Dissertation Oral Defenses

Autistic women are often marginalized by medical and social systems. The modern diagnostic view of autism is male-focused. As a result, many autistic women are misdiagnosed or diagnosed late in life. The challenges of not being diagnosed, or not understanding oneself as autistic, can cause autistic women challenges related to fitting in with the general…

This hermeneutic phenomenological dissertation explored how conscious long-term committed relationships facilitate the movement of libidinal energy and support the process of individuation. Drawing on depth psychology, relational theory, somatic perspectives, and contemporary neuroscience, the study identified eight central themes: libidinal energy and relational aliveness, libidinal stagnation and relational constriction, the paradox of relational security and…

The following dissertation explores how mental health clinicians intentionally support clients’ nervous systems in fostering emotional safety through embodied presence, attunement, and coregulation. It aims to extricate and illuminate specific embodied practices that clinicians utilize to cultivate a physiological sense of safety within the therapeutic encounter as well as identify and explore a thematic analysis…

This dissertation explores the lived experience of awe during physiological childbirth among six women, employing the Listening Guide method. This phenomenological study addresses the gap in qualitative research on awe and childbirth from the birthing woman’s perspective, a critical oversight in psychological literature. Through semistructured interviews, the research examines awe as a complex, embodied phenomenon…

This dissertation examines the taboo forbidding discussion about money within depth psychology and how this silence shapes the individuation of psychological healers. Using the hermeneutic methodology favored by Carl G. Jung, this qualitative study analyzes texts from Jung’s corpus and those of subsequent Jungian scholars. It also draws from fields that inform depth psychological understanding,…

This dissertation explores the somatic symptoms experienced by first-generation Latina women as a result of their relationships with avoidantly attached mothers. The study situates this exploration within the broader context of immigration, examining family dynamics influenced by assimilation, acculturation, and the displacement experienced at the intersection of immigrant parenting and the first-generation experience. The primary…

This art-based dissertation includes a visual presentation that reflects a personal process of the production of art. Creating the production piece as a component of the research process was a way of exploring the relationship of creativity to spirituality. The depth psychological approach taken in this research relates to the proposed therapeutic process, which includes…

The COVID-19 pandemic has primarily been studied as a public health and social crisis; however, its psychological and symbolic significance for young adults navigating the transition to adulthood remains underexplored. This dissertation investigates how emerging adults experienced and interpreted their lived pandemic experiences. Using a qualitative approach, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the study analyzed oral histories…

This study explores the impact of intergenerational trauma on the individuation process of second-generation Iranian Americans in the United States. Interpreted through a Jungian (depth psychological) lens, this research examines how unresolved familial trauma stemming from the 1979 Iranian Revolution continues to shape identify formation across generations. Using an alchemical hermeneutic approach, the study interprets…

Childhood trauma can significantly influence emotional development, attachment relationships, identity formation, and later experiences of parenting. Although a growing body of research has examined the effects of trauma across the lifespan, limited qualitative research has explored how first-time fathers with histories of childhood trauma experience raising their own sons. This study explored the lived experiences…

This research project is interested in the possibility of ontological transformation through investigating the conditions and pedagogical methods that support a shift from fixed, colonial ways of knowing and being toward relational, pluriversal ones. Thirteen Living Systems alumni served as co-researchers across seven collaborative data collection sessions, with the methodology itself enacting the relational ontology…

This qualitative study explored the cultural phenomenon of solo recreational neo-burlesque dance at the junctures of psychology and self-identified women’s sense of autonomy, embodiment, and sociopolitical stance under a patriarchal system of oppression. Under patriarchy, women are often made illegible, lacking a sense of their own being and meaning, by the inscription of societal and…

This dissertation develops archetypal systems psychodynamics as a theoretical extension of systems psychodynamics, integrating Jungian analytical psychology, post-Jungian archetypal psychology, and mythological studies to deepen accounts of unconscious group life in organizations. The problem addressed is that classical systems psychodynamics offers diagnostic lenses for task, role, authority, boundaries, and social defenses, yet often underspecifies the…

This heuristic inquiry examines martial arts practice as a site of psychological transformation and individuation. Drawing from Jungian depth psychology, somatic trauma theory, embodiment studies, and martial arts scholarship, the study explores how sustained martial arts training can intensify psychic tension, renegotiate traumatic patterns, and foster ethical development through embodied practice. The inquiry emerged through…

This phenomenological study explored how emerging adults (aged 18–29) live and make sense of the climate crisis. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the research examined how participants understood, felt, and made meaning of the climate emergency, with particular attention on mental health implications. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed idiographically and across cases…

This study seeks to explore qualitatively the lived experiences of individuals who suffered from opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the role of isolation in substance abuse. Situated at the intersection of a global pandemic and an ongoing opioid epidemic, the study examines how pandemic-related disruptions, including social distancing, mask-wearing, and the loss…

This qualitative study investigated the clinical utility of using tarot to accessunconscious material within the intersubjective field of a psychotherapeutic dyad in the contextof counseling psychology. Framing a random draw of three tarot cards as an instance of oracularsynchronicity, the author suggests that clinically valuable information pertinent to unconsciousdynamics may be gleaned from the symbolic…

This dissertation examines psychopathy as a psychological, cultural, and archetypal phenomenonwithin the Western psyche. Rather than approaching psychopathy as a symptom of individualpathology, this study situates it within a depth psychological framework, exploring how thefigure of the psychopath may function as a carrier of the Western Shadow. Drawing uponJungian theory and forensic psychology, the research…

This research facilitates a dialogue between Jungian psychology and Advaita Vedānta, a Hinduspiritual tradition focused on freedom from bondage through knowledge of the Self. Inpreparation for knowledge of the Self, Vedānta requires emotional maturity through inquiry,values, and devotional practices such as karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga. However, traditionalpractices of Vedānta may overlook the significance of the unconscious…

Prisons in the United States are implementing prison dog-training programs (PDPs) in whichincarcerated people take care of and train canines for a variety of service-oriented tasks andpurposes. It is striking that these PDPs report successful outcomes within a prison system whereeffective and cost-efficient rehabilitation programs are often lacking. One of the most intriguingaspects of PDPs…