Abstract This study examines the connection between power and identity in three Gothic novels, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, William Godwin’s Caleb Williams, and Charles Robert Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer. Following the identity theories of Erik Erikson, I argue that identity has biological, psychological, and social aspects that are subject to change over time. As individual agency—the ability to function as a person—depends on a relatively certain and stable sense of personal identity, Gothic villains—both individuals and institutions—gain and maintain their power by disempowering their victims. In order to do so, they work to compromise these victims’ sense of personal identity, causing them to suffer identity crises that greatly reduce their ability to function. Employing various means—including threats of rape, destruction of reputation, imprisonment, forced exile, denial of freedom of thought, torture, and others—Gothic villains attempt to weaken their victims by placing them in situations that cause the fears that Erikson argues all people share to become paralyzing and debilitating states of anxiety, states in which the victims suffer from a temporary, or, in extreme cases, permanent loss of agency. These Gothic victims’ paranoia, identity crises, and subsequent loss of agency underscore the importance of individuals’ identity and constitute the horror that is at the heart of Gothic fiction.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:48:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto Silva Fonseca.pdf: 488128 bytes, checksum: 2468cc67904ccd246f43543614d5a03d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-20 / The aim of his paper is to analyze Martin Luther s life, from the psychoanalytic view-point, by studying Erik Erikson s book Young Man Luther , A Study in Psychoanalysis and History. It is a very challenging bibliographic research, due to the amount of material produced up to now on Luther s life. A psycho-biography that aspires developing a profound and comprehensive study of a person whose magnitude of references is so vast is not an easy task. The first chapter s goal is to set up historical-scientific approach of the two protagonists. An exposition of Martin Luther s personal life is detailed firstly, beginning with his parents, reaching his individuality and his relationships with his wife and children. After that, a section will also be dedicated to Erik Erikson s life and thoughts, since he is taken as the point of theoretical reference to this piece of work. The second chapter consists in A Critical Dialogue With Erikson s Theory About Luther, elaborating a critical analysis of Erikson s book, Young Man Luther. This appreciation will be made on basis of the author of this paper s own thoughts, of ideas expressed by Luther himself, and of what other biographers have exhaustively spoken and written about his life. Finally, a critical appreciation and particular conclusions about the main characters will be expressed. / O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a vida de Martinho Lutero do ponto de vista psicanalítico, através do estudo do livro de Erik Erikson, Young Man Luther, A Study in Psychoanalysis and History. É uma pesquisa bibliográfica muito difícil, devido a quantidade de material produzido até aqui sobre a vida de Lutero. Uma psicobiografia que aspire desenvolver um estudo profundo e compreensível de uma pessoa cuja magnitude de referências é tão vasta, não é uma tarefa fácil. O primeiro capítulo tem como meta fazer uma Aproximação Histórico-Científica dos Dois Protagonistas. Primeiramente será apresentada uma exposição detalhada da vida pessoal de Martinho Lutero, começando pelos seus pais, chegando na individualidade dele, e seu relacionamento com sua esposa e filhos. Depois disto, haverá também uma parte dedicada à vida e pensamento de Erik Erikson, que é o referencial teórico deste trabalho. O segundo capítulo consiste em um Diálogo Crítico Com A Teoria De Erikson Sobre Lutero, elaborando uma análise crítica do livro de Erikson Young Man Luther. Esta apreciação será feita com base em pensamentos próprios do autor desta dissertação, no que o próprio Lutero disse, e no que outros biógrafos falaram e escreveram exaustivamente a respeito de sua vida. Finalmente, uma apreciação crítica, e conclusões pessoais a respeito dos protagonistas.

Oral history is a method of preserving historical information through in-depth interviews. Because the process requires narrators to use remote recall while sharing their life experiences, it can also be considered a reminiscence-related activity. Before this study, the positive effects on narrators of providing an oral history were noted in the research literature but had not been evaluated through quantitative methods. Based on theoretical constructs of Erikson and Butler, it was hypothesized that participation in oral history interviews would improve the life satisfaction of narrators. Life satisfaction was operationalized and measured using the Life Satisfaction Index Version A (LSIA). The purposes of this study were to evaluate the influence of an oral history intervention on the life satisfaction of community-dwelling elders and to identify participant characteristics associated with change in life satisfaction scores.Sixty community-dwelling, older adults who were free of cognitive impairment and mental illness were recruited from agencies serving the social and recreational needs of elders in Richmond, VA. Participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group. LSIA scores were collected pretest, posttest, and again at retest, ten weeks after the intervention. Mean LSIA scores from the control and treatment groups were compared for differences at posttest and retest using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Regression analysis was used to identify participant characteristics associated with improved life satisfaction at posttest and retest. Oral history interviews were conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University students enrolled in a gerontology course. Participants discussed lifetime events with students on three occasions for approximately one hour per session using a researcher-developed interview guide. No statistically significant differences in LSIA scores were found between groups at posttest (p=0.74) or retest (p=0.051) although retest scores may indicate a trend toward improvement. Lower LSIA scores at pretest were associated with positive change in LSIA scores at retest (p=5.001). These results suggest that oral history may not improve life satisfaction immediately but there may be a trend toward improvement given time and that elders least satisfied with their lives at the onset are most likely to show positive change by retest.

