Dissertation Oral Defenses

Epics capture the imagination of the public, occupying significant space in the collective unconscious and offering the opportunity for many to identify with various themes and images in those narratives. With teaching, criticism, and interpretations of canonical works sometimes spanning centuries, as is the case with Dante’s Divine Comedy, or Commedia, these works become such…

Silence can be a useful tool for psychotherapists, and meditative silence can assist clients to understand and come to terms with their mental health. Silence, and specifically meditative silence, remains under-investigated in the psychological literature. Guru and Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar presented Buddhist and Hindu traditions in his writings and teachings on…

The problem of an egocentric underworld or unconscious engagement is presented in both mythology and psychology through examples of imbalance that leads to destructive outcomes. This dissertation ventures into the realm of the underworld and the unconscious by following solar-cycle mythologies and discovers correlating psychological and artistic framework and methodology vital for fostering a creative…

The purpose of this research was to learn more about the embodied experience of riding a motorcycle, and to produce a phenomenological description of the shared and significant features of the experience.  Thus, the central question of this research asked, “What is the embodied experience of motorcycle riding?”  A small group of seasoned riders were…

Qualitative interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore the phenomenon of synchronicity and its emergence within the process of death and dying. The impact of synchronicity was analyzed in correlation with death and its relationship to Western modernity’s cultural, psychological, and societal substructures. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six palliative care nurses who work closely…

This is a quantitative, Chi-Square study into the possible relationship between negative experiences, such as discrimination and humiliation, and the likelihood of seeking mental health services by Mexican monolingual Spanish-speakers. Sixty participants, 40 monolingual and 20 bilingual, selected randomly from three different locations in the Coachella Valley, completed a demographic profile which included experiences of…

Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood is a text full of rich symbolism, a metaphoric landscape which is best understood using an integration of literary and depth psychological hermeneutics. Applying an anagogical framework to the novel, an interpretive approach meant to reveal spiritual meaning, makes it possible to see through the world of O’Connor’s Taulkinham, the fictional…

The phenomenon of countertransference has been a topic of controversy since its introduction during the early 1900s. Over the past century, the meaning and understanding of countertransference have evolved, as countertransference has evolved from being considered an obstacle to treatment brought on by the analyst’s unconscious conflicts to being understood as a way of communicating…

Jealousy is typically understood as destructive and to be avoided. This research examined jealousy within polyamory, a relationship situation which virtually guarantees it must be dealt with openly and directly. Lived experiences of jealousy and polyamory were explored through interpretative phenomenological analysis from a depth psychological perspective. Jealousy was understood by participants normal, typical, and…

Children of immigrants are often called upon to interpret and translate language and cultural information for their parents and other adults in their lives in a process called language brokering. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the experiences of five female Iranian Language brokers were explored to understand the meanings these women made of their lived…

This dissertation examines perspectives on reincarnation from Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, early Christian, and Gnostic traditions as well as Western Hermeticism and Theosophy. While these views differ in significant respects, I argue that the purpose of reincarnation is to enable a soul to gradually improve or evolve through a series of lifetimes. The study asks three…

This depth psychological study explored the effects of embodied imagination dream work (Bosnak, et. al.) on participant dreamers’ felt connections with nature. The intuitive inquiry hermeneutic research applied theoretical lenses of archetypal psychology (Hillman) and Indigenous knowledge (Deloria, Cajete, Kimmerer) to examine themes that emerged out of eight individual dream work sessions, guided by the…

Mythobiogenesis seeks the origin of myth, religion, and ritual not only in the vastness of human history, but in the confining nucleus of a human cell. This place of origin is by no means obvious and we refer to it simply as a “trysting place,” the secret rendezvous of mind and body. Data in support…

A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to collect data in order to understand and explain eating disorders from a psychosomatic perspective. The following chapters of this dissertation include a comprehensive overview of psychoanalytic literature on psychosomatics and eating disorders, a methodology chapter, a presentation of the findings extrapolated from the literature reviewed, and implications of…

This study utilized Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to illuminate the experiences of women who practiced yoga while living with autoimmune diseases, and explored how their experiences might be related to Jungian principles of individuation, self-development and transformation. Results indicate yoga as a transformative discipline improved women’s physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological well-being. Practicing the various techniques…

The human relationship with water has shifted from one of cooperative engagement as displayed by indigenous peoples before European colonization, to the treatment of water as an on-demand commodity. To harness water’s natural power is also to gain control over its access and distribution. The introduction of scarcity further advances this power dynamic by introducing…

In this study, one nurse practitioner examined the difficulties presenting in a rural health clinic setting. Burnout, depression, and suicidality can result when these difficulties are met with poor coping mechanisms. Using the qualitative approach of autoethnography, energy healing in the form of shamanic training was found to impact the feelings of hopelessness. The ability…

This dissertation uses an autoethnographic, participatory action research approach to consider James Hillman’s 1992 call for therapy to be a “cell of revolution,” rather than a response to the pathological or disadvantaged—“a kind of building of doorways, opening conduits, and making channels” (Hillman & Ventura, 1992, p. 208). Through case studies in a broad-based organizing…

The problem of mythological, cultural, physical, social, and psychological dismemberment is explored within the context of the collective unconscious, the past and present cultural milieu, and particular artists works. This research focused on how the archetype of dismemberment was manifested in the World War I era and again now in the current era of globalization…

This dissertation examines the legendary hero Hercules through his twelve impos-sible labors as he aims to achieve redemption from the death of his family and fulfill the ultimate reward of his apotheosis. The labors are not merely physical tasks in a story of mythic greatness, but arduous trials that reconciled his whole being through the…