Peter la Cour

MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

Situated in a secular culture, this study examined the relationship between four dimensions of health and a number of existential, religious, and spiritual/religious practice variables in questionnaires sampled from 480 Danish hospital patients. Illness dimensions were: self-rated health, severity of illness, illness duration, and recent changes in...

The topic of pain acceptance can be clinically difficult to raise in a respectful way. This article introduces a method of managing the topic of pain acceptance in daily clinical practice: The clinical pain acceptance Q-sort. The Q-sort procedure comprises 13 small cards with printed statements concerning pain acceptance on the one side, score numb...

This article proposes a framework of concepts for the field of existential meaning-making in secular cultures such as those of Northern Europe. Seeking an operational approach, we have narrowed the field's components down to a number of basic domains and dimensions that provide a more authentic cultural basis for research in secular society. Review...

Complementary-alternative medicine (CAM) has been widely used by rheumatic patients for many years, but doctors are often unaware of the actual use. This study aimed at patients' experience and perceptions of CAM as a way for long-term coping with illness. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with patients sampled by contact with voluntary pa...

The aim of the study was to analyse associations of religiosity and mortality in a secular region. The sample consisted of 734 Danish, community dwelling elderly persons, living in a secular culture, and all aged 70 when primary data were collected. Secondary data consisted of a 20 year follow-up on vital status or exact age of death. The study was...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic was a global health and economic crisis. In the early phase of the pandemic, studies found that populations were reporting lower levels of mental well-being and high levels of distress and worry. This study investigated potential protective and risk factors such as sociodemographics and psychological factors such as...

Anmeldelse afKræft og eksistens - om at leve med kræftaf Bo Jacobsen, Stine Dalsgaard Jørgensen og Susanne Eilenberger JørgensenDansk psykologisk Forlag, 1998, 320 s. - kr. 248,-

“The existential” is a concept that many people use albeit associated with different meanings. In order to increase research-based insight into the meaning of “the existential,” we conducted a questionnaire study in Denmark in 2018 in which we asked 1.106 Danes of various age, gender, educational and geographical background about personal associati...

Objective Although considered the first-line psychological treatment of chronic pain, cognitive behavioural therapy has recently been criticized as being too limited, insufficient, and sometimes ineffective in the treatment of chronic pain patients. Moreover, important existential perspectives are sparsely or not at all integrated into CBT. We ther...

Background: Neuropathic pain and other pain disorders have received attention as potential indications for use of cannabis-based medicines or medical cannabis (CBM/MC). Evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of CBM/MC for pain disorders is, however, insufficient. Denmark introduced a pilot program of medical cannabis in January 2018. We aimed...

Forord til temanummeret om COVID-19, religion og trivsel i Danmark.

Dette er en oversigt over Coronasygdommens første måneder i Danmark.

During the first COVID-19 lockdown, public health officials and political decision makers were aware that the lockdown would have some sort of psychological repercussion, but it was totally unknown what reactions the disease would evoke. This article investigates how the physical and mental health (well-being) were affected. Data from the COVID-19...

Først og fremmest forklarer appendikset operationaliseringen af surveyet. Dernæst præsenteres beregningerne af forskellige skalaer, det drejer sig om religiøsitet og forskellige skalaer der adresserer det psykiske og eksistentielle velvære. Endelig præsenterer og diskuterer vi problemerne ved at sammenligne surveys indsamlet til forskellig tid og m...

COVID-19 satte den danske befolkning i en ny og ukendt situation. Så befolkningens vurderinger af risiko og heraf følgende forholdsregler imod smitte var umiddelbart afhængige af de informationer, der blev udbredt gennem pressen. Statens pressehåndtering og mediernes brede opbakning som bliver behandlet trin for trin fra 11. marts til begyndelsen a...

I denne artikel undersøges det, hvorvidt COVID-19-krisens første nedlukning har påvirket danskernes eksistentielt i form øget oplevelse af mening i livet og eller givet anledning til eksistentiel krise, samt om bestemte karakteristika er forbundet hermed. Vi fandt, at et stort flertal gav udtryk for håb og tillid til sekulære ressourcer såsom viden...

Medically unexplained symptoms have been debated for centuries. This book review contemporary research on the topic, kills 7 myths of psychosomatic assumptions and offer a new four-dimensional model for health and illness. The book is in Danish

People with chronic widespread pain (CWP) are often unfit for work, and consequently they are dependent on the municipality job center to receive social support and sickness benefits. The job center’s case management is based on a social worker’s assessment of the citizen’s health condition. This qualitative study investigates social workers’ under...

This study explores how patients with chronic widespread pain experience their contacts with health and social services in Denmark, including general practice, hospitals, and municipality job centers. We analyzed interviews with 10 patients using interpretative phenomenological analysis and found the following four superordinate themes: meeting dif...

Psychological treatment of pain

Psychological pain theory. In Danish

The Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Questionnaire (SoMe) offers dimensional measures of meaningfulness, crisis of meaning, and 26 sources of meaning. It allows for a clearer understanding of the variety of existential orientations, which are known to be linked to both mental and physical health. The Norwegian version of the SoMe was validate...

