David W Mac Gillavry | Masaryk University (original) (raw)
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Papers by David W Mac Gillavry
Neuroscience Letters
Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including ... more Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine, the norepinephrine, the β-endorphin, the serotonin, and the oxytocin systems. The interaction between these different systems remains, however, largely unknown and a generally accepted unifying theory is thus far lacking. In this review, we suggest that galanergic suppression of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental may constitute the missing link in a post-traumatic feedback loop. In addition, we address the literature on the negative cross-antagonism in this brain region between the galanin 1 and μ-opioid receptors, which suggests that behavioural patterns which stimulate β-endorphin, a natural μ-opioid receptors ligand, secretion may provide novel avenues for the treatment and prevention of PTSD, as well as for recruitment, training, and leadership processes in high-stress/high-risk professions such as the military, first responders and the police.
European Psychiatry, 2021
IntroductionRecently, several studies have implicated the social context during a traumatic exper... more IntroductionRecently, several studies have implicated the social context during a traumatic experience in susceptibility to, and severity of, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although the precise mechanisms through which the social context affects the development of PTSD are unknown, it has been suggested that the neuropeptides oxytocin and β-endorphin may play a key role in this dynamic through their effects on both the locus coeruleus and the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine systems.ObjectivesThis experiment aims to identify in how far a formal social position, endowed by a recognised authority, modulates the stress response in cadets at the Czech military academy during a highly stressful training exercise.MethodsAs part of survival training, 40 cadets partake in a simulation of an avalanche. Although the maximum duration of the experience (being buried under snow) is 15 minutes, most cadets do not last longer than a few minutes with a significant portion requesting ter...
Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, May 31, 2023
Military Medicine
Introduction A deeper understanding of personality specifics in military personnel may increase t... more Introduction A deeper understanding of personality specifics in military personnel may increase the efficacy of health care professionals in this field. Changes in modern warfare require army officers to make decisions in complicated situations with increasing levels of autonomy. Character is traditionally regarded as a key quality in these dynamics. However, it remains unclear which character strengths are conducive to effective leadership in the military. The present study aims at mapping Czech Army cadets’ and professional soldiers’ perceptions of the character strengths of those officers, who they consider the best they served under. The study also examined how these perceptions vary across soldiers at different stages of their careers and how much they overlap with the same soldiers’ ratings of their own strengths. In addition, a regression analysis, to outline combinations of strengths for various aspects of character-based leadership, was performed. Materials and Methods Resp...
The late nineteenth and early twentieth century occultists saw themselves, more than ever before,... more The late nineteenth and early twentieth century occultists saw themselves, more than ever before, confronted with the intrusion of science on their traditional turfs. While occult phenomena were more and more explained by scientific discovery, the new science, psychology, took a stab at the workings of occult ritual. Under influence of these new challenges many occultists moved towards a more psychological interpretation of their rituals. In this paper I will demonstrate how “the great beast 666”, Aleister Crowley, dealt with these challenges and how they effected both his ideas and the development of his final philosophy.
As any historian will attest, there is no such thing as a complete account of past events. All th... more As any historian will attest, there is no such thing as a complete account of past events. All the available sources are, by definition, filtered through the conditions in which they were, either by human hands or natural processes, produced. The historian is therefore tasked with bridging the gaps in the available data and the consequent construction of a coherent narrative, which does justice to, at least the vast majority, of the available sources. Recently, several projects have emerged which break away from traditional, more speculative methods to tackle this problem and instead strive towards the implementation of methodologies derived from the exact sciences. Although the implementation of these approaches in the social sciences can at times be problematic, they hold the promise of great advances in our current understanding of historical events. One of these projects, GEHIR (Generative Historiography of Religion), established at Ma saryk University in Brno, hosted its first workshop on the 13th and 14th of November 2015 on "History from the Perspective of Mathematical and Computational Modelling and Network Analysis". The workshop aimed to address some of the key theoretical issues in the field and to introduce the GEHIR project to a wider audience. Consequently, the workshop had a predominantly exploratory character and much of the in-depth mathematics have remained untouched. Nevertheless, and perhaps because of this reluctance to discuss the mathematical underpinnings of the methodology, certain issues have been raised which are of vital importance to the emerging research field and may have serious consequences for historiography in general. Three key issues emerged over two days of presentations and discussions: data and data interpretation, mathematical models and their effectiveness in narrative formation and validation, and the interaction between models and data (i.e. modelling without data, on data or against data). Despite the somewhat rudimentary nature of these issues, the real value of the workshop, to my opinion, lies in the key insights that it yielded concerning these issues and the consequent questions these insights raise about
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2018
Secrecy is often studied as a social phenomenon in which certain information is concealed from a ... more Secrecy is often studied as a social phenomenon in which certain information is concealed from a targeted audience out of fear of the repercussions, if this information were to fall into the wrong hands. It is therefore surprising that people are relatively willing to share their secrets with others. Traditionally, this behaviour has been explained on the bases of the assumption that people are naturally inclined to reveal their secrets. However, new evidence from the cognitive sciences and social psychology calls this assumption, and thus the theories of secrecy which rely on it, into question. In this article I present a re-interpretation of secrecy in light of this new evidence and evaluate what implications this holds for the study of secrecy in religion.
