WCP 2025

The main objective of the study was to find out the psycho-social factors, consequences and mitigation strategies of mental illness.  An exploratory and descriptive institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2017 to September 2018, among three hundred fifty-two (352) families of Persons with mental illness and ten (10) mental health professionals which were selected using availability sampling. The study employed a mixed concurrent triangulation method with the aim of triangulation and consequently to produce a richer and more complete report.  A survey questionnaire, FGD guide, and semi-structured interview were developed and used to explore the stated problems.  The quantitative data analyzed using mean, percentile ranks, and proportions whereas the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis.  The study revealed the psychological factors perceived to cause mental illness, to name the major ones, poor parenting, parental loss, childhood maltreatment, violence, excessive worry for long period of time (frustrations), extreme  concern to others, inferiority feelings, low self-esteem, over discouragement of oneself, regret (self-blame), low self-confidence, overconfidence, fail to share ones concern, incongruence between ideal life and  actual life, and stressors mainly death of loved one and significant others, unexpected material and financial losses, morass  in huge financial indebt, firing from job, and divorce. The study also divulged the sociological (social) factors perceived to cause mental illness which are poverty, unemployment, social deprivation, poor social capital, family disharmony, the culture of dependency on family, unable to establish marriage (being not married), and substance abuse.  This study also disclosed the psychosocial consequences PWMI are facing, namely, feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem, anger, shame, embarrassment, regret, excessive worry for having the illness, loneliness, hopelessness, loss of respect, diminished social capital (breakdown of friendship), stigma, discrimination and isolation, mistreatments, insult (humiliation), violation of civil and political rights, suicide, inequalities, challenges to secure employment, poor achievement, and disable to work productively. On the other hand, the study unveiled the psychosocial mitigating strategies Person with mental illness employed as a retort to the psycho-social consequences (challenges) of mental illness they were facing.  These were praying to God, moral building (psychological empowerment), encourage the practice of self-looking (introspection), making oneself busy, self-group creation, denial, reaction formation, hide in a home (self-isolation), and being silent (repression).  The study finally recommended some measures to curb issues “related to mental illness”and Person with mental illness.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a psychotherapy based on the concept of transpersonal wholeness, integrating body, mind, and spirit, the Unification Therapy, and a psychotherapeutic tool, the Psychic Compass. Based on the Holy Trinity in Christian theology and the Tai Chi thought in Chinese philosophy, this study identifies the common element - the unity of heaven and man - in the cultural sources of the East and the West, and uses it to explain the laws of mental activities and the causes of psychological problems, and illustrates the use and effectiveness of this therapy and tool through empirical evidence and case studies.
For the theoretical basis of unification therapy, this paper adopts the conceptual analysis method, analyzing the dynamic balance contained in the Holy Trinity and Tai Chi through the concept of “opening and closing”, pointing out the inherent health model of “unification of heaven and man”. Combining ideas from Genesis and the Book of Changes, we assert that man, as the Image of God and the incarnation of Tao, derives all psychological and spiritual motivation fundamentally from the First Motive, the dynamics of the Tao, that is, the quest for love, fulfillmen, and unity, and thus emphasizes the self-healing and integrity of the life force. At the operational level, this study proposes eight intervention methods: tonic, cathartic, publicizing, connecting, gathering, dispersing, opening and closing. Technically, we introduces the “eight layers of mind” and the “eight steps of Tai Chi”, which describe different levels of the spiritual world and steps of experiencing the spiritual world respectively, and is materialized through the tool of the “ Psychic Compass”. Through “Psychic Compass”, users can precisely locate each level of the mind, identify their own feelings and motivations, so as to achieve inner balance and self-integration.
Regarding the efficacy of the Unification Therapy, this study focused on a group of trainees (aged 25-45 years old, with an education level of middle school or above, including social workers, healthcare workers, psychologists, etc.) in a public welfare program in Hebei Province, China, in 2016, and used a pre- and post-treatment control design. The 80 trainees who had completed 8 sessions of “Unification Therapy - Psychic Compass” were selected to take the pre-test, immediate post-intervention test, and 6-week follow-up test through standardized psychological scales (SAS, SDS, SCL-90) and subjective assessment, and were analyzed by t-test of related samples using SPSS 18.0. The results showed that the total scores of SAS, SDS and SCL-90 of the trainees decreased significantly after the intervention (p<0.01), indicating a significant increase in the level of psychological well-being; in the 6-week post-tracking test, the scores of anxiety and depression indices as well as the dimensions of the SCL-90 were still significantly lower than the baseline level, and there was no significant difference from the post-intervention data, confirming that there is a stability of the therapeutic efficacy.
Unification Therapy provides an innovative approach to cross-cultural psychotherapy, combining spiritual depth and practicality to help individuals realize holistic health through the fusion of Eastern and Western wisdom. The efficacy of the Psychic Compass technique is long-lasting and can be extended to a wide range of occupational groups, providing a new pathway for mental health interventions that is both culturally integrative and empirically supported.