Towards an existential phenomenological interpretation of C.G. Jung's analytical psychology
- Authors: Brooke, Roger, 1953-
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 Existential phenomenology Phenomenology Psychoanalysis Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3208 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011983
- Description: The central aim of this study was to interpret the psychology of C.G . Jung in the light of existential phenomenology, thereby to lay the foundations for an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology. It was recognised that although Jung introduced a poetic understanding of psychological life he tended to adhere theoretically to a Cartesian and natural scientific epistemology and ontology, in which the knower is separated from the known, and psychological life is encapsulated inside the human subject. Thus the main task, which defined generally the study's scope and limitations, was to undercut the lingering Cartesianism in Jung's thought, thereby to recover the world in which one lives as intrinsically and authentically psychological, and one's psychological life as irreducibly world-related. The ontological guidelines for this endeavour were taken primarily from Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, but it was consistently argued that this hermeneutic movement towards an existential understanding is given within Jung's work itself. Thus: Jung's method is primarily hermeneutic-phenomenological; the psyche is not "mind" or an inner realm more or less linked to the body, but is the embodied life-world, and Jung's descriptions of it - of its autonomy, spatiality and bodiliness, for instance - achieve ontological clarity when it is articulated as Dasein; the self as the totality of the psyche is interpretated in terms of Dasein, and individuation involves differentiation, personalisation and appropriation within existence itself; the complexes, archetypally grounded, are the vital densities of incarnate life, ambiguously conscious and unconscious, known and lived; the archetypes are the fundamental necessities of psychological life, autonomous imaginal structures within which both body and world are founded. Imaginal autonomy is revealed ontically as the metaphorical reality of things, but since imaginal autonomy has no ground thought about psychological life is ultimately poetic. Where relevant, recent theoretical developments in analytical psychology were discussed, particularly the Developmental and Archetypal movements. A clinical study was presented to illustrate some of the main themes of the thesis. In conclusion, the main themes of an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology were outlined, and the central contributions of analytical psychology and existential phenomenology were highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Brooke, Roger, 1953-
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Jung, C G (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961 Existential phenomenology Phenomenology Psychoanalysis Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3208 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011983
- Description: The central aim of this study was to interpret the psychology of C.G . Jung in the light of existential phenomenology, thereby to lay the foundations for an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology. It was recognised that although Jung introduced a poetic understanding of psychological life he tended to adhere theoretically to a Cartesian and natural scientific epistemology and ontology, in which the knower is separated from the known, and psychological life is encapsulated inside the human subject. Thus the main task, which defined generally the study's scope and limitations, was to undercut the lingering Cartesianism in Jung's thought, thereby to recover the world in which one lives as intrinsically and authentically psychological, and one's psychological life as irreducibly world-related. The ontological guidelines for this endeavour were taken primarily from Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, but it was consistently argued that this hermeneutic movement towards an existential understanding is given within Jung's work itself. Thus: Jung's method is primarily hermeneutic-phenomenological; the psyche is not "mind" or an inner realm more or less linked to the body, but is the embodied life-world, and Jung's descriptions of it - of its autonomy, spatiality and bodiliness, for instance - achieve ontological clarity when it is articulated as Dasein; the self as the totality of the psyche is interpretated in terms of Dasein, and individuation involves differentiation, personalisation and appropriation within existence itself; the complexes, archetypally grounded, are the vital densities of incarnate life, ambiguously conscious and unconscious, known and lived; the archetypes are the fundamental necessities of psychological life, autonomous imaginal structures within which both body and world are founded. Imaginal autonomy is revealed ontically as the metaphorical reality of things, but since imaginal autonomy has no ground thought about psychological life is ultimately poetic. Where relevant, recent theoretical developments in analytical psychology were discussed, particularly the Developmental and Archetypal movements. A clinical study was presented to illustrate some of the main themes of the thesis. In conclusion, the main themes of an integrated phenomenological analytical psychology were outlined, and the central contributions of analytical psychology and existential phenomenology were highlighted.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Absent or missing fathers and male sexual difficulties : their manifestations in dream symbolism and interpretation
- Authors: Fatman, Joseph Mzimkulu
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21171 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6717
- Description: This thesis uses the individual case method in order to demonstrate the effects of paternal deprivation including variations in patterns of inadequate fathering on a male's psychological and sexual development. More specifically, it shows that father absence is a highly significant factor in the development of serious male psychological and social difficulties. Much of the material in the text concerns the impact of father absence on male 'sex-role' development. It is, as such further concerned with showing that paternal deprivation can lead to conflicts and rigidities in the individual's sex-role adjustment, which, in turn, are frequently related to deficits in emotional, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Due consideration is given to such family characteristics as the mother's response to the father's absence which generally manifests as pathological and debilitating intrusiveness on the affected son's masculine identity. Other family features considered are the role of older male siblings and father substitutes e.g. stepfathers in the amelioration or exacerbation of these difficulties. An assumption is made that where such substitutes are competent father absence per se can have no more than a limited influence on the son's sex role development and vice versa. Some dreams from the case are presented for the purpose of viewing how the considered difficulties manifest in dream symbolism. Attention is paid also to the question as to whether such dreams can provide any useful clues toward an understanding of the nature, type and psychological situatedness of the affected people. Consequently, a discussion of a psychotherapy attempt is made to show that a competent understanding and interpretation of such symbolism will have an invaluable healing benefit on these difficulties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Fatman, Joseph Mzimkulu
