Dissertation Oral Defenses

Throughout the history of psychoanalysis, theorists and clinicians have offered theories and treatment recommendations for treatment of schizophrenia, but a comprehensive review of the literature aimed at integrating these works has not been conducted. The author reviews salient works on theory and treatment of schizophrenia within psychoanalytic literature and offers a comprehensive model of schizophrenic…

The ego-Self encounter is a crucial construct in Jungian psychology. Jung wrote of the confrontational nature of this encounter, proposing that if the ego can endure the clash, it will eventually experience the inevitable initial defeat as a victory in which the personality is enlarged and matured. If the ego is not strong and flexible…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between domestic violence and the warrior archetype in heterosexual men. I achieved this objective through examining mythological and depth psychological influences on behavior. Utilizing Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), I focused specific attention to masculinity and femininity, and how learned gender roles influenced the activation of…

This study examined mature Iranian women relocating to the Los Angeles area during or after the 1980s Iran-Iraq War who developed conditions of depression in the aftermath of immigration. Phenomenological research was employed to analyze the participants’ experiences of difficulties faced from war, immigration, and acculturation processes in light of their psychological strengths and challenges.…

From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. Army’s tactical herbicides program focused on tropical forests in central and south Vietnam. Da Nang International Airport was a former U.S. base that stored and distributed American-made herbicides during the Vietnam War. This dissertation addresses the long-term effects of improper handling and management of the herbicides during Operation Ranch…

This hermeneutic study brings spellcraft and depth psychology’s work with alchemy into conversation. The research explores the role of imagination, the four elements, animism, synchronicity, and ritual in both depth psychology’s work with alchemy and the practice of spellcraft. The field of Jungian psychology’s work with alchemy has been limited by its lack of physical…

This study suggested that military wives live in a transcultural state between U.S. military culture and American civilian culture and investigated whether this transcultural state of being is conducive to the individuation process by utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore the experience of being a military wife. The analysis of semi-structured interviews with five…

This dissertation inquires into the experience of self-transcendence that results in compassionate living. This awareness engenders a sense of belonging, a cosmological vision in a social narrative in which individuals are members of the community and become caretakers of the ecosystem. I suggest this ethos bridges religion and science, leading to an integrated psychological experience…

Cultivation and worship of maize as plant and symbol is one of the most consistent cornerstones of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. This dissertation works across genres and eras to track the social and philosophical implications of this sacred plant, asking what the narratives and rituals around corn can teach us about the evolution of Mesoamerican culture…

This dissertation focuses on the impact of bringing embodiment to business professionals. The intention of this work was to produce a phenomenological description, through a somatic depth psychological lens, of business professionals’ experiences relating to embodiment and individuation while practicing Kundalini Yoga. This was done through workday yogic practices and after-work Kundalini Yoga classes conducted…

This autoethnographic inquiry explores the personal passage of adolescent eating disorder onset, recovery, and eventual emergence into a clinician, critiquing the collective neurosis of body objectification, fear of the feminine, and a separation from nature. This study argues that maltreatment of one’s personal body in eating disorders is a cultural complex that parallels modernity’s exploitation…

This hermeneutic inquiry explores the Mexican Day of the Dead using a close reading/active imagination methodology with a depth psychological perspective. It addresses the question, how an imaginal approach to death can deepen our understanding, and help bring meaning to our last, and most profound rite of passage. To explore this tradition venerating the dead,…

A hermeneutic exploration, through an archetypal-mythopoetic lens, of cultural complexes in the Greek economic crisis reveals a Greek hero fighting for freedom against the tyrannies of oppressive foreign lenders, an ineffective government, and a broken global financial system. Economists and sociologists have also identified idiosyncrasies within the Greek culture, which may have contributed to the…

This qualitative, textual hermeneutic study explores what influences female sexual desire inside of a heterosexual marriage via an archetypal approach to the Apollo and Daphne myth. The methodology includes Hillman’s psychologizing process and imaginal dialogues with the mythic figures. Both Ovid’s version of the myth and Bernini’s statue of the mythic pair serve as an…

Society labels boys who play destructively as bad, deviant, oppositional, or antisocial, causing parents to feel something is wrong with their child. This study shows that boys acting out destructively, dismembering inanimate objects, tearing up their rooms, and decapitating toys are not naughty or “bad” but, instead, are searching for relief in their struggle with…

Dreams and Identity in Indigenous California was a qualitative, narrative inquiry that utilized a Red Pedagogical, transmodern philosophical approach to research on dreaming and its influence on a sense of Indigenous identity among self-identifying Indigenous people in the state of California. Using Story Science as a research approach and methodology, data were gathered on the…

This hermeneutic study explores the esoteric context and complementary ritual discourse of Medieval Haṭha-Yoga and Hindu alchemy, from a Jungian depth psychological perspective. Its comparative approach draws on the essential values, fantasy images, and key concepts of esotericism, to describe a deeper web of relationship within culturally diverse traditions of alchemy. The Tantric vision of…

This research takes a hermeneutic approach to the interpretation of the published case reports of sandplay therapy, with a special attention placed upon the photographic images of the first and the final sand pictures. As the interest is in the final sandplay, this study enters into the hermeneutic cycle from the final sandplay scene. The…

Case study methodology and a personal experience narrative analysis (PENA) frame this exploration of the therapeutic use of portrait photography from a Jungian perspective. Underlying theory is examined regarding the psychological use of photographs, the distinction between empathy and compassion in mirroring and witnessing, the therapeutic benefits of storytelling, and the feminine function of the…

Epic Explorations in Opera-The Hero’s Overture, is an original inquiry into the mythic patterns found in stories as they relate to six operas in this analysis. Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman, Gounod’s Faust and Strauss’s The Woman Without a Shadow are analyzed through…