<p> Over the course of a therapist&rsquo;s career, absences from work are inevitable. Although therapist absences undoubtedly impact the therapy process, the topic has not received sufficient attention to produce helpful guidelines. Instead, clinicians looking to the literature for recommendations find less in peer-reviewed journals regarding therapist absences than they would if they were to turn to popular media geared toward a client audience (Barchat, 1988). This study sought to begin to remedy this research gap using a Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) research design focusing on anticipated therapist absences. Ten therapists with at least two years of experience post-licensure were asked about their general thoughts and approach to absences and the training they had received regarding therapist absences. They were also asked to discuss in depth a time that they were absent during therapy with an individual, adult client, focusing on the period before, during, and after the absence, as well as its overall impact. Participants reported generally receiving minimal or no formal supervision or training regarding therapist absences, and experiencing emotional distress when thinking about absences as a whole. When asked about specific absences, however, participants reported experiencing more positive than negative emotions, creating a plan with the client, and generally achieving positive outcomes. Implications are discussed, including recommendations for training, clinical work, and future research.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explores issues of accessibility, quality, and effectiveness in the treatment by mental health professionals of children exhibiting severe cases of parental alienation syndrome (PAS). It presents treatment options that reflect the most up-to-date approaches, research and extensive experience, and the current knowledge base established by expert clinicians. Hermeneutic research finds the need for increased support, education, and additional resources to enable professionals to provide PAS-informed approaches when working with children and families in high-conflict divorce situations, particularly children presenting with extreme behaviors, including traits associated with psychopathology and mental illness. The author integrates personal experience in seeking to support a loved one who was the targeted parent of a severely alienated child. This heuristic account is based on witnessing a family struggling to find a way out of alienation and seeks to highlight the challenges of this client population.</p><p>

<p> The current study highlights symptoms of early childhood trauma that are often overlooked. It challenges the common assumption that if children are not talking about the trauma then it does not bother them but rather focuses on symptoms that may be surfacing unconsciously, through play, dreams, and somatic symptoms. Drawing from the current researchers experience with trauma composed the statement: Therapists and primary caregivers can help children work through early childhood trauma, without knowing their narratives, but rather with combinations of depth approaches using dream work, play therapy, and somatic techniques that are interwoven with the use of imagination. This led to pulling from the works of Judith Herman, Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Patricia Garfield, and Violet Oaklander. Generating findings that prove effective to easing symptoms of early childhood trauma when combining techniques from these different areas of study: dream work, somatic work on the body and play.</p><p>

<p> Divorce and coparenting are widely studied topics in the field of marriage and family therapy. Clinicians and researchers have attempted to develop interventions to assist couples in which one or both partners are considering divorce so their decision-making processes result in better outcomes, which might safeguard adults and children from the potentially negative effects of divorce. Discernment counseling is such an intervention&mdash;intended for mixed-agenda couples with the goal of helping the partners gain clarity and confidence in making a decision about the future direction of their marital relationship. Using open-ended survey and interview questions, this phenomenological qualitative research explored Path 2 partners&rsquo; experiences of discernment counseling, divorce, and coparenting. Participants were recruited through gatekeepers at the Minnesota Couples on the Brink project and eleven (11) Path 2 partners participated in the survey/interviews. Three major themes emerged: 1) clarity and honesty, 2) appreciation for structure, and 3) cooperation in divorce and coparenting. Generally, the data findings suggest Path 2 partners described their discernment counseling experience as helpful for gaining clarity and honesty, providing necessary structure in their divorce decision-making process, and led to more cooperative divorce processes and post-divorce coparent relationships. </p><p>

<p> The poor and working class are largely overlooked or ignored across many aspects of U.S society including public policy, societal structure, representation in media, and even in the realm of psychological research (Lott, 2002; Smith, 2005). Furthermore, of the scanty representations and descriptions of the poor and working class that are available, most are derived from oppressive classist views and negative stereotypes (Smith, 2010). Classism pervades the social structure of the United States. Classist beliefs and experiences of classism are internalized by all members of society to some degree. Working class and poor people who experience internalized classism are likely to experience a number of negative effects such as depression, increased shame, difficulty with relationships, etc (Smith, 2010; Russell, 1996). To date, there has been limited research related to social class in the field of psychology, but this has been growing. However, there is currently no measure available that assess internalized classism which severely limits important research regarding this phenomenon resulting from classist oppression. The purpose of this project was to create an instrument that will potentially aid in the further the understanding of the impact of classist oppression when it is internalized by those who are oppressed, the working class and poor. The scale construction procedures, analysis, and empirical attributes will be provided in addition to the limitations of this research project and implications for future research and practice. </p><p>

