<p> This inquiry utilizes a qualitative heuristic design and methodology to explore the experience of psychotherapy in a home office setting, from the perspective of the psychotherapist. In addition to data collected through in-depth interviews with seven therapists who currently treat patients in their home offices, the study includes the experience and reflections of the primary researcher, who also practices in a home office. </p><p> By engaging with therapists who have direct knowledge of the home office, the study is privileged to share intimate perspectives of this rarely investigated phenomenon. The study explores the motivations of these therapists to establish a home practice, and presents their satisfaction and frustrations with this unique setting. The findings offer insight into ways a practitioner deals with self-disclosure, manipulates the therapeutic frame, and manages boundaries. The interviews and analysis explore different ways the setting &mdash; both natural and constructed &mdash; impacts the work. Participants in the study express confidence that working in a home office serves their patients well, matches their own strengths and personality, and is aligned with their theoretical beliefs about psychotherapy. </p><p> Deepening the research of home office practice beyond a study of setting and situation, the research reaches towards the symbolic in several ways. The primary researcher works with two dreams a patient shared about the home office. The literature review and data analysis includes reflections on the concrete and symbolic roles home plays in culture, in psychotherapeutic work, and in the personal life of the practitioner. Utilizing the ancient Greek goddess Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, the research employs a depth psychology insight into how the physical setting and psychological focusing combine to create a temenos. </p><p> The home office setting will continue to be an ideal setting for some practitioners for whom it makes practical sense. The implications of this study for the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis point towards the importance for all practitioners to consider their conscious and unconscious motivations to practice in a particular setting, and how these choices affect their patients, the people they live with, and their own development. </p><p> Key words: home, home office, psychotherapy, setting, Hestia.</p>

<p> Factors that affect alliance and outcome in couple therapy are crucial to the therapeutic process, yet currently research on this is scarce. The current study sought to expand the knowledge of alliance and outcome in couple therapy by analyzing the effect motivation has on alliance and outcome. Results of this study found that there was a significant correlation between motivation and alliance and that baseline motivation has a significant effect on outcomes. Other variables such as level of client distress were also explored and found to be related to motivation, alliance and outcome. Altogether, the findings of this study indicate that partners' levels of motivation have important implications for the therapeutic alliance and outcome in couple therapy.</p>

<p> There is significant anecdotal evidence of a growing number of psychoanalytically trained practitioners adapting aspects of the internal family systems (IFS) model into their clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how these therapists make sense of their approach. Data were collected in the form of semi-structured interviews with practitioners and analyzed using constructivist grounded theory. Eleven participants revealed a wide array of experiences that were theoretically conceptualized within a unified framework. Three themes emerged from the data analysis process: (a) therapists' relationships with experiential IFS practice, (b) the therapist-client relationship, and (c) IFS/psychoanalytic hybrid theory. Therapists' relationships with experiential IFS work were found to be diverse and complex, but related to their own experiences in the role of client. Therapists' feelings about the perceived lack of theory underpinning the IFS model were related to their stated relationships with intellectual protector parts. Therapists' feelings about the clinical utility of the therapist-client relationship were complex and tended to deviate from the canonical IFS model in ways that are consistent with the psychodynamic use of the relationship in treatment. Specifically, participants described using the therapist-client relationship to facilitate parts work, many viewed part-to-part relating between therapist and client as providing significant clinical information, and they cited a belief in the importance of using IFS-based psychoeducation and interpretations to help clients gain insight into their internal dynamics. Finally, the ways in which therapists combine the IFS model and psychoanalytical theory into a new, hybrid theory is described, including a view of the unconscious as populated by IFS phenomena, viewing clinical stuckness as related to early psychological trauma that requires experiential work to abate, and the view of the Self-to-part healing relationship in the IFS model through an attachment theory lens. It is proposed that the IFS model traverses divides across the major psychoanalytic models. This may reduce feelings of foreignness among psychodynamic practitioners and create a fertile ground in which hybrid theory can grow. The limitations of this study and implications for practice, training, and further research are discussed.</p>