The conference will research a particular aspect of the Western Esoteric Tradition, where groups ... more The conference will research a particular aspect of the Western Esoteric Tradition, where groups or individuals are willing to violate or break taboos, transgressing social and religious boundaries or values as part of their practices and beliefs. We will investigate whether the followers of illicit esoteric practices consider themselves to be effectively dissident, whether they wish to keep their practices public, private and what their objectives and motivations are for transgressing. However, the conference will not exclude societal or external perceptions since transgression maintains reactionary characteristics, generally in opposition to a perceived overpowering majoritarian presence. Finally, another key aspect will rest on historic investigation as the conceptualization of transgression is necessarily different within the context of Antiquity as opposed to the Renaissance or the Contemporary era.
Neuroscience Letters, 2021
Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including ... more Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine, the norepinephrine, the β-endorphin, the serotonin, and the oxytocin systems. The interaction between these different systems remains, however, largely unknown and a generally accepted unifying theory is thus far lacking. In this review, we suggest that galanergic suppression of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental may constitute the missing link in a post-traumatic feedback loop. In addition, we address the literature on the negative cross-antagonism in this brain region between the galanin 1 and μ-opioid receptors, which suggests that behavioural patterns which stimulate β-endorphin, a natural μ-opioid receptors ligand, secretion may provide novel avenues for the treatment and prevention of PTSD, as well as for recruitment, training, and leadership processes in high-stress/high-risk professions such as the military, first responders an...
Neuroscience Letters
Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including ... more Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine, the norepinephrine, the β-endorphin, the serotonin, and the oxytocin systems. The interaction between these different systems remains, however, largely unknown and a generally accepted unifying theory is thus far lacking. In this review, we suggest that galanergic suppression of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental may constitute the missing link in a post-traumatic feedback loop. In addition, we address the literature on the negative cross-antagonism in this brain region between the galanin 1 and μ-opioid receptors, which suggests that behavioural patterns which stimulate β-endorphin, a natural μ-opioid receptors ligand, secretion may provide novel avenues for the treatment and prevention of PTSD, as well as for recruitment, training, and leadership processes in high-stress/high-risk professions such as the military, first responders and the police.
European Psychiatry, 2021
IntroductionRecently, several studies have implicated the social context during a traumatic exper... more IntroductionRecently, several studies have implicated the social context during a traumatic experience in susceptibility to, and severity of, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although the precise mechanisms through which the social context affects the development of PTSD are unknown, it has been suggested that the neuropeptides oxytocin and β-endorphin may play a key role in this dynamic through their effects on both the locus coeruleus and the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine systems.ObjectivesThis experiment aims to identify in how far a formal social position, endowed by a recognised authority, modulates the stress response in cadets at the Czech military academy during a highly stressful training exercise.MethodsAs part of survival training, 40 cadets partake in a simulation of an avalanche. Although the maximum duration of the experience (being buried under snow) is 15 minutes, most cadets do not last longer than a few minutes with a significant portion requesting ter...
Brill | Nijhoff eBooks, May 31, 2023
Military Medicine
Introduction A deeper understanding of personality specifics in military personnel may increase t... more Introduction A deeper understanding of personality specifics in military personnel may increase the efficacy of health care professionals in this field. Changes in modern warfare require army officers to make decisions in complicated situations with increasing levels of autonomy. Character is traditionally regarded as a key quality in these dynamics. However, it remains unclear which character strengths are conducive to effective leadership in the military. The present study aims at mapping Czech Army cadets’ and professional soldiers’ perceptions of the character strengths of those officers, who they consider the best they served under. The study also examined how these perceptions vary across soldiers at different stages of their careers and how much they overlap with the same soldiers’ ratings of their own strengths. In addition, a regression analysis, to outline combinations of strengths for various aspects of character-based leadership, was performed. Materials and Methods Resp...
