Dissertation Oral Defenses

This research study is an alchemical hermeneutic inquiry into the relationship between dreams and suicidality, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Specifically, this dissertation interprets dream images of transformation in scholarly works and examines how symbols derived from dreams could engender hope and healing. While there is significant research on dreams, dream meaning, and dream…

This study explored the lived experience of retired enlisted male military veterans as they reintegrate into civilian culture following long-term service. Utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who had served 20 or more years and were actively attempting to transition outside of U.S. Department of Defense employment. The analysis yielded six…

This qualitative study examines the influence of systemic violence on LA County’s fostercare system through the perceptions and experiences of professionals working in and those serviced by foster-care. Guided by a decolonial analytic framework, the study draws on interviews with fourteen participants representing multiple roles within and adjacent to the foster care system. Data were…

While the abolition of policing and prisons has been widely examined as a political and institutional project, far less attention has been paid to its ontological stakes: the ways abolitionist praxis questions reality itself. This dissertation argues that the contemporary movement for police and prison abolition—particularly in the wake of the police murder of George…

This study examined art therapist Joan Kellogg’s theory of the Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala (Great Round) in relation to Jungian psychology. Using a hermeneutic comparative methodology, Kellogg’s writings and her clinical application of creating mandalas through art were analyzed alongside Carl Jung’s works regarding his model of the psyche with particular…

This qualitative, constructivist study explored Lingít language acquisition (Lingít yoo xʼatángi) among the Lingít People of Lingít Aaní (Southeast Alaska). It examined how learners interpret their language learning experiences in relation to historical trauma, racism, and ongoing cultural oppression. The literature review situates Indigenous language loss within settler colonialism and systemic racism, drawing from Indigenous…

This dissertation explored emergent, non-dogmatic religion (ENDR), a phenomenon in contemporary Western popular culture. The research addressed a gap in depth psychological literature by analyzing a movement frequently linked to the ideas of C. G. Jung but seldom examined from within the Jungian field. Using a hermeneutical phenomenological method and Jung’s theories of archetypes and…

Novelist Henry James illuminated the enigmatic nature of the human condition when he wrote, “The whole of anything is never told.” This autoethnographic research project was initially conceptualized to interpret the content of a profound personal encounter with Michelangelo’s four marble statues known as The Four Prisoners on June 8, 2022, at the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, Italy.…

This phenomenological, participant-based study explores the attachment experiences of sexual and/or gender diverse youth across regions of the United States. Guided by Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality-informed framework and grounded in archetypal psychology, the research seeks to formalize a protocol aimed at early trauma prevention for this population. The study emphasizes the preservation of the innate enthusiasm…

This study critiqued the Eurocentric foundations of depth psychology in counseling psychology, specifically focusing on the mental health of Filipino Americans. It employed critical race and transgressive decolonial hermeneutics to explore key questions regarding the concepts of depth psychology that need reevaluation, the unique mental health influences affecting Filipino Americans, and the educational gaps for…

Lack of forgiveness can perpetuate trauma, harming an individual’s psychological and physical well-being. Scholars and clinicians have given much attention to the phenomenon of forgiveness, but how an individual achieves forgiveness has not been clearly defined in the literature, nor is it clear how the psyche and the soul interact to support true forgiveness. Therefore,…

Humans have been seeking to improve their tools since they first learned how to tie a stone to a stick or put flint to a pile of twigs. This hermeneutic study examined the myths of Prometheus and Epimetheus, the Titan brothers associated with forethought and afterthought, respectively, and how their relationship with each other and…

This dissertation is a ceremonial journey into the mystery of the Inner Healing Intelligence—a force known to Jung as the Self and to Indigenous traditions as the soul’s innate will to return to wholeness. Bridging the mythic pathways of depth psychology and the ancestral rituals of Indigenous soul retrieval, this work traces how entheogens open…

Superheroes Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Captain America (Steve Rogers) have survived alien invasions, secret organizations and time travel. But can they survive being vulnerable with one another? Hurt/Comfort fanfiction writers think so. Frequently misunderstood for its dark, graphic and often violent themes, Hurt/Comfort fanfiction places popular characters, often stoic, strong and self-reliant men, into…

The split between Sigmund Freud and Carl G. Jung in 1913 hinged on Jung’s assertion that the libido was not solely sexual in nature. Preferring the broader term psychic energy, Jung did not deny the power of sexuality in psychology, but his focus shifted to burgeoning ideas around the collective unconscious, archetypes, individuation, and symbols.…

This dissertation uses two research methodologies —hermeneutic and autoethnographic. It considers epigenetics and ancestral knowledge can be integrated from a depth psychological viewpoint for the purpose of better clinical outcomes with couples. Understanding the intersection of ancestral knowledge and in the context of romantic relationships can help individuals gain insight into their own relationship patterns…

This dissertation asks how myths and stories, often thought of as relics of the past, continue to shape the living cultures of organizations today. By comparing the leadership of Augustus, Walt Disney, and Steve Jobs, I explore how their stories became more than personal histories; they grew into cultural frameworks that guided the identity of…

This dissertation explores the liminal psychic landscape of the preteen girl (approximately 9 to 12 years) and considers how she lacks access to the imperative unconscious influence of an age-appropriate feminine archetypal energy. Carl G. Jung stated that an “archetypal potential in the psyche” (Corbett, 2011, p. 125) is paramount to individuation. This study asserts…

This study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore cisgender sexual minorities’ perceptions and experiences within the LGBTQ community, particularly regarding relationships with non-cisgender individuals. Grounded in a depth psychological framework, the research aimed to de-literalize gender and challenge conventional understandings of gender identity. Analysis of interview transcripts yielded superordinate and subordinate themes that were examined…

This dissertation study explores the psychic splitting and possible integration between the coloniality entrenched in depth psychology and decolonial, liberatory pursuits that often undervalue the sacred, transpersonal metaphysics, spirit-praxis, of the curanderx. It shines light into the shadow of modernity undergirding Western psychology, with a particular focus on Jungian psychology. This study investigates how the…