Dissertation Oral Defenses
Discovering one’s myth may be difficult for both depth psychotherapists and clients unfamiliar with ancient world cultures, the source depth psychology has traditionally turned to for archetypal patterns. Contemporary lived mythologies are emerging to widen and expand the mythic lens of depth psychology, answer life’s truths and basic questions, and gain insight into one’s inner…
The purpose of this thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2013) dissertation was to explore the process by which activist artists engaged the community of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina through art projects. Methods of inquiry included phenomenological reflection on data elicited by investigation of activist artists’ experiences in relation to these art projects. The…
The intention of this study is to examine the last tale of Sufi master Jalal e din Rumi in his masterpiece Mathnavi (Rumi, 2003). Sufism is one of the world’s established mystical traditions and the Sufi Order is a school that offers training for initiates. Storytelling is an integral and important tradition within Sufism, fomenting…
This dissertation is an imaginal inquiry into the spirit of waiting. The research focuses on the inner life of the psyche of waiting in relation to the liminal, creative, and active imaginal fields. Informed through the spirit and the sacred, the author considers the lived experience of waiting a paradox, where one is existing and…
Today’s public conversation around prostitution forces people who work in the sex industry to identify as either powerless passive victims of sexual slavery with no agency or lifeworld of their own; or as empowered sex workers who enjoy their labor. I argue that sex workers’ life histories offer a counter-text and a voice of resistance…
The literature on new mothers speaks to the common experiences of women, including their personal reflections and interpersonal patterns as well as the collective influence of society on the experience of motherhood (Besser & Priel, 2001, 2003; Churchill & Davis, 2010; Coo, Milgrom, & Trinder, 2014). It suggests that surviving the vulnerability of motherhood is…
This study is intended to contribute to a metaphorical understanding of how world soul, or Anima Mundi, is imagined, embodied, and communicated at the intersection of the visible and invisible interrelationships among humans and animated nature. This hermeneutic exploration has implications for relationship with imaginal dimensions and presences as well as a reciprocally transformative relationship…
As depth psychologists believe, regardless of the therapist’s theoretical orientation or the intervention employed, it is the therapeutic relationship itself that is responsible for change. Jungian analysts believe specifically that this process of transformation occurs for both the client and the therapist. This dissertation explores the notion that destiny is involved in the formation of…
Restricted by the dogma of many forms of Western religion and plagued by the spiritual emptiness of materialism pervading the current age, many seek direct, personal experience of the sacred. Following a hermeneutic methodology, this dissertation explores the relevance of the writings of Jung and others on synchronicity, as both phenomenon and principle, as a…
There are innumerable causes of today’s environmental crises, but at the root of many of them lie bad stories. These destructive modern myths create the kind of intellectual separation between humanity and the natural world which can end up justifying the worst of environmental excesses, and—unlike concrete, scientific problems with empirical ecological solutions—this separation cannot…
This phenomenological hermeneutic dissertation explores what it means to honor the feminine as a path to the conscious masculine and a direct experience of inner marriage. This study identifies characteristics and dynamics of the feminine and masculine aspects of our inner selves and the creative interplay between them, demonstrating how honoring the feminine in daily…
Drawing on the theories of complexes, symbols, and the transcendent function, as set forth by C. G. Jung, and cultural complex theory, as developed by Singer and Kimbles, this dissertation seeks to understand the psychological dynamics of division and healing between the Unionists and the Republicans in Northern Ireland. The study undertakes a depth psychological…
Robin Blaser describes “the foreignness, the outsideness, as a kind of metaphor for the sense…of the process that leads to a poem.” It is, he says, “akin to a translation, a word which in its parts holds the meaning of the word metaphor, the bringing over.” This dissertation expands on that notion of poetic process…
In spite of recent trends that have positively impacted gay men, the United States continues to be permeated by homophobia. This phenomenon often manifests in young gay men as internalized homophobia, which in turn can lead to psychological and physiological symptoms, including engaging in sexual practices that place them at risk for contracting human immunodeficiency…
In depth psychology, the way to heal has mainly been through connection with patients’ minds in order to discover the unconscious roots of their problems and help them work on resolving their complexes or trauma. Underexplored in psychoanalysis is the relationship between the psyche and soma, in particular, the way emotions are carried in and…
This research through a dialog between Jungian psychology and process-oriented psychology explicates connections between psychology and physics in order to elucidate the relationship between psychic contents and the nature of health and well-being, as well as the relationship between nonmaterial processes and their empirical manifestations. The study applies the hermeneutic methodology supplemented by alchemical hermeneutics.…
Brimming with razor sharp teeth, the Vagina Dentata presents a surreal fictional representation of the sexually dangerous woman. This image has been recorded almost globally and is often thought to be a manifestation of male sexual anxiety. Many of the studies focus on the male abject horror of this image and the psychological motivations behind…
This cultural–historical, hermeneutic dissertation delineates the way people have found meaning in their lives, explores the historical relevance stories have played in those searches for meaning, and illuminates the symbolic resonances that TV characters, images, and plotlines offer viewers as they connect to television programming, which has become the preferred storied medium. Nielsen (2018) reported…
This ethnographic study of ZEGG explores the challenges a radical intentional community faces when it rejects mainstream economic and social norms, creating a new culture governed by new norms. ZEGG, an intentional community in Germany, began as an experiment in community living in the 1970s and 1980s, under the leadership of Dieter Duhm, a German…
The pyramid is an iconic and ubiquitous form; the variations in the ostensible function remain debated, especially in light of the many physical, religious, and mythological similarities. Examples in the “Old” and “New” world civilizations, which historically had no contact before the 15th century, emphasize the mystery. Examples in Egypt, Mexico, and Peru illuminate the…
