Hand Washing Rituals Research Articles

A ritualistic reading of Mark 7:1–23

This article examines the ritual dynamics and identity negotiation in Mark 7:1–23, aiming to unpack the complex interaction between ritual practices and social identity in early Christian communities. Drawing on ritual theory from anthropology and sociology, this research analyses the significance of ritual purity and its implications for group identity formation and maintenance. Mark 7:1–23 presents a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees about the observance of the handwashing ritual before meals, highlighting opposing understandings of purity and religious tradition between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus’s critique of an external ritual of handwashing as an identity marker emphasises the purity of the heart as a valid identity marker for all children of God. Through a ritualistic reading of Mark 7:1–23, this article seeks to explore the role played by rituals in identity formation in antiquity. By engaging with ritual theory as a lens to unpack the Pharisees’ perspective and that of Jesus on what identifies a true child of God, this article aims to offer insights into the complexities of identity as understood by both Jesus’s early movement and the Pharisees.Contribution: This interdisciplinary study of Mark 7:1–23 utilises ritual theory to expose the interaction between ritual practices and identity negotiation within early Christian communities, revealing how Jesus’s critique of external rituals facilitated the formation of a distinctively Christian identity centred on inner transformation and ethical conduct.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder onset and COVID-19 pandemic: Is there a relation between both?

IntroductionObsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviors (compulsions). Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, a lot of people developed fears of contamination or being infected.ObjectivesTo describe a clinical case and discuss the diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in context of COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe data was achieved through patient’s and his family. For the literature review we searched the terms: “OCD” and “COVID-19 Pandemic”.Results45 years-old, male, single. He has a generalised anxiety disorder since 2010. At July 2020, the patient asked for help due to worsening of symptoms. Before the appointment, he was waiting outside because he didn’t feel comfortable in the waiting room. When he touch anything unintentionally, he wash his hands immediately. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, he stopped working because he was too afraid of being infected. He started to think a lot about SARS-COV2 contamination, avoiding all public places, depending on his mother and friends to do basic daily tasks. His thoughts led to cleaning and hand-washing rituals, spending a lot of time. Those symptoms are egodystonic, have a huge impact on global functioning and are not explained by normative fear or protection measures. During 10 years of psychiatric follow-up he never showed obsessive-compulsive symptoms.ConclusionsThis case is an example of OCD onset during the COVID-19 pandemic in a patient with an anxiety disorder (without previous obsessive-compulsive symptoms). He has improved after paroxetine 60mg and risperidone 1mg daily, as well as cognitive behaviour therapy weekly.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

When psychosis follows obsession – a schizo-obsessive disorder case report

IntroductionThe relation between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and psychosis presents in different ways. While obsessive-compulsive symptoms can present as prodromes of schizophrenia, or in overlap with psychotic phenomenology, a new clinical entity as been proposed as a subgroup of schizophrenia: the schizo-obsessive disorder.ObjectivesThe present review aims to emphasize the comorbility between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, bringing to light the importance of early detection and adequate treatment approaches.MethodsThe authors describe the patient’s disease progression and discuss the longitudinal dynamics between obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, providing a brief and updated literature overview.ResultsThe illustrated case addresses a 31-year-old male patient diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at the age of 16, who later developed delusional ideation compatible with a schizophrenia diagnosis. At the onset of disease, the patient developed obsessive-compulsive symptoms such counting and repetitive hand-washing rituals that later turned into sexual obsessions concerning homossexuality. Following his 25th birthday, the patient became increasingly disorganized with frequent agressive outbursts toward his family and the obsessive egodystonic ideation turned into delusional egosyntonic ideation. Over the years, the patient shows intermittent obsessive-compulsive behavior while sustaining schizophrenia symptoms, particularly the negative symptoms.ConclusionsDespite the controversy associated with the recently proposed new subgroup of schizophrenia, the schizo-obsessive disorder, we believe the patient described fits the diagnosis. Clinicians managing patients of schizophrenia should evaluate the patients thoroughly for presence of comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms/disorder and must take the same into account while managing the patients.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

The last Talmudic demon? The role of ritual in cultural transmission.