<p> Job satisfaction (JS) has been shown to significantly predict life satisfaction (LS) across a large array of research (Tait, Padgett, &amp; Baldwin, 1989), though the strength of the relationship varies (Steiner &amp; Truxillo, 1987). Authors have suggested the difference in the strength of the relationship across studies may be due to the presence of moderators (Rain, Lane, &amp; Steiner, 1991), particularly an individual's level of work importance (Lent &amp; Brown, 2008). Unfortunately, the research on the moderating impact of work importance uses measures which lack sufficient validity and reliability evidence about their scores (Steiner &amp; Truxillo, 1987). Steiner and Truxillo (1987) suggested Kanungo's ( 1982) Work Importance Questionnaire and Job Importance Questionnaire as a specific measure which would address this concern, though adherence to traditional masculine norms may also tap into the construct of work importance. Individuals who adhere to traditional masculine norms of the dominant culture in the U.S. often place even greater emphasis on their work role (Mahalik et al., 2003). The past literature on adherence to masculine norms has generally focused solely on negative outcomes (Kiselica &amp; Englar-Carlson, 2010) and often samples including only mainly White, heterosexual men (Parent &amp; Smiler, 2012). </p><p> The current study explores the impact of potential moderators on the relationship between job and life satisfaction, examines how this relationship may vary across categories of identity, evaluates potential positive outcomes of adherence to masculine norms, and analyzes how adherence to masculine norms may vary across categories of identity. An online survey was given to 290 U.S. adults, working at least part time, about job satisfaction, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, job and work importance, and adherence to masculine norms. The results showed job satisfaction to predict life satisfaction, though did not find any significant moderating effect of any measure of work importance (work importance, job importance, primacy of work). The model explaining the largest amount of variance (45%) suggested that job satisfaction may have an indirect effect on life satisfaction, through positive and negative affect. The above results did not vary by gender (job satisfaction predicting life satisfaction, no significant moderators, mediation model). With regard to adherence to masculine norms, there were no relationship detected between positive outcomes and adherence. While the current sample did not have sufficient numbers to examine how adherence to masculine norms may vary by ethnicity and sexual orientation, differences between men and women were examined. Men showed significantly higher adherence to masculine norms, as well as higher adherence to specific norms of power over women, the use of violence, and frequently changing sexual partners. The results suggest the need for more complex models and statistical methods, using outside raters, selecting methods that can test causality, and intentionally selecting higher numbers of ethnic and sexual minorities. With regard to clinical implications, the study suggests the need to address values around help-seeking, focusing on strengths for adherence to masculine norms, and addressing barriers within therapy and barriers towards entering therapy for individuals with high self-reliance.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to create a program, identify a funding source, and write a grant to fund a psychoeducational support group. A detailed literature review was conducted to analyze the background and prevalence of the problem as well as past solutions attempted to resolve the problem.</p><p> Substance-exposed infants continue to be taken from their mothers at birth and placed in the care of relative caregivers or foster care providers. This program seeks to help improve the level of awareness of caregivers about the potential challenges and needs of substance-exposed infants. The goal of the proposed program is to create a psychoeducational support group for the purpose of increasing the knowledge of and support for caregivers of substance-exposed infants. The program will target cities in the Service Planning Area (SPA) 6 of Los Angeles County.</p><p> Actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> In Therapeutic Assessment individuals are given feedback based on questions developed prior to administration of psychological testing. It is hypothesized that feedback delivered in this manner results in greater therapeutic outcomes than standard feedback administration. This study compared the therapeutic outcomes of individuals who received Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Second Edition &ndash; Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Ben-Porath &amp; Tellegen, 2008) feedback based on personally-developed questions to the outcomes of individuals who received standard MMPI-2-RF feedback. The study utilized a two (group) by three (time) design; the sample consisted of 39 undergraduate university students (17 men, 22 women). Nineteen participants received feedback based on their questions, while 20 participants received standard feedback. Symptoms of distress and self-esteem were assessed prior to MMPI-2-RF administration, immediately after MMPI-2-RF feedback, and two weeks after feedback. Participants also rated their perceptions of the assessment process at the final two time points. Results indicated that all participants, regardless of feedback style, experienced statistically significant decreases in anxiety and depressive symptoms two weeks after feedback. There were no differences in self-esteem or perceptions about the assessment process between groups or across time. This study provides further evidence of the therapeutic utility of feedback, but does not suggest that basing feedback on client-developed questions results in a greater magnitude of therapeutic benefits than standard feedback. An additional finding was that all participants were engaged in the assessment process as evidenced by a 100 percent valid MMPI-2-RF profile rate, which speaks to the importance of making individuals aware they will receive feedback prior to testing as it may lead to increased engagement in the assessment process. </p>