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21171 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6717
- Description: This thesis uses the individual case method in order to demonstrate the effects of paternal deprivation including variations in patterns of inadequate fathering on a male's psychological and sexual development. More specifically, it shows that father absence is a highly significant factor in the development of serious male psychological and social difficulties. Much of the material in the text concerns the impact of father absence on male 'sex-role' development. It is, as such further concerned with showing that paternal deprivation can lead to conflicts and rigidities in the individual's sex-role adjustment, which, in turn, are frequently related to deficits in emotional, cognitive and interpersonal functioning. Due consideration is given to such family characteristics as the mother's response to the father's absence which generally manifests as pathological and debilitating intrusiveness on the affected son's masculine identity. Other family features considered are the role of older male siblings and father substitutes e.g. stepfathers in the amelioration or exacerbation of these difficulties. An assumption is made that where such substitutes are competent father absence per se can have no more than a limited influence on the son's sex role development and vice versa. Some dreams from the case are presented for the purpose of viewing how the considered difficulties manifest in dream symbolism. Attention is paid also to the question as to whether such dreams can provide any useful clues toward an understanding of the nature, type and psychological situatedness of the affected people. Consequently, a discussion of a psychotherapy attempt is made to show that a competent understanding and interpretation of such symbolism will have an invaluable healing benefit on these difficulties.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Mother-son enmeshment and its implications for the emancipation-individuation process: a case study study
- Gijana, Eucliffe Wycliffe Mphumzi
- Authors: Gijana, Eucliffe Wycliffe Mphumzi
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6728
- Description: This case study reports on a patient who was undergoing psychotherapy for an Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Emotional Features. The aim of the study had two aspects. First the study sought to establish to what degree was enmeshment between the patient and his mother responsible for his maladaptive behaviour. The second aspect was to establish the extent to which the patient responded to psychotherapy. The patient was a 20 year old male university student. He was experiencing a number of problems including difficulty in interpersonal relations, deteriorating academic performance, depression, anxiety and uncertainty about career choice and about the future. The history revealed that the patient had very close and enmeshed relations with his mother. The mother was a very domineering person and had great influence on her son. On the other hand his father was weak and emotionally unavailable. The patient had never been away from home until after he graduated from High School and decided to join the army. It was then his problem began to manifest. He left the army and registered at university. However, the problems continued and even increased in intensity. It was hypothesized that as a result of enmeshment with his mother and the fact that his mother was a domineering personality, he never had the opportunity to learn social skills that would have enabled him to emancipate himself from his mother . Thus when he moved out of home to be on his own, first in the army and later at university, he could not cope. He lost self-confidence, became passive, indecisive and dependent. Psychotherapy was successful in helping him gain insight into the genesis of his problem. This insight resulted in the patient's efforts towards individuation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Gijana, Eucliffe Wycliffe Mphumzi
- Date: 1989
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:21173 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6728
- Description: This case study reports on a patient who was undergoing psychotherapy for an Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Emotional Features. The aim of the study had two aspects. First the study sought to establish to what degree was enmeshment between the patient and his mother responsible for his maladaptive behaviour. The second aspect was to establish the extent to which the patient responded to psychotherapy. The patient was a 20 year old male university student. He was experiencing a number of problems including difficulty in interpersonal relations, deteriorating academic performance, depression, anxiety and uncertainty about career choice and about the future. The history revealed that the patient had very close and enmeshed relations with his mother. The mother was a very domineering person and had great influence on her son. On the other hand his father was weak and emotionally unavailable. The patient had never been away from home until after he graduated from High School and decided to join the army. It was then his problem began to manifest. He left the army and registered at university. However, the problems continued and even increased in intensity. It was hypothesized that as a result of enmeshment with his mother and the fact that his mother was a domineering personality, he never had the opportunity to learn social skills that would have enabled him to emancipate himself from his mother . Thus when he moved out of home to be on his own, first in the army and later at university, he could not cope. He lost self-confidence, became passive, indecisive and dependent. Psychotherapy was successful in helping him gain insight into the genesis of his problem. This insight resulted in the patient's efforts towards individuation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
An existential-phenomenological explication of being-a-black student at a predominantly white university, with special reference to Rhodes University
- Authors: Harilall, Rehena Ranir
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Racism , South Africa , Black university students , College , Racism -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects , College students, Black , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2903 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002067
