Dissertation Oral Defenses
This study assesses the unconscious impact of Motown music on the psyche of two generations of African-American women: mothers who gave birth during the Motown era from 1959 to 1972 when the company was located in Detroit and their daughters. The dissertation applies a combination of hermeneutic phenomenology methodologies based on narrative, imaginal, archetypal, transference…
Paradoxes inherent in the work of psychoanalysis challenge a practitioner’s sense of identity and clinical capacities at all levels of experience. In particular, there is an insoluble tension between the analyst’s role as a highly trained, specialized professional and an emotional participant in an enigmatic and unpredictable process, engendering narcissistic vulnerabilities and their associated defenses,…
This study examined a cohort of 55 students at risk for Targeted School Violence (TSV) in Los Angeles County. Demographic and individual characteristics including gender, ethnicity, academic performance, family composition, bullying, target site and selection, socialization pattern, and pre-attack and planning strategies were examined in relation to TSV. The data gathered for this study was…
Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment designed to treat disruptive behavior disorders in young children through improving dysfunctional parent–child relationship patterns. Community providers have begun implementing PCIT in various settings to give families greater access to PCIT. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of PCIT when disseminated in two community settings:…
A mixed methods research design consisting of both quantitative and qualitative data collection examined mental health clinicians’ perceptions, clinical understanding, and potential for bias of adult Attention-Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). It was predicted that clinicians who were diagnosed with AD/HD and/or have a first-degree family member with AD/HD would administer a more comprehensive diagnostic evaluation…
People living with serious mental illness have unique social and psychological needs untapped by previous needs assessments geared toward service needs and the opinions of service providers, rather than the recipients themselves. While valuable, medication and material assistance are not sufficient to help these individuals achieve satisfactory progress on their recovery journeys. One hundred twenty…
Archetypal psychologist James Hillman revisions C. G. Jung’s depth psychology for a postmodern western culture, and in that re-visioning offers a critical analysis of psychoanalytic methods within modern psychology and the logos of western culture. Although Jung is recognized as returning soul to psychology, Hillman returns soul-making and charts pathways for re-remembering Aphrodite and return…
This dissertation explores problems of cultural fragmentation, meaninglessness, and oppression—effects of humanity’s profound disenchantment with life and love—as they are situated in ruptures between the masculine and feminine. Using a classical Jungian and feminist approach, along with archetypal literary criticism that emphasizes the symbolic, metaphorical nature of myths, the study demonstrates the ways that revaluing…
This dissertation treats the reception, performance, and mediation of myth in video games. Myths are included in video games as variants in relation to other myth-variants. This study does not focus on contemporary myths per se, but rather modernized forms of myths modified for a contemporary audience of players, users, and consumers who participate in…
According to C.G. Jung, the individuation process effectively begins with the turn inward as one crosses the threshold into the second half of life. Avenues of access into psyche and her images and symbols include dreams, active imagination, myth, fairy tales, art, and poetry/writing. For some, psychological transformation during an individuation journey may occur by…
The purpose of the research was to describe, through the portal of the researcher’s mother’s memoir, a personal voice that is ignored by mainstream society and to give witness to the culture of the researcher’s Latino parents, grandparents, and ancestors. The problem addressed is the repression of the personal voices of women from marginalized ethnic/racial…
Imagination is generally recognized as an agent of fantasy, applicable to wishful thinking, childish naiveté, and many other apparently impractical or unproductive aspects of conventional, adult life. However, such renderings divest imagination of its unmistakable correspondence with reality through deep personal experience, and through its direct influence on one’s creative capacity and personal development. Imagination…
Literature extoling the psychological benefits of self-forgiveness are robust, yet there are no evidence-based models for facilitating self-forgiveness in individual psychotherapy. Further, there is no consensus in the literature on the definition of self-forgiveness. This quantitative, survey-based study examined licensed clinicians’ (N=57) perceptions of the efficacy of self-forgiveness treatment interventions, their preferred definitions of self-forgiveness,…
The present study was undertaken to gain an in-depth understanding of the psychodynamics of relational violence. Using a phenomenological approach the researcher explores the relationships between heterosexual couples with special attention to the interplay between the divine feminine, the father complex, and the projection of the female’s animus on the male partner. The study examines…
The focus of this study explores bridging analytical (Jungian) psychology with Indigenous American healing traditions in terms of their respective understandings of soul, spirit, health, wellness, dreams, visions, hallucinations, harmony, and balance. The research methodology utilized a hermeneutic and imaginal approach in which a dialog was generated between the relevant literature in the field of…
This work explores the phenomenology of numinous experiences during a time of critical illness and how these experiences create healing. Diagnosed with breast cancer as I was beginning research on the power of numinous experiences, this work evolved into a partial memoir of my dreams during illness and recovery. Because numinous experiences are a powerful…
This dissertation is a close examination of the theory of individuation as set forth by C. G. Jung. Specifically, this study employs Jung’s guiding image of archaeology as an overarching method by which to conceptualize the layered process of uncovering the contents of the unconscious in relationship to the quest for individuation. In keeping with…
The literature on leaving fundamentalist religious traditions is persistently insensitive to gender differences, specifically the experiences of women who have left a fundamentalist religion (Peek, Lowe, & Williams, 1991). Recently, women have begun sharing their personal experiences of apostasy through memoirs, blogs, and social media (Cross, 2006; Drain & Pulitzer, 2013; Jessop & Palmer, 2008).…
An epistemological and ontological discussion of the elements—earth, water, fire, and air—has been considered by the most ancient of Western philosophers— from Anaximenes, Heraclitus, and Empedocles to Plato and Aristotle. Hitherto, philosophy and cosmology dominate the discourse of the elements. In most of these discussions, the element space has been neglected. Hence, drawing from the…
This qualitative study illuminates the lived experience of five adult siblings growing up in a family with a sibling or siblings diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participants completed two semistructured interviews designed to elicit a narrative about their perceptions regarding their relationships within their family constellation with an emphasis on the relationship with…