Recent work on the evolution of religion has approached religions as adaptive complexes of traits consisting of cognitive, neurological, affective, behavioural and developmental features that are organized into a self-regulating feedback system. Religious systems, it has been argued, derive from ancestral ritual systems and continue to be fuelled by ritual performances. One key prediction that emerges from this systemic approach is that the success of religious beliefs will be related to how well they are connected to rituals and integrated with other elements of the religious system. Here, I examine this prediction by exploring the rich world of Jewish demonology. As a case study, I briefly survey the historical trajectory of demonic beliefs across Jewish communities and focus on one demon, a ruach ra'ah, that has survived the vicissitudes of Jewish history and maintained its relevance in contemporary Jewish communities. I argue that it has done so because of its linkage with a morning handwashing ritual and its effective integration into the core elements of Jewish religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.

Mean diffusivity related to rule-breaking guilt: the Macbeth effect in the sensorimotor regions

Guilt, a self-conscious emotion, includes self-focused role taking and also correlates with other-oriented role-taking. Excess guilt proneness might be relevant to obsessive compulsive disorders. The white matter (WM) neural correlates of the degree of guilt have not yet been determined. We hypothesized that the WM structures involved in feelings of guilt are associated with social and moral cognition (inferior parietal lobule [IPL], prefrontal cortex [PFC], and cingulate), and aimed to visualize this using diffusion MRI. We investigated the association between regional WM structures (WM volume, and fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity [MD]), and feelings of guilt in 1196 healthy, young students using MRI and the Guilty Feeling Scale, which comprises interpersonal situation (IPS; guilt from hurting friends) and rule-breaking situation (RBS; deontological guilt) scores. The primary novel finding presented here is that MD in the right somatosensory and motor cortices from arm to hand were positively correlated with RBS scores. Further, consistent with our hypothesis, RBS scores were positively correlated with MD in the same regions. These results would be predicted by the Macbeth effect, an obsession with dirt leading to hand-washing rituals resulting from guilt, made famous by the Shakespearian character Lady Macbeth. “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, 1606) Macbeth.

Case 1: A 15-month-old boy with bilateral upper extremity burns

A 15-month-old boy was playing outside at a private home daycare. After returning inside, the daycare provider washed the toddler’s hands in the sink under running water. The child cried, as he always did, during this daily hand-washing ritual. Over the next hour, the child continued to cry and the skin on his hands began to blister. His mother was immediately notified and she brought him to a local emergency department, where the physician noted blistered partial-thickness burns to both hands with sharp demarcation lines of erythema extending around both wrists suggesting an immersion pattern (Figures 1 and ​and2).2). The physician reported the case to local child protection authorities because the appearance of this ‘glove-type’ pattern of burn injury suggested an immersion mechanism. Figure 1) Extensive blistering of palmar surfaces with sharp demarcation at the wrists Figure 2) Less blistering of the dorsal surface of the hand, although the line of demarcation is still apparent A police investigation was conducted based on local protocols for child protection investigations, and included a site visit, measurement of the water temperature at the sink and the water heater, and a detailed re-enactment of events by the daycare provider. This was a previously well child with no other injuries. The daycare is a well-established home daycare with an unblemished safety record. Investigators determined that the water reached a maximum temperature of 55.5°C (131.9° Fahrenheit) at the sink. The provider demonstrated how she had stood behind the child to assist him with hand washing over a period of 15 s to 30 s. The water had been running the entire time while the other two children washed their hands. Neither the caregiver nor the other children’s hands were burned.