- Description: This study attempts to explore, theoretically and empirically, the experience of being black in a predominantly white university. It is more specifically concerned with perceived interaction between members of different cultural and ethnic groups, namely, between black and white. Using the existential-phenomenological method the experience of seven subjects, both male and female, were explicated. This explication revealed that black students become aware of their "difference" during interaction with members of the dominant white group. The black students perceive the behaviour of the white-dominant group to be racist and this creates a great deal of latent hostility, anger, and resentment. It is suggested that a programme be developed to diffuse the conflict situation during intergroup interaction at university.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Harilall, Rehena Ranir
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Racism , South Africa , Black university students , College , Racism -- South Africa -- Psychological aspects , College students, Black , College students, Black -- South Africa -- Psychology
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2903 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002067
- Description: This study attempts to explore, theoretically and empirically, the experience of being black in a predominantly white university. It is more specifically concerned with perceived interaction between members of different cultural and ethnic groups, namely, between black and white. Using the existential-phenomenological method the experience of seven subjects, both male and female, were explicated. This explication revealed that black students become aware of their "difference" during interaction with members of the dominant white group. The black students perceive the behaviour of the white-dominant group to be racist and this creates a great deal of latent hostility, anger, and resentment. It is suggested that a programme be developed to diffuse the conflict situation during intergroup interaction at university.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
A case study of narcissistic pathology : an object relations perspective
- Authors: Ivey, Gavin William
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Narcissism Narcissism -- Treatment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3188 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008453
- Description: The case-study method of psychological research was applied to the brief psychodynamic therapy of a narcissistically disordered female patient. The aim of this research was to explore, clarify and explain certain diagnostic and psychodynamic anomalies to emerge in the course of treatment, using a conceptual framework derived from select psychoanalytic object relations theorists in the area of narcissistic pathology. The author, discovering that there was no diagnostic or explanatory object relations model adequate to the therapeutic data, formulated his own diagnostic category narcissistic neurosis and an eclectic object relations model in order to explain the anomolous research findings. Narcissistic neurosis was defined as a form of psychopathology in which a primarily neurotic character structure presents with a distinctly narcissistic profile. The narcissistic false self-structure serves the functional purpose of protecting the psyche from a repressed negative self-representation derived from a destructive bipolar self-object introject. The primary etiological factor to emerge was that of a narcissistic mother conditional affection and self-object target child necessitated adaptive whose insensitivity, relationship with the premature self-sufficiency and the defensive emergence of a narcissistic surface self-representation. It was proposed that narcissistic neurosis and narcissistic personality disorder are two discrete forms of pathology differing in terms of severity, psychodynamics, defensive structure, mode of object relating, therapeutic accessibility and prognosis. Assessment criteria were proposed in order to differentiate the two areas of narcissistic pathology and assess suitability for psychotherapeutic treatment. Positive treatment results in this case-study suggest that narcissistic neuroses may receive long-term benefit from short-term psychodynamic therapy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Ivey, Gavin William
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Narcissism Narcissism -- Treatment
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3188 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008453
- Description: The case-study method of psychological research was applied to the brief psychodynamic therapy of a narcissistically disordered female patient. The aim of this research was to explore, clarify and explain certain diagnostic and psychodynamic anomalies to emerge in the course of treatment, using a conceptual framework derived from select psychoanalytic object relations theorists in the area of narcissistic pathology. The author, discovering that there was no diagnostic or explanatory object relations model adequate to the therapeutic data, formulated his own diagnostic category narcissistic neurosis and an eclectic object relations model in order to explain the anomolous research findings. Narcissistic neurosis was defined as a form of psychopathology in which a primarily neurotic character structure presents with a distinctly narcissistic profile. The narcissistic false self-structure serves the functional purpose of protecting the psyche from a repressed negative self-representation derived from a destructive bipolar self-object introject. The primary etiological factor to emerge was that of a narcissistic mother conditional affection and self-object target child necessitated adaptive whose insensitivity, relationship with the premature self-sufficiency and the defensive emergence of a narcissistic surface self-representation. It was proposed that narcissistic neurosis and narcissistic personality disorder are two discrete forms of pathology differing in terms of severity, psychodynamics, defensive structure, mode of object relating, therapeutic accessibility and prognosis. Assessment criteria were proposed in order to differentiate the two areas of narcissistic pathology and assess suitability for psychotherapeutic treatment. Positive treatment results in this case-study suggest that narcissistic neuroses may receive long-term benefit from short-term psychodynamic therapy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Bulimia Nervosa: a case study in cognitive psychotherapy
- Authors: Kanfer, Josephine
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192988 , vital:45287
