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The impact of transpersonal psychology techniques as a treatment in burnout prevention interventions for teachers has not been studied in South Africa. This quantitative research study utilised a pre-and post-test quasi-

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is an illness that is characterized by debilitating fatigue. Few non‐treatment‐based epidemiological studies have been conducted in assessing rates of this disorder. Problems in conducting non‐community‐based prevalence studies are discussed. In addition, pilot data showing strategies to reach people afflicted with CFS are presented. It is argued that community‐based epidemiological efforts are needed in order to estimate prevalence rates of this disorder.

Teaching is one of the most stressful occupations, with high stress and burnout levels of teachers necessitating intervention. This is especially relevant for South African teachers tasked with additional responsibilities of dealing with HIV/AIDS issues, as well as attending to normal curricula duties. A burnout prevention intervention, based on Paulo Freire's adult educational approach, using transpersonal psychology techniques, was introduced to HIV/AIDS coordinator teachers (n = 27) at high-risk schools in the Western Cape, South Africa, who attended six three-hour weekly workshops. This paper presents the bottom-up thematic analyses of the group, as well as individual global analysis (n = 10) of the qualitative data, derived from focus group interviews and workshop evaluations after the intervention, providing insights into the experiences of workshop participants and their teaching contexts. The mind map of one participant is illustrated. The findings of the study confirmed that transpersonal practices (TP) presented in psychoeducation workshops were helpful in mediating stress and burnout in the work and personal contexts of teachers dealing with HIV/AIDS. TP offer practical applications of right brain emotional and social intelligence practices that could be incorporated into care and wellness school programmes for teachers vulnerable to stressors related to HIV/AIDS.

Evolutionary brain responses to threat suggested three psychoeducational group interventions for perceived stress and burnout reduction. The interventions were based on trauma release exercises for primal brain response, transpersonal psychology for paleomammalian emotional brain functions, and transactional analysis for neomammalian cognitive brain insights. In total, 43 teachers in high-risk schools on the Cape Flats, Western Cape, South Africa, participated in one of the three different interventions, which were conducted in group sessions for 15 hr over 10 weeks. Twenty teachers were part of the control group. This pilot study, with a before-after control research design, utilised the Perceived Stress Scale for perception of stress and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory for personal, work, and learner burnout. Multivariate comparison of trauma release exercises, transpersonal psychology, and transactional analysis intervention groups with the control group yielded significant effects for interventions within and between groups. The findings suggested that evolutionary insights into the brain’s response to threat can provide a basis from which to design stress and burnout interventions.