Mark's and Matthew's "Sub Rosa" Message in the Scene of Pilate and the Crowd

This essay deals with the scene of Pilate and the crowd in Mark and Matthew. In it I suggest that the scene presents a classic, universal, and timeless trope of subaltern-dominant discourse in which the subaltern plays the role of the domi nant, and the dominant unsuccessfully attempts to play the role of the subaltern. The presentation is idealized, not naturalistic or realistic. The narratives are dis guised to contain hidden messages intended to be understood by subaltern Jews but not by dominant Gentiles/Romans, lest the subalterns be subjected to punishment. Rather than being anti-Jewish, as has been commonly held, the narratives, when correctly understood, are, like all subaltern portrayals of subaltern-dominant rela tions, partisanly pro-subaltern/Jewish and anti-dominant/Roman. The literary genre is Roman mime with an additional strong influence from Pharisaic-style parody in a foreign setting, and specifically Esther as the template. In Mark, the actors and the scene portray Caesar and the crowd at the Roman games. The idealized message is that Jesus' trial is quintessentially illegal. In addition to mime, Matthews far more sophisticated psychological narrative draws on classical Greek drama and hidden allusions from rabbinic law. In Matthew, Pilate's perform ance of the Jewish hand-washing ritual is a farce that ironically results in the crowd acclaiming Jesus by providentially accepting Jesus' same-day offer of his blood.

Uses Of Blood: Re-Reading Matt. 27:25

‘The entire people cry out, “His blood be on us and on our children.”’ Is this the epochal ‘no’ of Israel renouncing its birthright? The legal precedent is not in delict but in contract, in treaties and covenants in which an entire people bind themselves and their descendants, their entire nation, in perpetuity by an imprecatory curse-oath identifying themselves and their descendants with a blood sacrifice that seals the contract. Legally, treaties and covenants require contemporaneous ratification. The author of Matthew’s gospel obtains the acclamations of the other actors, Pilate, the soldiers, the chief priests, scribes and elders and from the sign atop the cross by the formulaic talisman, ‘King of the Jews’ or ‘Israel’s King’ that each recite. He obtains the crowd’s acclamation from Pilate using together the words ‘Christ’ (Messiah) and ‘blood’ and employing a Jewish hand washing ritual. The purpose of the hand washing ritual was to forgive Israel for the guilt of innocent blood. However, Pilate uses this ritual meant to forgive Israel for its extreme opposite perverse purpose to condemn Israel. But the crowd uses the words ‘blood on’ in a different sense that evades Pilate’s request. ‘Blood on’ in the sacrificial system meant acceptance of a sacrificial blood offering.

Hand Washing Rituals in Trauma Theatre: Clean or Dirty?

The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of contamination of a surgeon's hand following use of chlorhexidine gluconate or alcohol gel as disinfectants. In this prospective, randomised trial, orthopaedic surgeons were allocated to one of two different hand-washing protocols using a randomisation table. The hand-washing protocol dictated that all surgeons should wash for 5 min with chlorhexidine for their first case. Thereafter, the surgeon was randomised to wash for 3 min with either alcohol gel or chlorhexidine. At the end of each procedure, the gloves of each surgeon were carefully removed and the fingertips from each hand were placed on an agar plate. The number of bacterial colonies present after 24 h and 48 h of incubation were recorded for each agar plate by a microbiologist blinded to the washing protocol used. Overall, 41 procedures and 82 episodes of hand washings were included in the study. Two episodes were discarded due to contamination at the time of glove removal. Four hands (8%) were contaminated in the chlorhexidine group compared to 19 (34%) in the alcohol group. Fisher's exact test confirmed a significantly higher risk of contamination using alcohol gel compared to chlorhexidine (P = 0.002). In addition, the average bacterial colony count was substantially higher in the alcohol group (20 colony forming units) compared to the chlorhexidine group (5 colony forming units). There was no relationship between the duration of surgery and the degree of contamination (P = 1.12). Alcohol gel disinfectant is not a suitable alternative to chlorhexidine when hand washing before surgery. This study has identified a higher risk of bacterial contamination of surgeons' hands washed with alcohol. This may lead to higher levels of postoperative infection in the event of glove perforation.

An automated aversion device in the treatment of a compulsive handwashing ritual

A 49-yr-old male with a long history of compulsive handwashing was treated by the implementation of a self-control procedure. This turned out to be effective only when a powerful external reinforcer (shock) was added to the procedure to increase the patient's capacity for initiating self-control. Ritualistic handwashing had virtually ceased after 42 days and remained absent at 12 months' follow-up.