- Description: This project uses the case-study method to illustrate the application of integrating varied accepted modes of psychotherapeutic interventions. It concentrates on the first 22 out-patient sessions of therapy with a diagnosed bulimic, spanning a 6 month period. A brief summary of the subsequent 10 follow-up sessions is also given. The case presented is of a 22 year old female student diagnosed as bulimic (of 7 year duration), dysthymic and with a dependent personality disorder. She has symptoms of anxiety. She has a history of anorexia nervosa. Fairburn's (1985) cognitive-behavioural programme for bulimia was used initially. Its structured framework with the emphasis on the eating behaviour was an essential aspect in contributing to the success of the initial phase of the therapy. This patient had had previously experienced 8 sessions of non-directive depth psychotherapy which had confused and compounded her problems. The structure had provided her with a sense of control. In implementing the second stage of Fairburn's programme, where the focus is cognitive, the patient could no longer work in this this structured manner. The attempts to implement the standard cognitive techniques provided the catalyst for activating deeper underlying emotions and cognitions. Furthermore, this gave impetus to work actively with the interpersonal aspect of the therapeutic relationship. Young's (1989) model for identifying Early Maladaptive Schemas could be applied. The focus then moved from the behaviours and dealt with these schemas as activated in the therapeutic relationship. The patient was able to make links to her family and her past. The therapy proved successful, as not only were the behavioural symptoms alleviated, but also the patient's interpersonal problems which underlay her personality disorder were accessed. The patient had become more self-assertive, her mood had improved considerably, she was less concerned with body image and more accepting of herself. She had become more reality based and her interpersonal relational abi1ity had improved. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 1990
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
- Authors: Kanfer, Josephine
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/192988 , vital:45287
- Description: This project uses the case-study method to illustrate the application of integrating varied accepted modes of psychotherapeutic interventions. It concentrates on the first 22 out-patient sessions of therapy with a diagnosed bulimic, spanning a 6 month period. A brief summary of the subsequent 10 follow-up sessions is also given. The case presented is of a 22 year old female student diagnosed as bulimic (of 7 year duration), dysthymic and with a dependent personality disorder. She has symptoms of anxiety. She has a history of anorexia nervosa. Fairburn's (1985) cognitive-behavioural programme for bulimia was used initially. Its structured framework with the emphasis on the eating behaviour was an essential aspect in contributing to the success of the initial phase of the therapy. This patient had had previously experienced 8 sessions of non-directive depth psychotherapy which had confused and compounded her problems. The structure had provided her with a sense of control. In implementing the second stage of Fairburn's programme, where the focus is cognitive, the patient could no longer work in this this structured manner. The attempts to implement the standard cognitive techniques provided the catalyst for activating deeper underlying emotions and cognitions. Furthermore, this gave impetus to work actively with the interpersonal aspect of the therapeutic relationship. Young's (1989) model for identifying Early Maladaptive Schemas could be applied. The focus then moved from the behaviours and dealt with these schemas as activated in the therapeutic relationship. The patient was able to make links to her family and her past. The therapy proved successful, as not only were the behavioural symptoms alleviated, but also the patient's interpersonal problems which underlay her personality disorder were accessed. The patient had become more self-assertive, her mood had improved considerably, she was less concerned with body image and more accepting of herself. She had become more reality based and her interpersonal relational abi1ity had improved. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 1990
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1990
The empty-nest stage of life : a comparative study of women and men facing transition
- Authors: Kaplan, Ernest
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Empty nesters , Parent and child , Sex role -- Psychological aspect , Men -- Sexual behavior , Women -- Sexual behavior
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2899 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002063
- Description: This thesis encompasses a study of the empty-nest stage of life. For the purposes of this study, the above-mentioned stage was defined as that period in the family when the youngest child matriculates. Thirty-five empty-nest couples were interviewed during 1984, in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The mean age of the subjects was 49.5, and the standard deviation was 4.9. The couples were asked about their attitudes towards the empty-nest, using a structured questionnaire, the Family Attitude Survey (FAS). This survey consisted of nine-point attitude statements, which focused on theoretical issues pertinent to this stage, viz. children are on-time or off-time with regard to major life events, impact of children leaving home on the parents, degree of parental involvement with children, parent-child relationships, ageing, sexuality, menopause, work-career, and attitudes towards the past, future and death. The general purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which the empty-nest stage of life constitutes a negative crisis period, or a positive period of stability and growth for the empty-nest parents. Overall, it was concluded that the empirical evidence depicting the empty- nest stage of life as a positive period of stability and growth rather than a negative crisis period, is persuasive for some of the empty-nest parents in the present study, in view of the empirical findings regarding certain of the above-mentioned theoretical issues examined in the present thesis. Notwithstanding this, it was deemed essential to qualify the above conclusion, given the fact that the same and other respondents experienced difficulty with the following issues, viz. children being off-time with regard to major life events, the departure of children from the home, overinvolvement with children, problematic relationships with them, perceptions of themselves as failures as parents, inability to accept their own ageing, problems with changing sexuality, diminishing enjoyment in their occupations, and lack of prospects for future career advancement, negative preoccupation with the past and future, anxiety about death, and an impoverished marital relationship. It was also demonstrated empirically that wives experience particular psychological problems at this time, viz., firstly, they are more adversely affected by their children's departure from the home than their husbands, secondly, they undergo a rehearsal for widowhood more frequently than them, and thirdly, a minority of them are unable to come to terms with the menopause. Finally, the finding that the majority of wives experienced relief with the onset of the menopause when viewed from the perspectives of general emotional impact, children, and the spousal relationship, conflicts with existing theories in this area. However, it is supported by and large by the majority of empirical studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Kaplan, Ernest
