<p> Trauma is a social justice issue by which many of its sufferers historically have remained mystified in a web of misdiagnosis, the most notorious being <i> hysteria.</i> Today, individuals suffering from attachment disorders, anxiety, and depression and the victims of violence, addiction, emotional abuse, and physical abuse often have overlapping symptoms roughly mirroring trauma response symptomatology. These individuals comprise the bulk of those seeking relief from the healing professions, yet the <i>DSM-V </i> has but one diagnosis for trauma: posttraumatic stress syndrome. Recent advances in neuroscience have converged with observations from the field of psychology to confirm the need for a more complex trauma diagnosis. It is time to bring trauma out of the lab and into the streets. Using artistic-creative methodologies, this production thesis channels the expanding body of trauma research into comic strips designed to stimulate social dialogue about the existence of trauma response symptoms in our communities.</p>

<p> Psychotherapy is only as effective as the quality of its provider-patient discourse (Poland, 1968; Schwartz, 2009). It is arguable that, in the practice of psychotherapy, theoretical orientations will encapsulate common understandings of the attitude-intention-behavior process, in order to assist in the promotion and prediction of positive health outcomes; and, that personality traits, and professional and demographic characteristics will similarly influence the kind and quality of the therapeutic relationship. </p><p> The current research was interested in investigating whether there were meaningful relationships between the language or labels used to describe consumers of mental health services and the primary theoretical orientation of the clinician. This was accomplished through examination of descriptor preference of consumers. Descriptors that were examined varied in terms of personable descriptors (e.g., the use of a client's initials) versus more traditional labels (e.g., patient and client abbreviations). Participants indicated preference by selecting descriptor words in case study vignettes in two repeated measures of <i> least</i> and <i>most</i> preferred options. Theoretical orientations surveyed were categorized as <i>action-based</i> (e.g., CBT, SBT, ABA, and systemic), <i>insight-based</i> (e.g., psychodynamic and humanistic), and <i>other,</i> which included integrative and crisis-based interventions used in medical environments. </p><p> Results indicated there were differences in the patterns of most and least preferred, depending on theoretical orientation. Insight-based practitioners demonstrated a greater bias against the use of initials and a bias away from the use of patient, whereas Action-based practitioners most preferred initial descriptors. These findings were in direct contrast to previous health care quality studies on physician provider populations, which, in general, opted for maintaining the use of traditional monikers. Further results indicated trends in term preference and demographic and professional variables. For example, related to Gender, men showed a preference for the term patient, whereas women did not. Additionally, older and more experienced clinicians were less biased against the use of the more traditional client. Findings were explained in terms of the differences in the primary foci of services between mental health and physician providers and in terms of the underlying objective in the training of psychotherapy to cultivate heightened listening skills and sensitivity towards the quality of therapeutic discourse.</p>

<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study is to increase understanding of what therapists encounter and learn about their own psyche as a result of their work with borderline patients. The overarching goal of this research explores the impact of these relationships on the therapist's psyche in order to generate information that can be utilized in the training process of therapists who work with BPD patients as well as to elicit information that could possibly be useful to families, parents, and partners of people diagnosed with BPD. The self-knowledge accumulated by therapists in regard to their own process can inform others engaged in a relationship with borderline patients. The researcher investigated the lived experience of six seasoned therapists through in person, individual interviews. The interviews were analyzed using phenomenological data analysis methods to gain an understanding of the lived experience of each participant as well as for identifying themes shared across participants. All of the participants in this study had an increased awareness and recognition of material emerging from the unconscious as a result of their work with BPD. Core themes that emerged in relation to the participants' experience included realizations of their own inner complexes such as <i>the destroyer, the dark shadow of the self.</i> Participants' experience included inner realizations such as <i>getting in touch with loss and grief</i> and <i>having to be fully authentic.</i> Metabolizing these emerging inner realizations allowed participants to report experiences of i<i> ntegration and shifts in relation to the self, shifts in relationship with death, recognition of personal limitations,</i> becoming <i>humbled </i> and <i>centered, increased curiosity and courage,</i> and a newly acquired <i>sense of playfulness and freedom.</i> All of the six participants were able to recognize unconscious aspects of the self that were activated as a result of the work with borderline patients. Three participants enjoyed working with BPD and felt that their patients experienced improvement that contributed to the therapists' sense of satisfaction and reward from the work.</p>

<p> The central topic of this research is an examination of the philosophical assumptions of depth psychology as they relate to splitting in depth psychology. The intention of the researcher was to examine this topic from multiple perspectives. The researcher utilized a qualitative methodology, dialogical hermeneutics, to compare the influences and assumptions of the differing schools of depth psychology. </p><p> Depth psychology is the study of mental functioning that includes and values unconscious mental processes. Over the past 100 years, numerous splits, dissensions, and modifications have occurred. Splits have occurred between individuals and between factions within institutes, resulting in an ever-increasing plurality of depth psychological training schools. Such infighting has resulted in an erosion of prestige, which has left the discipline in danger of dissolution. </p><p> The primary questions of this research were these: What are the fundamental philosophical assumptions underlying depth psychology in general and do these philosophical assumptions contribute to splitting within the field of depth psychology? </p><p> One of the most basic assumptions of depth psychology held that nature is dualistic and that human beings are divided within and amongst themselves, which led to a belief in the reality of opposites, an ever-present ontological struggle between polar forces. This assumption was consistently maintained in Jung's psychological system and present but inconsistently held by Freud. Jung believed that there was a fundamental unity in nature that was divided. Freud did not. Jung believed that the problem of the opposites could be transcended, leading to a higher level of integration and assimilation. Freud did not. Freud's influences flowed from objective, deterministic, and rational, materialistic assumptions, whereas Jung's epistemology was more influenced by the idealistic and romantic traditions, which emphasized a subjective, irrational, and teleological approach to knowledge. Freud understood splitting as simply conflictual, whereas Jung saw splitting as conflictual but also purposive, leading towards wholeness. Their positions reflected a philosophical split in the culture that has persisted since classical times, between objective and subjective approaches to understanding reality. Their respective personalities pulled them toward opposing sides of this classic ontological divide. </p><p> The researcher concluded that knowledge inevitably and necessarily develops through conflict, best approached with awareness and tempered with tolerance. </p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 9, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-228).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1990. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: B, page: 4589.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 164-183). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-62). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-49). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.