The Torrid Zone, more casually referred to as the tropics, has been discriminated against since Aristotle divided the world into three zones. The tropics have been considered too hot for civilised habitation, a place of great horrors, and a dangerous place of pestilence. Consequently, others have chosen to explore the Temperate and Frigid zones. However, the tropics has become an increasingly critical global zone. With a huge, and rapidly growing, population it is facing some of the most formidable issues in history, including the impact of climate change and environmental degradation, poor health and educational outcomes, extreme poverty, and political and economic instability. This article advocates for the tropics to be recognised as a major expanding geo-political region that needs to be comprehensively understood by psychology and other disciplines through research and investigation.

This case study presents and discusses the psychosocial support program (PSP) that was conducted in the Republic of Maldives following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. The PSP intervention included providing psychological first-aid training to counsellors and teachers, modifying a teacher's manual and training teachers to share its contents with peers, and conducting a training workshop so that professionals could take over the implementation of the PSP. This article also examines the five strategies involved in general PSPs, which include: using a community-based approach; ensuring that interventions are contextually, culturally, and linguistically appropriate; empowerment; community participation; and active involvement. This review found that PSPs were effective during the emergency and reconstruction phases of disasters. It also underscores the importance of community involvement, and ensuring that PSPs are contextually and culturally appropriate.

A tropical vignette case history of flashback trauma for a Vietnam veteran beginning with a prison softball game.

A sample of vignettes from past and present psychological applications in tropical Guam with an assist from contemporary Singapore. An emphasis on cultural adaptation to an invasion of brown tree snakes is followed by antidotes to teen suicide subsequent a high profile suicidal event. A chaos theory perspective is suggested.

The anthropological description of Senoi dream culture in tropical Malaysia has over the decades led to current psychological application and intervention for traumatic nightmares across any point in the lifespan.

An invited tropical vignette from a very visible international and organisational psychologist illustrates, along with one of the world's top professional golfers, how reframing a setback in sports or life can, with fresh perspective, be converted into greater opportunity.

A review of past and present psychological applications in tropical Hawaii in vignette format, including the appearance and disappearance of the MMPI as a section instrument, case histories of a parricide and his brother, senile pseudo-psychosis and an existential intervention, a forbidden island of culture suppression, and a 30-year follow-up of seasonal psychosis.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate drug and alcohol work-force issues related to the treatment of cannabis use and related problems in Australia. Method: A postal or online questionnaire of randomly selected drug and alcohol clinicians (n = 179) across Australia. Results: A total of 53 clinicians (30%) completed surveys. Results indicated that staff in metropolitan services tended to have higher qualifications than rural and regional agencies. Access to ongoing training and clinical supervision could be improved, with approximately one third of staff having not received training in the last five years, and nearly one in five agencies not offering regular clinical supervision. Preferred options for the further development of cannabis treatments included support for medications and specific cannabis outpatient clinics. Discussion: To adequately assist with the consequences of cannabis use frontline workers need to be adequately supported to deliver evidenced based interventions.

This survey evaluated the influences of motivational functions, gender, age, and religiosity on two facets of volunteerism in Singapore. The two facets evaluated were length of service and fulfillment of duty commitments. One hundred and twenty-eight volunteers (Mage = 44.9 years; SD = 11.7 years; age range: 24–71 years) from a Singapore volunteer welfare organisation filled out 3 questionnaires: the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI; Clary et al., 1998), a questionnaire on facets of volunteerism, and a questionnaire on demographic data. Volunteer functions of these Singaporean volunteers were found to be similar to those of other cultures in the world. Values were the most important volunteer function. Age, frequency of worship, and volunteer functions were positively related to length of service. Volunteer functions were positively associated with fulfillment of duty commitments. No gender differences were found in the levels of volunteerism. The results suggested that the lower levels of volunteerism in Singapore might be the result of factors other than motivation functions. The result also highlighted that beyond motivational functions and demographics, other factors could influence facets of volunteerism.