The use of hallucinogenic plants has throughout human history been used for religiouspurposes, in order to induce mystical states of mind, often interpreted as meeting with godsand spirits. In recent years, this practice has been taken up by people interested in theexploration of their psyche and spiritual side. This group of people, referred to as?psychonauts?, communicate with each other through internet based forum, where theyshare their experiences in so called ?trip reports?. The aim of this study was to see whatrole psychedelic drugs can play when used in a spiritual/religious context, and whetherthese sorts of mystical states of mind could tell us about more traditional mysticalexperiences.

This bachelor thesis explores earlier findings regarding the Nextopia effect and the choice of media for advertising, and how these phenomena influence consumer attitudes toward the ad itself as well as the brand. It also explores the effect of advertising future products and advertising in two different media on the third person effect. Lastly, it addresses the effect of advertising of future products and media choice on the attitude of potential investors..

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a hereditary X-linked fatal disease that affects 1 in 3500 male births. It is the most common kind of muscular dystrophy in children and leads to death in the late teens or early 20s for many patients. The mdx mouse is a model of DMD that can be used to investigate experimental therapies. Overexpression of a glycosyltransferase, CT GalNAc, in mdx mice has been demonstrated to prevent the development of muscular dystrophy. Overexpression of another glycosyltransferase, LARGE, is currently being investigated as a treatment for another group of muscular dystrophies, the dystroglycanopathies. In this study, we overexpressed LARGE in mdx mice in order to investigate its effect on the development of muscular dystrophy.

Joint injury (inflammation) or osteoarthritis is the most common cause of poor performance in the athletic horse. Osteoarthritis is the ensuing degeneration of joint cartilage due to inflammation/injury. The single most important factor in the inflammation cascade of joint injuries is interleukin-1 (IL-1). Until recently, these injuries have been treated with products like hyaluronic acid, cortisone and polysulphated glycosaminoglycans (PSGAG). Several studies have not been able to demonstrate a significant difference in the clinical improvement of joint injuries treated with hyaluronic acid or PSGAG and saline.

In nature settings people often experience positive emotions. Litterature and theories about the positive effect of nature on humans are largely based upon visual impressions and aesthetic preference. The purpose of the present study is to examine how visually impaired individuals that lack visual impressions experience nature. The background is about what it means to be visually impaired and what it is like to be visually impaired in a nature setting, followed by a presentation of the five human senses and about stimulation of senses in healing gardens. That is followed by theories about the health promoting effect of nature, about why nature and therapeutic gardens make people feel good. After that theories about experiences and relations with settings are presented.

The aim of this study was to examine what factors experienced psychotherapists emphasize as central and change developing in psychotherapy. The intention was to highlight the therapists' personal thoughts and experiences of psychotherapeutic change. By personal interviews with three cognitive and three psychodynamic psychotherapists, data was retrieved and then analysed with a qualitative phenomenological and hermeneutical approach. The study revealed great accordance between the psychotherapists regarding the importance of therapeutic relationship, factors connected to therapeutic treatment and flexibility regarding to the method of treatment. Moreover, it has been revealed that psychotherapeutic change in both treatments of psychotherapy is due to integration between emotional and cognitive processes.

BackgroundPeople with psychiatric problems, despite efforts in recent decades still experience vulnerability. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), where self-harm is common, often live in difficult and complex social relationships because of their illness. Additional knowledge and studies about mental illness, self-harm, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and the therapeutic alliance are needed.Purpose and MethodThis study aims to examine how staff perceive and describe: DBT as a treatment method; the therapeutic alliance and the importance it has for treatment. The study utilises a qualitative approach with a qualitative content analysis method and presents earlier research on DBT and the therapeutic alliance. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews comprising three DBT - teams.

