Dissertation Oral Defenses

Anorexia nervosa has been viewed as a culturally “Western” and modern disorder. Few researchers have seen the pattern of starvation in women as a violent protest in opposition to the devaluation of the feminine principle. This demonstration is directed toward one’s self and acted out against the body. Today, we see anorexia as a struggle…

The central hypothesis of this dissertation is that when an infant undergoes severe trauma, a phenomenon similar to the state of tonic immobility occurs, a concept that defines a reaction often observed in animals when faced with immediate danger. In psychological terms, one can observe what happens when the core self splits from the body,…

Jung’s theory of psychological types has often been marginalized by traditional Jungians for its complexity, misuse, opaqueness, and lack of depth. A proliferation of personality assessments exacerbates this shortcoming by operationalizing Jung’s theory through the introduction of quantitative measures. Scant attention has been paid to the relevance of psychological types with respect to unconscious aspects…

The Navajo deity, Changing Woman is not well known in the pantheon of goddesses, but she is everywhere. She is Earth, Feminine Creator, spirit, Feminine Spirit, Holy Spirit, breath, voice, the “Wisdom Feminine of the Old Testament, Ruach of Judaic thought, The Shekinah of the Cabbalists, Sophia of Gnosticism” (Moon, “Changing Woman” 164-165). She represents…

This research seeks to deepen understanding of the body’s role in becoming conscious. Using literary hermeneutic methodology with a somatic depth psychological lens this dissertation interprets materials from the disciplines of depth psychology, developmental theory, neuroscience/affective neurobiology and psychopharmacology. Integrating these areas of expertise supports the understanding that the body is the essential source of…