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Empty nesters , Parent and child , Sex role -- Psychological aspect , Men -- Sexual behavior , Women -- Sexual behavior
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2899 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002063
- Description: This thesis encompasses a study of the empty-nest stage of life. For the purposes of this study, the above-mentioned stage was defined as that period in the family when the youngest child matriculates. Thirty-five empty-nest couples were interviewed during 1984, in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The mean age of the subjects was 49.5, and the standard deviation was 4.9. The couples were asked about their attitudes towards the empty-nest, using a structured questionnaire, the Family Attitude Survey (FAS). This survey consisted of nine-point attitude statements, which focused on theoretical issues pertinent to this stage, viz. children are on-time or off-time with regard to major life events, impact of children leaving home on the parents, degree of parental involvement with children, parent-child relationships, ageing, sexuality, menopause, work-career, and attitudes towards the past, future and death. The general purpose of the present study was to determine the extent to which the empty-nest stage of life constitutes a negative crisis period, or a positive period of stability and growth for the empty-nest parents. Overall, it was concluded that the empirical evidence depicting the empty- nest stage of life as a positive period of stability and growth rather than a negative crisis period, is persuasive for some of the empty-nest parents in the present study, in view of the empirical findings regarding certain of the above-mentioned theoretical issues examined in the present thesis. Notwithstanding this, it was deemed essential to qualify the above conclusion, given the fact that the same and other respondents experienced difficulty with the following issues, viz. children being off-time with regard to major life events, the departure of children from the home, overinvolvement with children, problematic relationships with them, perceptions of themselves as failures as parents, inability to accept their own ageing, problems with changing sexuality, diminishing enjoyment in their occupations, and lack of prospects for future career advancement, negative preoccupation with the past and future, anxiety about death, and an impoverished marital relationship. It was also demonstrated empirically that wives experience particular psychological problems at this time, viz., firstly, they are more adversely affected by their children's departure from the home than their husbands, secondly, they undergo a rehearsal for widowhood more frequently than them, and thirdly, a minority of them are unable to come to terms with the menopause. Finally, the finding that the majority of wives experienced relief with the onset of the menopause when viewed from the perspectives of general emotional impact, children, and the spousal relationship, conflicts with existing theories in this area. However, it is supported by and large by the majority of empirical studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
The usefulness of the story of the alchemical vessel in the understanding and psychotherapy of borderline conditions: a case study
- Authors: Milton, Christopher
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychotherapy , Borderline personality disorder
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3160 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007640 , Psychotherapy , Borderline personality disorder
- Description: The principal intention of this study was to explore the heuristic value of the story of the alchemical vessel in understanding borderline conditions and pursuing their psychotherapy. It establishes the pertinence of the case study as a method of exploring the content and process of psychotherapy. The essential nature of story-telling is examined and the hypothesis is made that psychotherapy, borderline conditions, the myth of the alchemical vessel and the case study all reflect instances of story-telling. Towards the end of examining their mutual reflection, and thus heuristic value, elements of Jungian theory, the phenomenology of borderline conditions and case material are examined. Through the examination of certain shared themes which emerge from the story of the alchemical vessel and the material of psychotherapy it is established that there is indeed a metaphoric resonance between the different stories. Furthermore this resonance is useful in that it provides a secure vantage point as well as guidance towards effecting transformation for the client. The validity of the metaphoric resonance is examined and areas of weakness highlighted. Some suggestions are made concerning further research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Milton, Christopher
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychotherapy , Borderline personality disorder
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3160 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007640 , Psychotherapy , Borderline personality disorder
- Description: The principal intention of this study was to explore the heuristic value of the story of the alchemical vessel in understanding borderline conditions and pursuing their psychotherapy. It establishes the pertinence of the case study as a method of exploring the content and process of psychotherapy. The essential nature of story-telling is examined and the hypothesis is made that psychotherapy, borderline conditions, the myth of the alchemical vessel and the case study all reflect instances of story-telling. Towards the end of examining their mutual reflection, and thus heuristic value, elements of Jungian theory, the phenomenology of borderline conditions and case material are examined. Through the examination of certain shared themes which emerge from the story of the alchemical vessel and the material of psychotherapy it is established that there is indeed a metaphoric resonance between the different stories. Furthermore this resonance is useful in that it provides a secure vantage point as well as guidance towards effecting transformation for the client. The validity of the metaphoric resonance is examined and areas of weakness highlighted. Some suggestions are made concerning further research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
A metabletic study of the male/female process in psychology
- O'Brien, Keith Stanley Edward Michael
- Authors: O'Brien, Keith Stanley Edward Michael
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychology -- Philosophy , Sex difference (Psychology) , Psychotherapy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2908 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002073