Syftet med studien var att beskriva arbetsalliansens funktion i familjebehandlares arbete ur behandlarens perspektiv för att bidra till kunskapsdiskussionen om arbetsalliansens betydelse inom socialt arbete. Studiens frågeställningar var vilken betydelse arbetsallians har för familjebehandlares uppdrag samt vilka faktorer som har betydelse för hur arbetsallians skapas, vidmakthålls och avslutas på ett bra sätt i arbetet med familjer. Med en fenomenologisk ansats genomfördes kvalitativa, halvstrukturerade intervjuer med sex familjebehandlare verksamma inom socialtjänsten. Respondenterna delgav nyanserade beskrivningar av arbetsalliansens betydelse för familjebehandling. Studiens resultat analyserades utifrån socialkonstruktionism, systemteori och anknytningsteori.

Evidence-based psychotherapeutic methods compete with each other, while meta-analysis have shown that variability due to different methods related to outcome is remarkably low. In this qualitative study six former patients were interviewed about experiences of method and technique in Affect-focused therapy, with a slight overweight towards unsatisfactory experiences. Responses were analysed and categorised in emergent themes. Methodological focus on affect showed to be a much appreciated, as well as insufficient, element. Alongside positive experiences or summaries of therapy, methodological frames were felt to be at times restrictive, even invalidating, as far as not allowing focus on what was felt to be the more predominant need.

SummaryHerbal remedies have been used for many years to alleviate various symptoms. They were used in ritual acts to reassure the Gods and as medication. Plants as rhubarb and ginseng were used in China long time ago. The Egyptians had knowledge of herbal medicine such as aloe, myrrh and henbane, 1550 BC. The father of medicine Hippocrates used a large number of herbal medicines, and had many theories on the subject.Different parts of the plant can be used to extract the active ingredients.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether or not stock returns increase abnormally over month ends on the Swedish stock exchange. Previous research has proven an international so called ?Turn-of-the-Month? effect where stock returns increase significantly over a few days around month ends. If the effect exists, it is a violation of Fama?s Efficient Market Hypothesis.

The aim of this paper is to describe how to measure welfare effect of the deregulation and increased competition of the public transport by railway in Sweden. The paper also includes a numerical example of how to measure the welfare effect. In our study we use public data from SJ regaring quantity and ticket prices for the period 1996 - 2005. We have used equivalent variation, EV, as the method to measure the welfare effect. We demonstrate how to derive the equation to calculate EV by starting with a Marschallian demand function.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the possible design of a horticultural therapy program in Swedish correctional treatment facilities. In the USA the use of horticultural therapy in offender rehabilitation is much more frequent compared with Sweden. The aim of these programs typically contains education for inmates. Research has been made indicating that these programs can have positive effects on psychosocial behavior and on vulnerability to substance abuse among incarcerated offenders. In this study the examples of these programs was categorized and analyzed from three perspectives; Vocational, social and therapeutic horticultural programs.

The role of Art in Healthcare and its requirements through a study of Diagnostic Center (DC), a Hospital with Art and Architecture integrated.Issues: Who selected Art for DC and on what foundations? How are Art and Architecture integrated, and what is the established knowledge of Art in Healthcare?Studies of reference material, theses, research articles and interviews. Hermeneutic and discourse analyses were used.Theorists: Barthes, Bourdieu, Foucault, Arnheim, Sjögren, Rasmussen.Results: A regional group selected local Art, mainly nonfigurative, and integrated it early in the architectural process. A stimulating non-traditional hospital environment with a modern design and two artists created work specifically for the environment.Art affects our Health and Caring Sciences is a scientific field that is studying how art affects patients and staff. It is relatively new but it is growing into a vast field of research, learning more about Art's effect on Health..

The purpose of this essay is to explain which factors influence the disciplinary effect of visible constant surveillance on the people under surveillance. In order to do this we have used recorded video from a tv-show called Big Brother, which is characterized by this kind of surveillance. In addition, an open-ended interview was performed with one of the participants from the show. We have, based on a number of theoretical assumptions, as well as reflections from the interview, precisely defined expected symptoms of the participants, that would indicate when the disciplinary effect was low respectively high. Our observations and analysis allows us to conclude that the disciplinary effect of surveillance in many situations is counteracted when surveillance is constant, leading to relatively low levels of disciplinary effect in Big Brother..