<p> Having worked with individuals suffering from eating disorders, I began to wonder what the psyche of a person with this affliction might look like. Could it be represented in a tangible form? Using a heuristic/artistic-creative methodological research approach, I went back to my personal journals, dreams, and artwork from the time I suffered from bulimia. I searched for recurring images from my own psyche that reflected the distorted relationship between persona, shadow, and Self. The inspiration for the costume design to create an imaginal representation of the psyche originated from a client, who made a remark in appreciation of the way a costume could make a statement about the inner world of a character in a play. This brought me to imagine an eating disorder as a character in a play. The exterior would exhibit the persona of perfection, but the interior world would contain the shadow with all of its conflicts and sorrows.</p>

<p> Betrayal trauma theory posits that victims of abuse perpetrated by someone close are more likely to dissociate from awareness of the abuse in order to protect the needed relationship. Shame may likewise protect the relationship by turning the victim's attention inward, thereby increasing the likelihood that the abusive environment will be overlooked. In this dissertation, the associations between shame, dissociation, and betrayal trauma were examined in two experimental studies. A third study examined the consequences of chronic shame. Aims were to determine whether shame and dissociation have a unique link with high betrayal traumas (HiBT), to understand the nature of the relationship between shame and dissociation, and to investigate the consequences of chronic shame. </p><p> In study 1, 124 female trauma survivors were randomly assigned to a high or low betrayal threat condition. Greater exposure to HiBT but not low betrayal traumas (LoBT) predicted increased shame and dissociation following high betrayal threat. Greater exposure to LoBT but not HiBT predicted increased fear following non-betrayal threat. Compared to non-dissociators, dissociators from threat endorsed more negative psychological consequences. </p><p> In study 2, 127 female trauma survivors completed a dissociation induction and battery of questionnaires. The bypassed shame theory, which proposes that dissociation serves to disconnect from the pain of shame, was examined. Results partially supported bypassed shame theory. Although feelings of shame led to a larger dissociation response to the induction, dissociation did not interrupt shame but rather led to even higher shame. Implications are discussed for a possible contributing role of shame to betrayal blindness. </p><p> In study 3, 247 trauma survivors completed online questionnaires addressing chronic shame hypotheses. Regression results revealed that all forms of chronic shame, especially trauma-focused shame, predicted negative health consequences. Correlation results revealed that HiBT was associated with more types of negative outcomes compared to LoBT and that HiBT but not LoBT was associated with chronic shame. </p><p> Taken together, results indicate that, like dissociation, shame may be both an adaptive and detrimental response following betrayal trauma and that emotional and cognitive responses other than fear warrant attention in trauma research and practice.</p>

<p>This thesis explores relational aggression within the context of the female gender. Relational aggression is addressed from an evolutionary, depth psychological, and research-oriented perspective. The question asked in this thesis is: Why do women participate in relational aggression against other women? This thesis uses hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies to excavate the feminine shadow. The author explores why women relationally aggress and examines the place of relational aggression within Western patriarchal society. Support for this work includes current research on relational aggression, exploration of objectification of the female gender, evolutionary theories, the depth psychological perspective, and personal thoughts. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1999. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 59-10, Section: A, page: 3988. Adviser: Laurie Roehrich.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: B, page: 7679. Adviser: Howard Berenbaum. Includes bibliographical references. Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2007. / Adviser: Gordon Moskowitz.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: B, page: 6739. Adviser: Sumie Okazaki. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-134) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p>Crossing the Invisible Fence: The Quality of Mentoring Relationships in the Careers of Successful Women Patricia A. Velazquez ABSTRACT Despite a substantial disparity between the levels of professional success achieved by women as compared to men, many women achieve professional success in their fields. This study utilizes thematic analysis of in-depth interviews to explore the life experiences of a sample of eight professional women. The questions that guided this research were (1) How are early relationships related to women?s capacity to envision a professional future and to utilize mentoring relationships? and (2) What are the factors that contribute to women?s success? The interviews were conducted and analyzed using a narrative approach. Eight consistent themes were identified in the lives of these women that contributed to their career success. These themes are the experience of attunement, esteem-building messages, sources of inspiration, challenges that were overcome and that promoted increased-self-esteem, notable personal qualities, a clear career path, and success defined in terms of contribution to others. Furthermore, mentoring and early relationships played an important role in these women?s success, and the quality of early relationships was found to have shaped the kind of mentoring experienced as helpful. In particular, attunement and empathy in a mentor were essential. Interestingly, good mentors were not found to be gender specific. KEYWORDS: MENTORING, ATTUNEMENT, INTERSUBJECTIVITY, INVISIBLE FENCE, NARRATIVE APPROACH, CAREER SUCCESS

<p> Concerned with the unconscious, embodied experience of heterosexual women affected by female sexual objectification (FSO), this research takes a depth psychological, somatic approach to addressing the Western cultural split between mind and body. This study explores the archetypal, thematic material constellating in the dynamics of FSO, its traumatogenic effects, and women&rsquo;s internalization of FSO as a psychosocial survival strategy. It asks the question: How can FSO be ameliorated, bringing the rejected body and sacred feminine sexuality out of the shadow and back into consciousness? Using a co-operative inquiry methodology six women explored the inquiry questions using Open Floor movement to access the somatic unconscious followed by journaling, group dialogue, and art production. Findings validated women&rsquo;s ways of knowing; revealed ways that FSO shapes women&rsquo;s relationship with their bodies, sexuality, and subjectivity; substantiated FSO as a cultural complex; advanced the critique surrounding the normalization and personal burden associated with FSO as a cultural trauma; and illuminated the archetypal plurality of psyche, evidenced in women&rsquo;s embodied experience with the transpersonal feminine, the self, others, and world. Findings also illustrated the strength, efficacy, and importance of using a body-oriented approach to inquiry and discovered archetypal energies of the feminine that emerged from the unconscious in and through the women&rsquo;s bodies, bringing forward previously split-off potential for self-efficacy and agency. </p><p>

<p> This research is about revisioning the Feminine; this is an exploration into the depth of image, alchemy, and intentional creativity, and the catalytic role they play in psychic and somatic integration. Hekate was identified as an image of the dark Feminine that invoked fear in Western culture. For this reason Hekate was selected for interpretation for this alchemical hermeneutic study. An examination of the dark Feminine as Hekate was conducted using an intentional creative process. Also investigated in this study are the alchemical processes of <i>nigredo</i> and <i>albedo</i> and their correlation with transformation within an intentional creative process. Intentional creativity was identified as a viable method for encountering experiences of psychic and somatic integration. Further, through incorporating current research in trauma and neuroscience, this research examined responses to fear in connection to image and the involvement of image in mind-body-subtle body disconnection. This qualitative research was conducted using alchemical hermeneutic methodology to examine the lived experience of re-visioning the Feminine. The data examined in this study were collected by working with an intentional creativity method developed by artist Shiloh Sophia McCloud. McCloud&rsquo;s intentional creativity model was applied to a dream image, and the researcher&rsquo;s responses to the layers of the painting process then generated the data for the study. The findings of this study show that McCloud&rsquo;s method produced lasting experiences of psychic and somatic integration, and that through re-visioning the Feminine, the mind-body-subtle body experience of fear was transformed. </p>