The late nineteenth and early twentieth century occultists saw themselves, more than ever before,... more The late nineteenth and early twentieth century occultists saw themselves, more than ever before, confronted with the intrusion of science on their traditional turfs. While occult phenomena were more and more explained by scientific discovery, the new science, psychology, took a stab at the workings of occult ritual. Under influence of these new challenges many occultists moved towards a more psychological interpretation of their rituals. In this paper I will demonstrate how “the great beast 666”, Aleister Crowley, dealt with these challenges and how they effected both his ideas and the development of his final philosophy.
As any historian will attest, there is no such thing as a complete account of past events. All th... more As any historian will attest, there is no such thing as a complete account of past events. All the available sources are, by definition, filtered through the conditions in which they were, either by human hands or natural processes, produced. The historian is therefore tasked with bridging the gaps in the available data and the consequent construction of a coherent narrative, which does justice to, at least the vast majority, of the available sources. Recently, several projects have emerged which break away from traditional, more speculative methods to tackle this problem and instead strive towards the implementation of methodologies derived from the exact sciences. Although the implementation of these approaches in the social sciences can at times be problematic, they hold the promise of great advances in our current understanding of historical events. One of these projects, GEHIR (Generative Historiography of Religion), established at Ma saryk University in Brno, hosted its first workshop on the 13th and 14th of November 2015 on "History from the Perspective of Mathematical and Computational Modelling and Network Analysis". The workshop aimed to address some of the key theoretical issues in the field and to introduce the GEHIR project to a wider audience. Consequently, the workshop had a predominantly exploratory character and much of the in-depth mathematics have remained untouched. Nevertheless, and perhaps because of this reluctance to discuss the mathematical underpinnings of the methodology, certain issues have been raised which are of vital importance to the emerging research field and may have serious consequences for historiography in general. Three key issues emerged over two days of presentations and discussions: data and data interpretation, mathematical models and their effectiveness in narrative formation and validation, and the interaction between models and data (i.e. modelling without data, on data or against data). Despite the somewhat rudimentary nature of these issues, the real value of the workshop, to my opinion, lies in the key insights that it yielded concerning these issues and the consequent questions these insights raise about
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 2018
Secrecy is often studied as a social phenomenon in which certain information is concealed from a ... more Secrecy is often studied as a social phenomenon in which certain information is concealed from a targeted audience out of fear of the repercussions, if this information were to fall into the wrong hands. It is therefore surprising that people are relatively willing to share their secrets with others. Traditionally, this behaviour has been explained on the bases of the assumption that people are naturally inclined to reveal their secrets. However, new evidence from the cognitive sciences and social psychology calls this assumption, and thus the theories of secrecy which rely on it, into question. In this article I present a re-interpretation of secrecy in light of this new evidence and evaluate what implications this holds for the study of secrecy in religion.
The conference will research a particular aspect of the Western Esoteric Tradition, where groups ... more The conference will research a particular aspect of the Western Esoteric Tradition, where groups or individuals are willing to violate or break taboos, transgressing social and religious boundaries or values as part of their practices and beliefs. We will investigate whether the followers of illicit esoteric practices consider themselves to be effectively dissident, whether they wish to keep their practices public, private and what their objectives and motivations are for transgressing. However, the conference will not exclude societal or external perceptions since transgression maintains reactionary characteristics, generally in opposition to a perceived overpowering majoritarian presence. Finally, another key aspect will rest on historic investigation as the conceptualization of transgression is necessarily different within the context of Antiquity as opposed to the Renaissance or the Contemporary era.
Neuroscience Letters, 2021
Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including ... more Several neuroendocrine systems have been implicated in post-traumatic stress disorder, including the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine, the norepinephrine, the β-endorphin, the serotonin, and the oxytocin systems. The interaction between these different systems remains, however, largely unknown and a generally accepted unifying theory is thus far lacking. In this review, we suggest that galanergic suppression of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental may constitute the missing link in a post-traumatic feedback loop. In addition, we address the literature on the negative cross-antagonism in this brain region between the galanin 1 and μ-opioid receptors, which suggests that behavioural patterns which stimulate β-endorphin, a natural μ-opioid receptors ligand, secretion may provide novel avenues for the treatment and prevention of PTSD, as well as for recruitment, training, and leadership processes in high-stress/high-risk professions such as the military, first responders an...