improved executive function, enhanced mood states, and decreased stress levels arising from even a single bout of exercise (Basso & Suzuki, 2017).

The point is this – something is better than nothing, and don’t let great be the enemy of good. Aim to do physical activity that you enjoy, at a moderate intensity, on most days of the week, for about 30 minutes if you can, and if you can’t do 30 minutes – 10 minutes is ok too! It is not about pounding away on a treadmill at the gym with headphones on and wearing the latest active gear, but rather, it is about becoming more active, moving our bodies in the way they were made to and taking advantage of the benefits that a more active life has to offer.

References

Basso, J. C., & Suzuki, W. A. (2017). The Effects of Acute Exercise on Mood, Cognition, Neurophysiology, and Neurochemical Pathways: A Review. Brain Plasticity, 2(2), 127–152. https://doi.org/10.3233/BPL-160040

Cooper, J. M. (2015). Plato’s Theaetetus. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315694740

Pearce, M., Garcia, L., Abbas, A., Strain, T., Schuch, F. B., Golubic, R., Kelly, P., Khan, S., Utukuri, M., Laird, Y., Mok, A., Smith, A., Tainio, M., Brage, S., & Woodcock, J. (2022). Association Between Physical Activity and Risk of Depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(6), 550. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0609

Teychenne, M., White, R. L., Richards, J., Schuch, F. B., Rosenbaum, S., & Bennie, J. A. (2020). Do we need physical activity guidelines for mental health: What does the evidence tell us? Mental Health and Physical Activity, 18, 100315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2019.100315