This study presents psychometric properties of the Danish version of the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life scale (SoMe-Da) and associations to socio-demographic and religious characteristics. Participants were 554 Danes, 66% women ranging in age between 15 and 91 years. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested a five factor structure for th...

Zusammenfassung Existentielle Fragen schwingen in Beratung, Therapie oder Seelsorge immer mit. Dennoch ist das Sprechen darüber für beide Seiten schwierig – vor allem, wenn nicht auf religiöses Vokabular zurückgegriffen werden kann oder will. Erkenntnisse der empirischen Sinnforschung eröffnen alternative Zugänge. Die LeBe-Kartenmethode ist ein sta...

Functional movement disorders include motor dysfunctions which are not explained by relevant neurological examination. The prevalence of the disorders is relatively high (10-15%) within an ordinary neurological patient group. Untreated, prognosis for the conditions is poor, and neurological imaging has not yet provided explanatory hypotheses. Treat...

Background and aim: Chronic pain conditions can be diagnosed and treated in both somatic and psychiatric settings. It is still a discussed and unanswered question whether the two groups of patients differ. The purpose of this short article is to inform further reflections concerning the classifications of somatoform pain and complex pain. Method:...

The Psychological Well-Being–Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ) is an 18-item self-report measure for assessing perceived changes in psychological well-being following traumatic events. The aim of the study was to translate, adapt, and test a Danish-language version of the questionnaire and to compare the measure with the Posttraumatic...

Existential themes and meaning in life are often embedded in all types of psychotherapy, but can be difficult to handle in a systematic way. This article presents a method of assessing and exploring sources of personal meaning with a client during a 1-hour session. The method is rooted in existential theory as well in contemporary empirical psychol...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe and predict the patients who would benefit from a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course and those for whom the conditions or timing are not optimal. The hypothesis was that patients' sociodemographic status would affect the effectiveness of MBSR. Methods: Data were collected by usin...

The aim was to explore transformations of religiosity experienced by Danish Pentecostals following a crisis and religiously integrated group psychotherapy. The study included semistructured interviews with 18 participants. The qualitative method of interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied for generating and analyzing the data-material....

Forståelsen af de funktionelle lidelser er på alle måder kom-pleks: sprogforbistringen, den rodede diagnostiske klassifika-tion og det uafklarede omkring årsager til sygdommene. Der fremlaegges i artiklen nutidige positioner omkring sygdoms-forståelse og sygdomsmodeller, og der fremlaegges to ganske forskelligartede psykologiske positioner i relati...

The Injustice Experience Questionnaire has shown promising ability to predict problematic rehabilitation in pain conditions, especially concerning work status. A Danish language version of the Injustice Experience Questionnaire was developed and completed by 358 patients with long-lasting pain/somatoform symptoms. These patients also completed ques...

The different meditation techniques all have roots in religion, but a few have become very popular in secular versions; especially the MBSR mindfulness program. In research, the different meditation techniques are often blended and just labelled “meditation.” This term might be too broad comprising lifelong meditation practices for hours a day as w...

Background The Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ, 20 items) measures patients’ acceptance of chronic pain. This questionnaire has demonstrated good psychometric qualities and versions have been validated in several different languages. This study describes the validation of the Danish version of the CPAQ. Methods A total of 114 patients...

Within the social scientific study of religion, there has been a significant amount of research on spirituality, especially in the area of health and well-being. Despite this, the term spirituality remains poorly defined and understood. There have been only a small number of studies that have examined the semantics of spirituality. The aim of the p...

Background Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and indirect self-harm are prevalent among adolescents, but it is rare to see them described as related topics. Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between the frequencies of NSSI and indirect self-harm (e.g., eating problems, alcohol and drug use) and how...

Objective This randomized controlled clinical trial investigated the effects of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain.DesignA total of 109 patients with nonspecific chronic pain were randomized to either a standardized mindfulness meditation program (mindfulness-based stress reduction [MBSR]) or to a wait list control.Methods Pain, physical functi...

Background: Meaning-making has been elucidated in existential psychology as well as psychology of religion, acknowledging that sources of meaning are manyfold. Yet, very few measures have been developed to encompass both secular and religious/spiritual dimensions of meaning-making. The development of the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life Quest...

Although widely used, we know very little of the meaning of the word spirituality in secular, non-English speaking societies, and different understandings might lead to misunderstandings and unclear communication. This empirical study compares a theologian and a lay group on their understandings of the term spirituality by analysis of a questionnai...

Spirituality is a growing research theme, especially in relation to health issues. The term is often poorly defined and one's understanding is often so broad that it becomes a mere frame word devoid of meaning. In this study, we asked 514 adult Danes about their understanding of the word `spirituality'. Factor analysis of the answers resulted in si...

Background / Purpose: The topic of acceptance is a key concept in pain management. Presented here, the clinical q-sort is a simple method to assess and make conversations of such issues. Main conclusion: The clinical pain acceptance q-sort results in 1) presentation of the idea of acceptance for the patient; 2) an assessment of pain acceptance...