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The shift in health care and nursing philosophy and practice from a holistic approach to a highly technological, cure-oriented approach has been attributed to effective pharmaceuticals made to prolong life. Recently medical professionals have shifted their focus to a combination of spiritual healing and medicine. Hospice care in particular have taken a key interest in integrating spirituality within their health care. The problem is that due to the complications in defining spirituality and appropriate training and education of spirituality within nursing curriculum, assessing patients' spiritual distress may be difficult for many hospice nurses which may be at a loss when attempting to integrate spirituality within their practice. This study used a phenomenological approach to explore the infusion of spirituality in nursing practice and the hospice nurses perceptions of assessing spiritual distress needs of terminally ill patients. Frankl's existential theory and Kubler- Ross's stages of grief theory framed the study. Participants included 8 hospice nurses working in a Pacific Northwestern state. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the essence of the experience of integrating spirituality as well as their views and concerns regarding assessment instruments used to assess spiritual distress. Data was analyzed for content themes. The study found that spiritual courses were merged into hospice nursing as a teaching unity making it difficult for hospice nurses in a Pacific Northwestern State to fully grasp the concept of spirituality. Further findings suggested that only a handful of schools had spiritual nursing as an independent course. The study may impact social change by informing the advancement of hospice nurses and hospice administrators in the practice of including spirituality within healthcare and integrating extensive existential support training within nurses' curriculum.

The aim of this study is to investigate the resemblance between the developmental stages and developmental tasks of the seven chakras (Judith, 1996) and Erik Erikson’s developmental theory (Bee, 1996). The researcher aims to describe the similarities between the chakra system and developmental psychology. The discussion of literature was divided into two components. Firstly, Stages 1-8 of Erikson’s developmental theory were discussed. Secondly, the chakra system was discussed. The researcher discussed the following concepts to explain the term chakra system: the human and the body; chakra definitions and associations, chakra names, and the colours associated with the chakras. For the purposes of this study, the functions of the separate chakras and the development of the chakra system were focal points. The study was done at a private yoga organisation in Durbanville, Cape Town, where the participants of the study regularly took part in classes. These participants were chosen because of their reliability (adults and regular participation) and their receptivity for alternative healing. Their age and gender was also relevant to the study, because the researcher used non-probability sampling. The main prerequisites for individuals to participate in the study were regular attendance and the individuals’ status as adults. / Dissertation (MA(Couns Psych))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

In the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Alice, the protagonist, is supposed to be seven years of age. However, the reader can perceive her as older than that and get the impression that she has entered adolescence. Alice vacillates between being a child and striving to act like an adult in her various encounters in Wonderland. In this essay, I will examine Alice’s emotional and intellectual phases in her search for identity, and show the different levels according to developmental theory. Erik Erikson’s, Jean Piaget’s and John Dewey’s research together with other studies form the theoretical framework of this paper. I will demonstrate that while the book does not trace her development as such (i.e. it is not a typical Bildungsroman), it nevertheless highlights a child’s development by juxtaposing different developmental stages. The scientific and realistic functions of developmental theory may at first seem haphazard in the analysis of a literary character in a fantasy world. But, this essay illustrates Carroll’s professional familiarity with his child protagonist through the logic and consistency of his depiction of Alice.  Alice’s adventures in Wonderland reflect the child-adult conflict of Alice on her inner quest for identity. To her the first steps into adulthood, ie. adolescence, include not only psychological growth as in maturity but also physical growth; to grow is to grow up. Her dramatic alterations in size in Wonderland cause great turmoil and confusion as she senses an obligation to adapt her behavior.  Lewis Carroll knew his child protagonist well.

This thesis provides the first rigorous history of the concept of midlife crisis. It highlights the close connections between understandings of the life course and social change. It reverses accounts of popularization by showing how an idea moved from the public sphere into academia. Above all, it uncovers the feminist origins of the concept and places this in a historically little-studied tradition of writing about middle age that rejected the gendered "double standard of aging." Constructions of middle age and life-planning were not always oppressive, but often used for feminist purposes. The idea of midlife crisis became popular in the United States with journalist Gail Sheehy's Passages (1976), a critique of Erik Erikson's male-centered model of ego development and psychoanalytic constructions of gender and identity more generally. Drawing on mid-century notions of middle life as the time of a woman's entry into the public sphere, Sheehy's midlife crisis defined the onset of middle age, for men and women, as the end of traditional gender roles. As dual-earner families replaced the male breadwinner model, Passages circulated widely, read by women and men of different generations, including social scientists. Three psychoanalytic experts-Daniel Levinson, George Vaillant, and Roger Gould-rebutted Sheehy by putting forward a male-only concept of midlife as the end of a man's family obligations; they banned women from reimagining their lives. Though this became the dominant meaning of midlife crisis, it was not universally accepted. Feminist scholars, most famously the psychologist and ethicist Carol Gilligan, drew on women's experiences to challenge the midlife crisis, turning it into a sign of emotional instability, immaturity, and egotism. Resonating with widespread understandings of mental health and social responsibility, and confirmed by large-scale surveys in the late 1990s, this relegated the midlife crisis to a chauvinist cliché. It has remained a contested concept for negotiating the balances between work and life, production and reproduction into the present day.