This thesis explores the Tantric transformational journey from sexual trauma to wholeness. The research question offers to explain, “What are the experiences of women who have experienced sexual trauma and have embraced the non-dual path of Tantra as a transformational journey to wholeness?” A phenomenological hermeneutic method of study was used to investigate and understand themes that surfaced from the coparticipants narratives. The narratives were gathered from research interviews that were conducted with the six co-participants. From these interviews, thirteen themes emerged. The following themes are: 1) discovering sexuality, 2) trauma: splitting the soul in two, 3) the betrayal bond of trauma 4) from betrayal by others to the betrayal of self, 5) befriending the self, 6) sacred spot healing, 7) releasement: a catapult into presence, 8) saying ‘yes’ to pain, saying ‘yes’ to pleasure, 8) embracing the open sky of awareness, 9) the power of presence in the here and now, 10) total freedom in the always, already, available ‘now’, 11) sublime and mundane: merging into oneness, 12) non-dual: vastness of oneness 13) suchness of life. Finally, a summary of findings as well as limitations of this study and the implications of counselling are discussed. / viii, 175 leaves ; 29 cm. --

This thesis examines the therapeutic narratives of sexually abused women. It is based on four in-depth case studies and my experience in counselling hundreds of other women. Two opening chapters outline the methodological and theoretical basis upon which these stories have come to be presented. These accounts unfold through a therapeutic facilitation which has been informed by feminist and narrative therapies, Jungian dream analysis, and a vast array of sexual abuse and related literature. My written translation of these experiences, on the other hand, has been shaped greatly by sociological argument. The foremost of these include feminist standpoint theory, reflexive transformation, and symbolic interaction. The bringing together of these fields serves to create two additional and sometimes conflicting voices - therapist and researcher - which are heard in and around the voices of my clients. The main body of the thesis develops, in storied form, clients' attempts to define and reintegrate themselves following sexual violations in light of a lack of self-authority, fears around voicing their trauma, fragmented memories, disassociation from their own language and symbolism, and a general sense of personal invalidity. In the face of these and other obstacles the therapeutically facilitated accounts bring to the fore unique and creative strategies for integrating these similarly dehumanizing experiences. Each narrative also speaks clearly of the need for a perspective outside of the client which will, in reflecting it back to her, hopefully disarm some of its horror for her and eventually allow it to be integrated by her. In addition, popular therapeutic discourse on sexual abuse has inadvertently served to silence many of my clients by removing them from this experience through a reconstruction of it for them in a theory and language that falls short of capturing its essence. These narrative reconstructions alternatively dispense with those and other descriptions of the client's trauma in favour of internally produced symbols and associations. Just as the sexual abuse narrative needs a discourse into which it can flow in order for it to be heard, it needs also to first be made right at the intra-personal level before it can be widely shared. Within the context of this thesis the therapist has mediated the client's story while the sociologist has sought and amplified its social significance.

Gender-based violence has been recognized as a pressing mental health problem that is prevalent within South African society. Non-governmental organizations play a major role in addressing and highlighting the issue. These organizations make use of volunteers in order to assist in meeting their goals. The modernist perspective has been the dominant investigative mode when research into volunteers has been conducted. However, this study has been conducted with an emphasis on narrative. In its use of this constitutionalist and deconstructive perspective, it examines the identity of the research participants within the dominant social and cultural discourses that story their lives. This presents a major challenge to the modernist framework. In examining the life stories of the participants an emergent nature of identity is noted. Through the process of storying their lives and ascribing meaning to their experiences and understandings, the participants engaged in a process of constructing their identity. This research recognizes that identity is both multi-sited and multi-storied. The emphasis on personal agency enables the participants to restory their lives in the light of challenging prevailing discourses. It is in this process of challenge that they reauthor their lives and are in a position to change their own lives and the lives of others.