- Description: The motivation to explore the subject matter of this thesis arises from two interlinked processes: (1) the experience of the power and pervasiveness of a "basic split" experienced in therapy in the unity of the individual, (2) the tendency in the unitary discipline psychology for theorists to adopt views which are polar opposites. In trying to understand these phenomena one has to explore the basic paradox of being which has fascinated thinkers and mystics down through the ages, the paradox of the One and the many, and thus the phenomenon of change. This paradox is explored in mythology, in the "philosophia perennis" and as encountered in high-energy sub-atomic physics. Out of this emerges the awareness of Being as One but as embodying a dynamic polar process, the first of whose manifestations is the male and the female process (or Yin/Yang in Chinese). The male/female process is defined and explored and it is shown that the female process has been progressively ignored and largely repressed in the West. I demonstrate this process in a metabletic (hermeneutical phenomenological) study of Greek sacred architecture. Metabletics as defined by its originator, J.H. van den Berg, is "the theory of change" or a psychology of history. It is thus a particularly suitable method of analysing the cultural-historical process of the repression of the female process in Western society. The emergence of the male process as predominant in the West is explored hermeneutically through the emergence of the individual and the suppression of the old unity centred in the Mother Goddess, and the receding of the Father God to the heavens. The choice by the great Greek philosophers of the male process is particularly important because of their emphasis on the Logico-Mathematical Sequential (L.M.S.) mode of knowing and perception at the expense of the female process, Intuitive-Creative Holistic (I.C.H.) mode.The dominance of the male process in the West is traced from the aboriginal female-process state through neolithic village culture to the rise of the first cities. Processes studied are the rise of kingship, war, private property and the splitting of labour. The roots of anomie and alienation are described. The emergence of god as powerful ruler and lawgiver is shown. The splitting of the male/female process leads to the splitting of the individual from him/herself, from others, from the world and from the divine. This is traced in the mystery religions, in religious dualism, in the rise of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and Gnosticism. The split and its effects are demonstrated in Western science and psychology. The necessity and possibility of integration in science and in psychology is demonstrated through the integration of our process of knowing and perceiving which is used as a model for the integration of psychology. The effects of the male/female split on the individual in Western society are shown. The split in our society leads to anomie and alienation, which produce "socioses". These affect the child born into the society and lead to a "Parent/Child" split. The possibility of healing the split in the individual, between people, between humankind and the world and in re-establishing our unity in the One is illustrated. The unity of the One is experienced through the dynamic polar interaction of the male/female process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: O'Brien, Keith Stanley Edward Michael
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychology -- Philosophy , Sex difference (Psychology) , Psychotherapy
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2908 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002073
- Description: The motivation to explore the subject matter of this thesis arises from two interlinked processes: (1) the experience of the power and pervasiveness of a "basic split" experienced in therapy in the unity of the individual, (2) the tendency in the unitary discipline psychology for theorists to adopt views which are polar opposites. In trying to understand these phenomena one has to explore the basic paradox of being which has fascinated thinkers and mystics down through the ages, the paradox of the One and the many, and thus the phenomenon of change. This paradox is explored in mythology, in the "philosophia perennis" and as encountered in high-energy sub-atomic physics. Out of this emerges the awareness of Being as One but as embodying a dynamic polar process, the first of whose manifestations is the male and the female process (or Yin/Yang in Chinese). The male/female process is defined and explored and it is shown that the female process has been progressively ignored and largely repressed in the West. I demonstrate this process in a metabletic (hermeneutical phenomenological) study of Greek sacred architecture. Metabletics as defined by its originator, J.H. van den Berg, is "the theory of change" or a psychology of history. It is thus a particularly suitable method of analysing the cultural-historical process of the repression of the female process in Western society. The emergence of the male process as predominant in the West is explored hermeneutically through the emergence of the individual and the suppression of the old unity centred in the Mother Goddess, and the receding of the Father God to the heavens. The choice by the great Greek philosophers of the male process is particularly important because of their emphasis on the Logico-Mathematical Sequential (L.M.S.) mode of knowing and perception at the expense of the female process, Intuitive-Creative Holistic (I.C.H.) mode.The dominance of the male process in the West is traced from the aboriginal female-process state through neolithic village culture to the rise of the first cities. Processes studied are the rise of kingship, war, private property and the splitting of labour. The roots of anomie and alienation are described. The emergence of god as powerful ruler and lawgiver is shown. The splitting of the male/female process leads to the splitting of the individual from him/herself, from others, from the world and from the divine. This is traced in the mystery religions, in religious dualism, in the rise of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and Gnosticism. The split and its effects are demonstrated in Western science and psychology. The necessity and possibility of integration in science and in psychology is demonstrated through the integration of our process of knowing and perceiving which is used as a model for the integration of psychology. The effects of the male/female split on the individual in Western society are shown. The split in our society leads to anomie and alienation, which produce "socioses". These affect the child born into the society and lead to a "Parent/Child" split. The possibility of healing the split in the individual, between people, between humankind and the world and in re-establishing our unity in the One is illustrated. The unity of the One is experienced through the dynamic polar interaction of the male/female process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Health and politics : appraisal and evaluation of the provision of health and mental health services for Blacks in South Africa
