Dissertation Oral Defenses


Candidate: Dominique Yarritu Date: July 14, 2021 Time: 9:00 am

For millennia, women who experienced infertility or couples unable to carry a pregnancy to term were denied genetic parenthood.  Recent 20th century advances in medical and reproductive technologies, the creation of in-vitro fertilization, and gestational surrogacy have provided infertile women, men, and their partners the once unfathomable ability to parent children born of their own…


Candidate: Kira Celeste Date: July 13, 2021 Time: 10:00 am

One can argue that European colonial consciousness and its actions have caused more harm in the world than any other collective psychology. Grounded in the psychology of C. G. Jung, this research investigates the cultural complexes of white colonial consciousness and the possibility of finding healing for its dysfunctions through the tending of its psychological…


Candidate: Sophie Fletcher Date: June 7, 2021 Time: 12:00 pm

Physical touch is a universal experience that is vital for one’s life, however it has only gained research recognition over the past few decades. Three areas of touch research continue to be neglected: what happens beyond the obvious physical stimulation, the inherent bidirectional attribute of touch, and the embodied experience of those who utilize touch…


Candidate: Shane Surrey Date: June 2, 2021 Time: 3:00 pm

Few science fiction or fantasy franchises have seen the popular reception that Dragon Ball and its sequels has had and yet, its appearance in academic discourse has been left wanting. This dissertation attempts an initial in-depth analysis of the story of Dragon Ball and its sequels through a variety of lenses. It addresses the significance…


Candidate: Diane Eardley Date: June 2, 2021 Time: 11:30 am

Patriarchal relationships characterize academic institutions even today. Women who have attained professional success in academia often yield to their male colleagues. This dissertation explored repression of femininity and the role femininity played in relationships among women scientists in an academic setting. The research proposed a unique methodology termed the Integrated Method which was a synthesis…


Candidate: Tamara Nerdrum Date: May 27, 2021 Time: 1:00 pm

Music is pervasive in every culture. Nearly everybody listens to music everyday. Music helps people connect to their emotions. In this qualitative phenomenological study, the researcher explores the insights of people of different cultures, ages, and gender to discover how music can change mood. People connect events to emotion, which is easily extracted with the…


Candidate: Gary Ferguson Date: May 22, 2021 Time: 11:00 am

This five-week study compared somatic versus cognitive behavioral (CBT) interventions for (a) decreasing music performance anxiety (MPA) and (b) enhancing musical artistry.  The study utilized a mixed-method design introducing a new somatic intervention designed to help musicians create an emotional, embodied connection to the music being performed and to encourage musical communication.  The CBT intervention…


Candidate: Allison Blackwell Date: May 19, 2021 Time: 4:00 pm

This arts-based alchemical hermeneutical research used a depth psychological lens as an attempt to listen with the heart, to see through hearing and deafness into the archetypal resonance of personal narrative and shared story by engaging arts-based methods to serve as an alchemical vessel for transformation of the psyche. Multiple worlds (personal, interpersonal, cultural, digital)…


Candidate: Mai Lai Breech Date: May 19, 2021 Time: 11:00 am

The purpose of this research study is to examine a population of former foster youth who successfully attained a post-secondary education after having aged-out of the child welfare system (CWS). The goal of this study is to determine whether a deeper understanding of this specific population may lead to better educational outcomes.  C. G. Jung…


Candidate: Christy Gardner Date: May 6, 2021 Time: 9:00 am

This hermeneutic study was an exploration of the fecund relationship between Jungian depth psychology and phenomena experienced in flotation tank therapy, establishing an explicit bridge between these fields to answer the question: What are the archetypal themes, patterns, and motifs (implicit or explicit) in float therapy experiences, ranging from the terrifying to the paradisiacal?  The…


Candidate: Alexandra Weaverling Date: May 4, 2021 Time: 4:00 pm

Women’s voices have historically been marginalized within patriarchal culture, and there is an ongoing need to engage women within research, including in psychology (Eagly & Riger, 2014; Johnston & Johnson, 2018). This study explored the role of visual artmaking in individuation for five woman identified artists. Drawing from C.G. Jung (1950/1975b), Stein (2006), Douglas (2000),…


Candidate: Ruby Treviño Date: May 3, 2021 Time: 9:00 am

The purpose of this study is to analyze data from the Latinx population from two separate election eras. This study aims to investigate if there is a difference between stress symptoms, as identified in the Beck inventories and PTSD assessments, during President Barack Obama’s term versus President Donald J. Trump’s term by investigating assessments taken…


Candidate: Michael Comlish Date: May 1, 2021 Time: 9:30 am

This hermeneutic study reconsiders the Œdipus complex in relation to the extended Œdipus myth, which contains homoerotic themes that Sophocles did not include in the Greek tragedy that inspired Freud. Another aim of this study is to understand and reaffirm male homoeros from a depth psychological perspective, which entails an examination of male homoeros in…


Candidate: Michael Vogel Date: April 30, 2021 Time: 9:00 am

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among military veterans, in part because of an increasing number of enlistees seeking refuge in the military system for relief from complex trauma. Childhood trauma defenses may generate a search for control and predictability while also leading to elevated risk taking, making military service attractive and increasing the likelihood…


Candidate: Danél Lombard Date: April 28, 2021 Time: 11:00 am

The prevalence of recurrent low back pain in American society is extensive, greatly impacting the function of individuals on both personal and community levels. Disability caused by low back pain (LBP) is widespread, and traditional physical therapy approaches often yield temporary benefit only. This study investigated the correlations between recurrent LBP and several psychosomatic phenomena.…


Candidate: Kimberly Christensen Date: April 21, 2021 Time: 1:00 pm

This research study explored the lived experience of participants in a group based on the author’s community-healing dreamwork model, a process of engaging the imagination in the embodiment of dream symbols and images with the aim of furthering the individuation of the participants and the collective. The research was conducted from a somatic perspective informed…


Candidate: Andrew Winegarner Date: April 14, 2021 Time: 3:00 pm

The national psyche of Americans was on display during the 2016 presidential election. Perspectives of mythology and Jungian and archetypal forms of depth psychology are utilized to interpret the social and historical forces that were at play in the complex dynamics that led to the surprising election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President…


Candidate: Norma Moreno Date: April 14, 2021 Time: 11:00 am

Long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico, Coatlicue was considered a major deity in the Aztec pantheon and one of the primary representations of the feminine aspect of Ometeotl—the Supreme Duality.  The Spanish conquest led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Aztecs.  Along with the Catholic church, the conquistadores also…


Candidate: Rebecca Morgan Date: April 13, 2021 Time: 9:00 am

This dissertation details a study in which a group of mothers participated in interviews that included the use of imagery, myth, and movement to explore loss as an aspect of the Mother archetype and thereby a ubiquitous feature of the many images of Mother. The research investigates loss as a guiding current that flows within…


Candidate: Jeni Ambrose Date: April 12, 2021 Time: 11:00 am

This study sought to understand whether and in what ways imaginal engagement in body-oriented psychotherapy supports transformative sexual trauma recovery. Participants included six well-experienced body-oriented psychotherapists who regularly support adult survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and other forms of direct, corporeal sexual assault and whose approaches incorporate a form of unconscious imaginal engagement. Central…