The Hand-washing Ritual of the Mulaha Papuans

THE HAND-WASHING RITUAL OF THE MULAHA PAPUANS JOHN H. MENKES, M.D.* Though this be a method, yet there is madness int. For the last eight years the peculiar and as yet poorly explained handwashing ritualseenamongstthe Mulahas ofsoutheasternPapuahas aroused considerable attention in anthropological circles. Fr. Jaques de Saville-Poumade, who in the years 1878 to 1880 traveled up the coast of Papua from Buna to Lae, was the first to observe this ceremony, and an account ofit, as extracted from his work, Voyages d'un homme de Dieu [?], offers a most apt portrayal: It was then, having just settled myself for the night, my favorite Pensées under the knapsack, that I saw three ofdiem emerge from behind the row oftrees on die bank facing my night camp. They descended to theriver, and in my plain view beganto wash their hands in its waters. The procedure took a fair length oftime, each native taking his turn, prefacing and ending his ablution with a bow in my direction, although there was but littlereasonto suppose they had espied me. Their duty done, they climbedthe bank, leaving me in die reassuring hands ofPascal, whose words "status purae naturae" apply so truly to these children ofGod's unspoiled nature. Over the next seventy years only a few travelers penetrated into the region occupied by the Mulahas. Their warlike demeanor and an admittedly not undeserved reputation for cannibalism made all intercourse with them a hazardous undertaking. Following the recent war, however, the number ofWesterners venturing into southeast Papua increased considerably , and reports ofthe Mulaha language and customs soon filtered down to Port Moresby. By 1955 it had become apparent that while, generally speaking, the Mulahas shared many oftheir customs with other southeast * TheJohns Hopkins Hospital, obi North Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland. The author wishes to express his gratitude to the High Commissioner for Papua and to his First Secretary in Charge of Native Affairs for their unceasing encouragement ofhis investigations and for allowing him access to all previously unopened correspondence in their possession. 261 Papuan tribes, their hand-washing ritual was unique, and therefore presented an unprecedented challenge to the anthropologist. Pilman and his group spent several years on the Papuan coast, and in a number ofbrilliantly presented papers described the hand-washing rituals in exquisite detail [2]. Starting with observations not unlike those ofde Saville-Poumade, the authors soon became aware ofa definite law with respect to both timing and locale ofthe ceremony. The first part oftheir study concentrated itself upon the site ofthe ritual. In 73 per cent ofthe instances the natives employed the river within 350 yards of the fording used by them in their travels to the west, particularly in theirperiodic forays against their hereditary enemies, the Ubalis. Only 5 per cent ofceremonies took place at a site more than 600 yards from the crossing, and all these were obviously minor rites. The timing ofthe ceremony, at first thought to be random, could, when plotted linearly, be shown to be in direct connection with these military excursions. About 85 per cent ofthe hand-washing rites occurred during the period from three weeks before to three weeks following the skirmishes. The small number ofrituals not falling within this period were clearly ofa subsidiarynature, andPilmanconcluded that thesewere merely "anticipatory rites." On the other hand, some difficulty was encountered in ascertaining whetherthe Mulahas participating inthe Ubaliforay and in the subsequent cannibalistic banquet were the same individuals as those engaged in the hand-washing ceremony. Pilman, however, states in this connection: "It would indeed be fatuous to argue that these two groups did not overlap completely, for ifthey did not, thehand-washing ritual so closely associated both in time and space to the Ubali wan would have lost all meaning, becoming a purely gratuitous act, which ofcourse it cannot be" [2]. These carefully performed observations carried out over the course of several years led Pilman to the conclusion that the hand-washing ritual representedanabnegationoftheguilt complexengenderedamongst Mulahas by their cannibalistic practices. While this theory is defended by several members ofthe Oxford school of anthropology, American workers, notably Faraday, ridicule the concept of guilt resulting from cannibalism. They argue that cannibalism is thenaturalstateamongstMulahas, andthat it istherefore inconceivable...