<p> The following study looks at how Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) clinicians consider cultural dynamics within the EMDR treatment approach. A literature review provides the empirical foundation of EMDR treatment, a broad inquiry into general influences of cultural dynamics, and a review of the intersection of EMDR and culture in existing literature. In a mixed-methods approach, background information of EMDR clinicians and written responses to a composite case vignette allowed for the investigation into how 56 EMDR clinicians discuss cultural issues within their work. Participants were recruited via listservs maintained by EMDR communities in the United States, the United Kingdom &amp; Ireland, and Israel. While a cluster analysis was able to create clusters emerging from participant data, these influences were minimal in the subsequent qualitative analyses. However, it is worth noting that the variables that emerged as important criteria for clusters included length of experience and national origin. Both are theoretically consistent with Vygotsky&rsquo;s sociocultural theory, which underlies the rationale of the study. In the qualitative component of data analysis, the researcher employed basic interpretive design and discourse analysis methodologies. Basic interpretive results found multiple approaches ranging from deeming culture a non-essential focus of the work to considering how certain identity markers may affect the course of information processing in treatment. When culture was considered, the focus was typically on the client&rsquo;s background as opposed to the clinician&rsquo;s background. Discourse analysis suggested a number of potentially meaningful linguistic patterns including shifts between Germanic and Latinate word origins depending on perceived audience, shifts between active and passive voice depending on temporal relation to the traumatic event, and the personification of the brain as an active character in the treatment process. As an exploratory study, considerable follow-up research would be needed before concrete suggestions are implemented though the potential implications for EMDR training might include a more intentional review of language use and the preparation of multiple styles of communicating to increase resonance with a client&rsquo;s worldview.</p><p>

<p> This thesis addresses perceived gaps in the Western fields of somatic and depth psychology around the phenomena of higher consciousness. Using hermeneutical methodology, higher states of consciousness are explored through the phenomenological lens of the Kundalini awakening experience. Personal accounts, psychological literature, and clinical data weave together to frame deeper insight into Kundalini awakening, which allows the field of psychology to advance its understanding of cultural attitudes around psychopathology by learning to host a client's experience of Kundalini awakening symptomology in a clinical setting without pathologizing the experience as psychosis or as arising out of psychological disorder. Through the study of ancient traditions as well as contemporary science and psychology, knowledge of universal experiences of higher consciousness can enhance a psychotherapist's breadth of vision and have profound effects on the therapeutic encounter, potentially enhancing naturally occurring organismic trends toward increased coherence.</p><p>

<p> Ritualized initiations are explored as having an important role in the breakdown of ego that is necessary for the growth and integration of components of the self once hidden in the shadows of the unconscious. In the modern world, the drive for linear growth and financial conquest has broken connection to archetypal, spiritual, and mythical guidance as well as to the numinous experiences that allow transformation. Through heuristic methodology, both depth psychological literature as well as broader media are considered to determine the importance of initiation for psychic growth and how a lost connection affects recent generations. This work shows that through the psychotherapeutic process, the therapist can provide the stage needed for a client in a transitional phase of life to safely break down and rebuild the ego structure necessary to move toward individuation.</p><p>

<p> Depth psychology, as a tradition originating from Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, today differentiates itself from other practices of counseling psychology by claiming a special focus upon the soul and its experience of imagination. But the study of philosophy shows how the tenets of depth psychology are problematic&mdash;the <i> anima mundi</i> is a misunderstanding that brings about significant consequences for the practice of psychotherapy. This thesis undertakes a hermeneutic methodology by examining particular writings from philosophers Gotthold E. Lessing and Soren Kierkegaard. These works indicate the problematic character of thought that is not in accord with the beautiful, whereby a question is raised regarding how a psychotherapy that is informed by philosophy might make human life more beautiful. At the basis of these themes is the account of noetic heterogeneity and <i>phantasia</i> (&ldquo;appearing&rdquo;) in Aristotle&rsquo;s <i> De Anima</i>, which is examined in relation to Michael Elliott&rsquo;s new psychotherapy of Philosophic Psychology.</p><p>

<p> This thesis uses heuristic and alchemical hermeneutic methodologies and a depth psychological perspective to examine the metaphor and experience of tattoo. The history of tattoos and ideas around healing are explored, as well as the author&rsquo;s own healing and transformation through multiple tattoo experiences. The author&rsquo;s analysis illustrates how a tattoo may be not only representative of a snapshot of the psyche in a moment in time, but might also move the psyche toward healing through the exploration of the archetypal energy in the image. In addition, the author explores how the modification of the body has the capacity to change the emotional and psychological relationship to one&rsquo;s body.</p><p>