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Sean B
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002074
- Description: The aim of this study has been to examine, in the light of recent events in the field of Health Care in South Africa, the remarks and claims made by the World Health Organization, and the American Psychiatric Association between 1976 and 1978 on Health Care services, as provided for Blacks, by the South African government. In two reports, these organizations instituted the earliest, and arguably most significant claims against South Africa's system of Health Care. This study sketches firstly the political genesis and social context of the WHO, and APA examinations. Secondly, this study evaluates responses made by the South African State to the critical climate inspired by the above mentioned reports, through a close analysis of recent events associated with the politics, and provision of Health Care Facilities - particularly with regard to Black South Africans. This analysis suggests that the governments' earlier tentative policy of privatisation (which was soundly condemned by WHO and the APA) has been even more enthusiastically pursued - in contradiction to it's avowed policies of Commu ity Health Care, and to the continuing detriment of those South African communities who are in most need of adequate Health Care services. The study concludes that the criticisms raised by the WHO and APA had the effect of inspiring positive reforms in South Africa's health services, but in no way thwarted the governments', at first only tentative plans, to increasingly privatise it's psychiatric and other medical institutions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Sean B
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Black people -- Mental health -- South Africa , Mental health services -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2909 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002074
- Description: The aim of this study has been to examine, in the light of recent events in the field of Health Care in South Africa, the remarks and claims made by the World Health Organization, and the American Psychiatric Association between 1976 and 1978 on Health Care services, as provided for Blacks, by the South African government. In two reports, these organizations instituted the earliest, and arguably most significant claims against South Africa's system of Health Care. This study sketches firstly the political genesis and social context of the WHO, and APA examinations. Secondly, this study evaluates responses made by the South African State to the critical climate inspired by the above mentioned reports, through a close analysis of recent events associated with the politics, and provision of Health Care Facilities - particularly with regard to Black South Africans. This analysis suggests that the governments' earlier tentative policy of privatisation (which was soundly condemned by WHO and the APA) has been even more enthusiastically pursued - in contradiction to it's avowed policies of Commu ity Health Care, and to the continuing detriment of those South African communities who are in most need of adequate Health Care services. The study concludes that the criticisms raised by the WHO and APA had the effect of inspiring positive reforms in South Africa's health services, but in no way thwarted the governments', at first only tentative plans, to increasingly privatise it's psychiatric and other medical institutions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
Obedient daughter, silenced witch: the hysteric in Freudian psychoanalysis
- Authors: Roux, Catharina
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004637 , Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Description: This study explores the theoretical consequences of Freud's renunciation of the seduction theory. The dissertation defends the thesis that the seduction theory was shaped as much by Freud's adherence to the nomonological model as by the empirical evidence of child sexual abuse. A renunciation of the seduction theory was inevitable, not because the accounts of the daughters were lies, but because the methodology was inappropriate. The nomonological model obscured the emotional structure of the nuclear family in which the structure itself, through which sexuality emerged, directed the girl's entrance into womanhood and caused the woman's dis-ease. Freud's methodology forced him to isolate an event as cause of an illness and to attribute the event to an agent. The universal perversity of the Victorian father thus became the central theme around which an explanation of a female disease was built. When this theme became theoretically untenable, Freud renounced the seduction theory and, still using the nomonological model, built up the construct of the Oedipus complex in which the father was vindicated. In order to exonerate the father, the transactions through which the child's libido developed were represented as originating in inherent tendencies. As a result, the hierarchical nature of the interaction between parent and child was distorted, and this led to the formulation of the distinction between real events and fantasies as a basic premise on which the difference between the pleasure principle and the reality principle rests. This formulation gave rise to the sharp duality between fantasy and reality which eventually compelled him to separate psychic reality and social reality. The theoretical structure built on this duality could not but fuse hysteria, masochism and "normal" femininity into an explanation of the female state, and obscure the essential social relations between men and women which were structured in terms of dominance and submission. The thesis traces the journey from the perverted father as cause of a female disease, hysteria, to the theoretical conjunction of masochism and hysteria. It comes to the conclusion that Freud's model is unable to explain the self-mutilation of the hysteric; nor is it capable of explaining the hysteric's refusal to participate in the circuit of symbolic exchanges which constituted Victorian society. The study further attempts to understand hysteria in terms of the complex interlacing of fact and fantasy and tries to show that fantasy was rooted in the facts of Victorian culture.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Roux, Catharina
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3117 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004637 , Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939 -- Criticism and interpretation , Hysteria , Psychoanalysis , Seduction