<p> This thesis concerns itself with the crisis of symbolism in contemporary America and the impact this has on the collective and individual American in the 21st century. The research is rooted in the perspective of Jungian philosophy and tradition, and is presented through hermeneutic methodology. This thesis explains why symbols are important in creating consciousness, viewpoints of Jungian analysts about a crisis of symbolism, the role of nothingness as a contemporary anti-symbol symbol, and the way the lack of symbolism plays out in collective American symptomology. This thesis reaches the conclusion that Americans have effectively eliminated meaningful symbols and have entered a post-deconstructionist era in order to allow space in which to create new, more meaningful symbols. The role of the contemporary depth psychologists is to remind their patients of their part in participating in symbol making as a participation in the psychological health of society as a whole.</p>

<p> The goal of this thesis is to demonstrate the usefulness of music as a therapeutic tool in the event of traumatic brain injury. After a thorough investigation and exploration on the subject, it has become clear that through a depth psychological approach, music expedites healing on many different levels in the brain, body, and soul. My research begins as a young child collecting data in heuristic style, as I try to understand my own experience of traumatic brain injury. Then through qualitative hermeneutic text based study came answers to the haunting questions of how to include the idea of healing traumatic brain injury in a perspective balanced between art and science. The review of literature provides a trail of scientific evidence showing growth of knowledge in this area and demonstrates the increased need for music, in a vibrational sense, for personal, cultural, and global healing.</p>

<p> This study explored the lived experiences of 10 counselors who work with traumatic-brain-injury (TBI) individuals on community reintegration. Constructivist self-development theory was used as the conceptual framework for understanding how exposure to traumatic topics affects the self-development of the therapist, leading to the manifestation of other issues in their lives. Data for this study was collected through in-depth interviews that asked counselors to describe their personal experiences of community reintegration counseling with TBI individuals. A transcendental phenomenological design was used to analyze data from counselor interviews. The outcome of the analysis revealed 10 themes: (a) counselors' satisfaction in knowing they are helping, (b) TBI individuals' memory impairment, (c) counselors' frustration with counseling, (d) countertransference, (e) counselors' knowledgeability about TBI population, (f) TBI individuals' family/caregiver support, (g) lack of community support and resources for TBI individuals, (h) TBI individuals' behaviors, (i) counselors` patience in counseling, and (j) family expectations of TBI individuals. These core themes highlighted a consensus among the counselors of feelings of satisfaction in helping, counselors' acceptance of clients, or both. The significance of these findings can benefit counselor education programs and best practice measures for working with this population.</p>

<p>Paracosms, or imaginary worlds, are phenomena only recently taken into account by the field of psychology, with only a smattering of publications on the topic. Whereas previous research has focused primarily on paracosms&rsquo; creative contributions to society, the perspective of this thesis postulates the value and role of the paracosm as it serves the internal system of the psyche. The paracosm is explored in its self-preserving function: an internal world that the psyche builds to replicate the infantile experience of wholeness through contact with a continuous selfobject. In this way the psyche is seen as maintaining itself through imaginal involvement in a paracosm, mirroring the self as world, when there is no external selfobject available. Hermeneutic and heuristic approaches utilize both the research of previous theorists and the author&rsquo;s reflections on her own paracosmic activity in discussing the positive and negative aspects of paracosms as a psychological, trauma-related coping mechanism. </p>