Background / Purpose: Within general chronic pain conditions, mindfulness meditation is widely used, but also poorly investigated under controlled research settings. This study presents the first data from a high quality (Veehof/Jadad/Cochrane quality criteria), large sample, RCT study of general chronic pain patients in standard hospital setting...

Spirituality is a growing research theme, especially in relation to health issues. The term is often poorly defined and one's understanding is often so broad that it becomes a mere frame word devoid of meaning. In this study, we asked 514 adult Danes about their understanding of the word 'spirituality'. Factor analysis of the answers resulted in si...

Religiøs coping er defineret som den rolle, religion, spiritualitet og eksistenstaenkning spiller, når mennesker mødes af sygdom og krise. Den tanke, at religion altid vil hjaelpe til med at gøre det ubaerlige i sygdom og krise nemmere at baere, er besnaeren-de, men så enkel er virkeligheden desvaerre ikke. I dette kapitel gennemgås, hvad forskning...

Artiklens udgangspunkt er den klassiske skelnen mellem videnskabelige data og videnskabelig tolkning. Der fremlægges og diskuteres tre psykologisk-videnskabelige forsøg på besvarelse af forholdet mellem de utolkede data og de værdibærende tolkninger: 1. Forsøget på at definere og operere med en videnskab, der alene består af objektive forhold. Dett...

Siden starten af 1990’erne har sundhedssystemet i stigende grad været præget af evidensbaseret medicin, dvs. nogle retningslinjer for kliniske beslutningsprocesser, der følger ganske bestemte procedurer, som skulle sikre, at behandling er up to date og i overensstemmelse med den bedst tilgængelige viden. Evidens-logikken har bredt sig langt ud over...

The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether Danish patients have existential and religious thoughts and if these thoughts are intensified by illness and hospital admittance. Furthermore, we wish to investigate if patients have a higher degree of religious practice during illness and hospital admittance. 480 patient-handled questionnai...

Artiklen er en kort introduktion til religionspsykologiens historie, opdelt efter område: USA, Europa og Danmark.

Religion fylder meget i det offentlige rum og den politiske debat i disse år. Migration og oplevelser af meningstab på mange niveauer har bidraget til, at emnet er blevet (gen)aktualiseret som både en faktor i konfrontationer mellem grupperinger af mennesker og en faktor i menneskers oplevelse af tilhør, identitet, mening og sygdomshelbredelse. Sid...

Anmeldelse af:Rachel Darnley-Smith & Helen M. Patey: Musikterapi Oversat og bearbejdet til danske forhold af Lars Ole Bonde og Hanne Mette Ochsner Ridder Dansk psykologisk Forlag, 2007, 264 s.

The Visual Gestalt Test is a neuropsychological instrument developed for evaluation of learning and memory of visuo-spatial material. A revised strategy of scoring has motivated the present study, where data from 153 normal persons, 99 epilepsy patients, and 24 depressed patients are presented and compared. The Visual Gestalt Test is observed to di...

Reviews the book, Attachment, Evolution, and the Psychology of Religion by Lee A. Kirkpatrick (see record 2005-03323-000). The author is well known for his earlier writings on attachment and religion. The reader gets the full story here: attachment theory in general, God seen as an attachment figure, and individual differences in religion-related a...

Religiøs modenhed anses ofte for at være et rent normativt og religiøst relativt begreb, men man kan forsøge en indholdsbestemmelse af begrebet ved en sammenstilling med religionsuafhængige faktorer som (mental) sundhed og psykologisk tidsfølge (udvikling). Denne artikel gennemgår centrale dele af de sidste 100 års religionspsykologiske teorier og...

Duplik til Pehr Granqvist

Nutidig psykologisk forskning har set religion i lyset af attachmentprocesser. Især har forskerne L.A. Kirkpatrick og Pehr Granqvist stået for den teoretiske udvikling og den empiriske underbygning af feltet. I denne artikel gennemgås deres centrale arbejder i kronologisk orden og med en kritisk vinkel – særligt omkring teoriernes empiriske grundla...

Forholdet til det onde synes at konstituere to væsensforskellige tolkninger af tilværelsen, der modstilles i denne artikel. Tolkningerne beskrives i tre brydningsfelter: 1. eksistentielt/religiøst ved modstillingen »gnostocisme/orthodoksi«, 2. personlighedspsykologisk ved modstillingen af William James’ typologi »eenfødt/tvefødt« og 3. socialpsykol...

Anmeldelse af Psykodynamisk leksikon. Redigeret af Ole Andkjær Olsen 992 sider, 499 kr.

Patterns in the psychological defenses of medical students may have implications for the way they handle and respond to the pressures and developmental issues they encounter in medical school and beyond. Using the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ40) to assess psychological defenses, a sample of first-year Danish medical students was compared with a...

La Cour, P. & Gallagher, K. (1990). Presentation and evaluation of Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Nordisk Psykologi, 42, 130–141.The article presents an evaluation of the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test, a test battery for illuminating impaired memory function. The RBMT has recently been published in Danish together with a short review of its...