The aim of the study was to examine whether and how the combination of therapy and flotation tank could be used to treat patients with severe stress problems. Two women on long-term sick-leave, aged 55 and 58, participated in the study, which was carried out over a period of one year. One of these women was diagnosed as suffering from burn out depression and the other from fibromyalgia. The therapy program had several components: flotation-REST, group therapy, conversational therapy, and picture production. The clients kept journals and were the participants of deep interviews on two occasions. "The Empirical Phenomenological Psychological Method" (Karlsson, 1995) was used in the analysis, which generated four overarching themes: a) the therapeutic work model; b) transformation of feelings; c) self-insight; and d) meaning. These together constituted a "therapeutic circle" which after a while transformed into a "therapeutic spiral" of increased meaning and enhanced well-being.
This article focuses a Swedish puritan Salafi group that advocates a clear stance against the immorality and impurity that they perceive the surrounding Swedish (or "Western") society to represent. "Members" advocate a puritan Islamic lifestyle, based on what they perceive to be the examples of the prophet Muhammad and the "pious predecessors." The article analyzes issues pertaining to segregation/integration and emigration (hijra), according to the official ideology, and attempts to probe into how the group negotiates their particular minority situa tion being Swedish Salafis. Questions often touched upon, more or less explicit, concern whether a Salafi at all should live in Sweden and how he or she should relate to the surrounding Swedish society and to "oth ers," those not considered part of the in-group. The article analyses ideological and normative claims and frames this within the contempo rary Swedish setting and the presumed growth of Salafism.
This article discusses the contemporary European setting pertaining to Islamic interpretations, mainly so called Salafi Islam. The empirical material is based on publications by a Swedish group that conducts street da'wa, aiming to proselytize among non-Muslims. The ideology, as presented in official publications to be used for da'wa, is described and analyzed as part of a larger da'wa-movement with Salafi-inclinations in Europe. The group is not unique, but rather one example of many in Europe, at least concerning the activism advocated. The presentation of the group serves to reflect upon global influences and similarities among contemporary Islamic da'wa activism, as well as effects that the national context has on the choice of predominant themes addressed by the group as well as interpretative strategies used. The overarching aim with the article is to problematize the common usage of the concept Salafi among scholars of religion to describe and characterize contemporary Islamic groups of various kinds. The conclusion calls for a more nuanced approach concerning conceptualizations and the use of typologies in studying contemporary Islamic groups in a minority setting. S trategies used by minority Muslims to preserve and develop a Muslim identity in a Swedish contemporary context are sometimes expressed in an active engagement with proselytization in public space, aiming to Islamize society and expand the number of Muslims. In a European setting, Islamization relates to a large extent to the question of how to live as a believing and practicing Muslim in rather secularized surroundings. Different Islamic interpretations have developed in a European setting, where some are accommodating to the surroundings more easily or readily than others.Religion is present in the public sphere and religion gains space and voice and makes itself felt in various fields. Anthropologist Talal Asad, rejecting the simplicity of older secularization theories, states that When religion becomes an integral part of modern politics, it is not indifferent to debates about how the economy should be run, or which scientific projects should be publicly funded, or what the broader aims of a national education system bs_bs_banner
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