Thesis (M Social Work)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Intimate partner violence is world wide and in South Africa an increasing social problem that leads to life-threatening history of injuries and psychosocial problems. Intimate partner violence is a global phenomenon prevalent in all socio-economic, race, religion, cultural and geographical boundaries. Although women with a lack or low income is more at risk of intimate partner violence and this reinforces their dependency of the intimate partner violence relationship. The largest percentage of South Africa’s poor population lives in rural areas that make them more vulnerable for social problems because of their lack of adequate resources. Women in rural areas involved with intimate partner violence are physically isolated from a supportive social network and must travel far distances to gain access to formal support resources. The goal of the study is to gain an understanding of the support needs of women in rural areas that are involved in intimate partner violence from an ecological perspective. To achieve this goal, the objectives are: to explain the nature, extent and origin of intimate partner violence as a social problem; to discuss the relevance of the ecological perspective as a theoretical framework regarding the analyses of intimate partner violence; to describe the support needs of women in rural areas that is involved in intimate partner violence; to investigate the experience of women in rural areas that is involved in intimate partner violence regarding the availability of support; and to offer recommendations regarding the promotion of the support needs for women in rural areas that is expose to intimate partner violence. Combinations of a quantitative and qualitative research approach were used in the study. The study further assumed an exploratory and descriptive research design due to the lack of information on support that is available to women in rural areas that are involved in intimate partner violence. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. Data was gathered by means of a semi-structured questionnaire, which was administered during 20 individual interviews. This allowed for a holistic view of the participants beliefs about, or perceptions of the topic. The design of the questionnaire was based on the information obtained from the literature review. The findings of the empirical investigation mainly confirmed the findings of the literature study that those women in rural areas that are involved in intimate partner violence support needs, from multiple levels of the ecological perspective. This support entails both informal and formal support resources which vary from concrete, informational to emotional support in order to cope with stressful life situations. The most important recommendations resulting from the study indicate that social workers must use an ecological approach during service rendered to women in rural areas that are involved in intimate partner violence. This approach can be used to identify and strengthen support resources on a micro, meso, exo and macro system level. The study further indicate that social workers must collaborate with different government sectors such as health care, police and law enforcement in order to create a multi professional team that focus on the social functioning of families and the community as a entity. Social workers that render intervention services to women in rural areas that are exposed to intimate partner violence should focus on all levels of social work intervention. The recommendation emphasises the importance of women and the communities’ awareness regarding intimate partner violence to promote women independency and to promote and facilitate support groups. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Intiemepaargeweld is wêreldwyd asook in Suid-Afrika ‘n toenemende sosiale probleem wat ‘n geskiedenis van ernstige beserings en psigososiale probleme vir vroue tot gevolg het. Die universele gebeurtenisse van intiemepaargeweld vind plaas binne alle sosio-ekonomiese, ras-, geloofs-, kulturele en geografiese grense. Alhoewel vroue met gebrekkige of lae inkomste hulle ‘n groter risiko vir intiemepaargeweld maak, versterk dit ook vroue se afhanklikheid van die intiemepaargeweldverhouding. Die meerderheid van Suid-Afrika se arm populasie woon in landelike gebiede, wat hulle meer kwesbaar maak vir maatskaplike probleme weens die gebrek aan genoegsame hulpbronne. Vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, is fisies geïsoleerd van ‘n ondersteunende sosiale netwerk en moet ver afstande reis om toegang tot formele ondersteuningshulpbronne te kry. Die doel van hierdie studie is om met behulp van die ekologiese perspektief die behoefte aan ondersteuning van vroue wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, beter te verstaan. Om hierdie doel te bereik, is die doelwitte: om die aard, omvang en oorsprong van intiemepaargeweld as ‘n maatskaplike probleem te verduidelik; om die relevansie van die ekologiese perspektief as teoretiese raamwerk vir die ontleding van intiemepaargeweld te bespreek; om die ondersteuning wat nodig is vir vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, te omskryf; om ondersoek in te stel na die ervaring van vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, ten opsigte van die beskikbaarheid van ondersteuning; en om aanbevelings te maak ten opsigte van die bevordering van die ondersteuning vir vroue in landelike gebiede wat aan intiemepaargeweld blootgestel word. ‘n Kombinasie van kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenaderings is in hierdie studie gebruik. Tydens hierdie ondersoek is ook beide ‘n verkennende en beskrywende navorsingsontwerp benut, aangesien die beskikbare literatuur ‘n gebrek aan inligting aangaande ondersteuning wat beskikbaar is aan vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, toon. ‘n Doelbewuste streekproefmetode is geselekteer om deelnemers te verkry. Die data is ingevorder deur die gebruik van ‘n semi-gestruktureerde vraelys tydens 20 afsonderlike individuele onderhoude. Sodoende kon ‘n geheelbeeld van die deelnemers se oortuigings en persepsies aangaande die onderwerp van die studie verkry word. Die samestelling van die vraelys berus op inligting wat uit die literatuurstudie verkry is. Die resultate van die ondersoek het hoofsaaklik die bevindinge van die literatuurstudie bevestig dat vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, ‘n behoefte aan ondersteuning op veelvoudige vlakke van die ekologiese perspektief het. Hierdie ondersteuning behels beide informele en formele ondersteuningsbronne en varieer vanaf konkrete, informatiewe tot emosionele ondersteuning ten einde stresvolle lewensituasies te kan hanteer. Die belangrikste aanbevelings van hierdie studie dui daarop dat maatskaplike werkers die ekologiese perspektief moet gebruik tydens dienste wat aan vroue in landelike gebiede wat by intiemepaargeweld betrokke is, gelewer word. Hierdie perspektief kan die nodige ondersteuningshulpbronne identifiseer en versterk om die nodige ondersteuning aan hierdie vroue op ‘n mikro-, meso-, ekso- en makrosisteemvlak te bied. Die aanbevelings dui ook aan dat maatskaplike werkers saam met verskeie regeringsektore, naamlik gesondheidsorg-, polisie- en wetstoepassingsdienste, ‘n multi-professionele span vorm sodat daar op die sosiale funksionering van gesinne en gemeenskap as ‘n geheel gefokus word. Maatskaplike werkers wat intervensiedienste lewer aan vroue in landelike gebiede wat aan intiemepaargeweld blootgestel word, moet op alle maatskaplikewerk-intervensievlakke fokus. Die aanbevelings beklemtoon die noodsaaklikheid van vroue en die gemeenskappe se bewustheid rakende intiemepaargeweld om sodoende vroue se onafhanklikheid te bevorder en ondersteuningsgroepe te bevorder en te fasiliteer.

South Africa is a very violent society, where violence is often used as a social resource to maintain control and establish authority. Global and local research suggests that there is a high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV), a facet of this violence, although little research has been conducted into the effects of IPV during pregnancy in the South African non-governmental organisation (NGO) context. NGOs globally and in South Africa have attempted to address IPV and IPV during pregnancy by providing services that aim to assist (largely female) clients emotionally and logistically. In light of this phenomenon, this qualitative study presents data generated through the use of a lightly-structured narrative interview schedule. The interviews were conducted over three sessions with eight counsellors, all based at two NGOs in South Africa and experienced in counselling women who have suffered IPV and IPV during pregnancy. This study used Taylor and Littleton’s (2006) narrative-discursive analytical lens, infused with theoretical insights from Foucault about power, discourse and narrative in order to identify the discursive resources that shape the narratives that the counsellors shared in the interviews and how these translate into subject positions and (gendered) power relations of the men and women about whom they speak. Six discursive resources emerged from the narratives, namely a discourse of ‘traditional “African” culture’, ‘patriarchal masculinity’, ‘nurturing femininity’, ‘female victimhood’, ‘female survivorhood’ and ‘human rights’. These informed the three main narratives that emerged: narratives about IPV in general, IPV during pregnancy, and the counsellors’ narratives about their intervention strategies. Within these narratives (and the micro-narratives which comprised them), men were largely positioned as subscribing to violent patriarchal behaviour whilst women were mostly positioned as nurturing and victims of this violence. The counsellors also constructed women as largely ignorant of their options about IPV and IPV during pregnancy; they constructed these phenomena as problems that require intervention and identified a number of factors that indicate what successful IPV interventions should entail. In reflecting upon this analysis, this study also aimed to address the questions of what is achieved or gained by using these narratives and discursive resources, what the significance or consequences are of constructing and using these particular narratives and discourses and whether different narratives or discourses would have been possible. Recommendations for further research includes incorporating more sites as well as interviewing perpetrators and IPV survivors themselves, perhaps in their home language where relevant rather than English, to gain a broader and more faceted understanding of the dynamics surrounding IPV during pregnancy. A recommendation for practice in intervention against IPV during pregnancy is to introduce more holistic/systemic intervention strategies and working with communities to address this issue.

M.Cur. / Violence stalks the streets of our erstwhile civilised cities and towns, and has also involved too many homes, transforming them from places of protection into pits of powerlessness and victimization. No immunization to this epidemic is afforded by culture, social class, economic states, education or ever religious affiliation. It is time to lift the shroud of silence and to shine the spotlight of truth on this social dilemma (Couden, 1999: 5). This research begins with the journey of awareness, which is intended to lead to healing, mental health and wholeness for the victimised women. It is intended to give victimised women a voice, since they are the experts of their own lives. Through sharing of their experiences, it is hoped that such awareness will positively impact our families, communities, churches and the wider society. The objectives of this research are to: • Explore and describe the experiences of victimised women of group interventions in a psychiatric clinic. • Formulate guidelines for the promotion of mental health of victimised women of group interventions. • In phase one of the research, the researcher made conclusions that the group interventions had an effect on victimised women. Group interventions enabled these women to understand that they can do something about being victimised. The main themes that came out were ventilating of emotions, support for each other in the group interventions, a sense of being empowered and a sense of forgiveness towards their perpetrators. In phase two guidelines were described for the advanced psychiatric nursespecialist to facilitate and promote the mental health of victimised women. An empowerment programme based on the suggestions given by Goodman and Fallon (113) described on the survey list by Dickoff et al (1968: 423). Conclusions, limitations and recommendations for the nursing practice, nursing education and research in nursing have been made.

This thesis includes four studies investigating the experiences of abused women. According to ecological approaches different systems should be considered when conducting research into abused women and their experiences. The first study involved women who successfully left an abusive relationship. An ecological approach was used to investigate the experiences of the women in the different phases of their relationship, including the initial attraction to the partner, the development and sustaining of the abuse and her attempts to leave until her final decision to leave permanently. An important finding was the importance of considering and investigating all systems and levels when dealing with abused women, including those who have left and those who are contemplating leaving this relationship. The second study found that women who experienced physical abuse were often hurt in anatomical locations that were indicative of impulsive violence. The abuser used any object in the heat of the moment to attack the victim and no premeditated planning was evident in the type of injuries sustained. The women further reported that medical practitioners did not investigate the causes of injuries and that they were not referred to social services or organisations dealing with abused women, although they were recognised as suffering from abuse. The intersection of abuse of women and HIV was the topic of focus of the third study. A review of the records of abused women revealed that many abused women were subjected to risk factors for contracting HIV, with counsellors focussing only on abuse issues. Longitudinal case studies, of women exposed to both conditions, revealed that they lacked social support and were often secondarily victimised by the social welfare systems. An environmental scan found that social and health care services were not accessible to these women. The final study investigated intervention strategies to combat burnout in workers at an organisation dealing with abused women. The importance and effectiveness of creative exercises and art sessions were determined in combination with debriefing and supervision sessions. The studies all considered systems that are important in service delivery to abused women. A holistic and systemic investigation and treatment of abused women is shown to be essential, as is the importance of grass roots research. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

This thesis includes four studies investigating the experiences of abused women. According to ecological approaches different systems should be considered when conducting research into abused women and their experiences. The first study involved women who successfully left an abusive relationship. An ecological approach was used to investigate the experiences of the women in the different phases of their relationship, including the initial attraction to the partner, the development and sustaining of the abuse and her attempts to leave until her final decision to leave permanently. An important finding was the importance of considering and investigating all systems and levels when dealing with abused women, including those who have left and those who are contemplating leaving this relationship. The second study found that women who experienced physical abuse were often hurt in anatomical locations that were indicative of impulsive violence. The abuser used any object in the heat of the moment to attack the victim and no premeditated planning was evident in the type of injuries sustained. The women further reported that medical practitioners did not investigate the causes of injuries and that they were not referred to social services or organisations dealing with abused women, although they were recognised as suffering from abuse. The intersection of abuse of women and HIV was the topic of focus of the third study. A review of the records of abused women revealed that many abused women were subjected to risk factors for contracting HIV, with counsellors focussing only on abuse issues. Longitudinal case studies, of women exposed to both conditions, revealed that they lacked social support and were often secondarily victimised by the social welfare systems. An environmental scan found that social and health care services were not accessible to these women. The final study investigated intervention strategies to combat burnout in workers at an organisation dealing with abused women. The importance and effectiveness of creative exercises and art sessions were determined in combination with debriefing and supervision sessions. The studies all considered systems that are important in service delivery to abused women. A holistic and systemic investigation and treatment of abused women is shown to be essential, as is the importance of grass roots research. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)