- Description: This study explores the theoretical consequences of Freud's renunciation of the seduction theory. The dissertation defends the thesis that the seduction theory was shaped as much by Freud's adherence to the nomonological model as by the empirical evidence of child sexual abuse. A renunciation of the seduction theory was inevitable, not because the accounts of the daughters were lies, but because the methodology was inappropriate. The nomonological model obscured the emotional structure of the nuclear family in which the structure itself, through which sexuality emerged, directed the girl's entrance into womanhood and caused the woman's dis-ease. Freud's methodology forced him to isolate an event as cause of an illness and to attribute the event to an agent. The universal perversity of the Victorian father thus became the central theme around which an explanation of a female disease was built. When this theme became theoretically untenable, Freud renounced the seduction theory and, still using the nomonological model, built up the construct of the Oedipus complex in which the father was vindicated. In order to exonerate the father, the transactions through which the child's libido developed were represented as originating in inherent tendencies. As a result, the hierarchical nature of the interaction between parent and child was distorted, and this led to the formulation of the distinction between real events and fantasies as a basic premise on which the difference between the pleasure principle and the reality principle rests. This formulation gave rise to the sharp duality between fantasy and reality which eventually compelled him to separate psychic reality and social reality. The theoretical structure built on this duality could not but fuse hysteria, masochism and "normal" femininity into an explanation of the female state, and obscure the essential social relations between men and women which were structured in terms of dominance and submission. The thesis traces the journey from the perverted father as cause of a female disease, hysteria, to the theoretical conjunction of masochism and hysteria. It comes to the conclusion that Freud's model is unable to explain the self-mutilation of the hysteric; nor is it capable of explaining the hysteric's refusal to participate in the circuit of symbolic exchanges which constituted Victorian society. The study further attempts to understand hysteria in terms of the complex interlacing of fact and fantasy and tries to show that fantasy was rooted in the facts of Victorian culture.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
A phenomenological investigation into the psychotherapist's experience of identifying, containing and processing the patient's projective identifications
- Authors: Thorpe, Mark Richard
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychotherapist and patient Psychotherapy Methods
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3071 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002580
- Description: The aim of the study was to describe the therapist's lived experience of identifying, containing and processing the feelings, thoughts or fantasies evoked in him by the patient's projective identifications. A question which would elicit the experience of this phenomenon was formulated by examining case histories, and modified through the use of individual pilot studies. Fifteen experienced, psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists were interviewed. The eight psychologically richest accounts were chosen for the study. Using the empirical phenomenological method, the four protocols that most clearly reflected the phenomenon were analysed in detail, while the remaining four were used to clarify areas of uncertainty. Projective identification is conceptualised as the process whereby the patient coerces the therapist to embody an un-appropriated aspect of his (patient's) world. The context of processing a patient's projective identification was discovered to be such that the therapist finds himself coerced to embody an incongruent, unfamiliar, confusing and inauthentic state of being which is consonant with the patient's perception of him. The discomfort of the experience leads the therapist to bring to awareness and thematise his feeling-state. He alternates between avoiding this state of being, which results in conf1ict with the patient and the therapist's own values, and appropriating it, which feels inauthentic. The therapist moves from a position of trying to understand the experience in relation to his own world, to the realisation that it is co-determined by the patient. From a position of reflective distance he re-appropriates aspects of his world that were closed to him while under the influence of the patient, in addition to appropriating previously unowned aspects. The therapist dialogues these appropriations with the invoked feelings, allowing him to differentiate those aspects of his feeling-state which are authentically his from those which are unowned aspects of the patient's aspects of his world that were closed to him while under the influence of the patient, in addition to appropriating previously unowned aspects. The therapist dialogues these appropriations with the invoked feelings, allowing him to differentiate those aspects of his feeling-state which are authentically his from those which are unowned aspects of the patient's world that he has been forced to embody. Through this process the therapist clarifies and gives meaning to his feelings. The therapist fee1s re1ieved and lighter, when in the service of the therapy, he temporarily gives himself over to the patient's experience of him, without feeling drawn to either disowning or appropriating it, while simultaneously remaining open to his own authentic reality. These findings were dialogued with the literature on projective identification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Thorpe, Mark Richard
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: Psychotherapist and patient Psychotherapy Methods
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3071 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002580
- Description: The aim of the study was to describe the therapist's lived experience of identifying, containing and processing the feelings, thoughts or fantasies evoked in him by the patient's projective identifications. A question which would elicit the experience of this phenomenon was formulated by examining case histories, and modified through the use of individual pilot studies. Fifteen experienced, psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists were interviewed. The eight psychologically richest accounts were chosen for the study. Using the empirical phenomenological method, the four protocols that most clearly reflected the phenomenon were analysed in detail, while the remaining four were used to clarify areas of uncertainty. Projective identification is conceptualised as the process whereby the patient coerces the therapist to embody an un-appropriated aspect of his (patient's) world. The context of processing a patient's projective identification was discovered to be such that the therapist finds himself coerced to embody an incongruent, unfamiliar, confusing and inauthentic state of being which is consonant with the patient's perception of him. The discomfort of the experience leads the therapist to bring to awareness and thematise his feeling-state. He alternates between avoiding this state of being, which results in conf1ict with the patient and the therapist's own values, and appropriating it, which feels inauthentic. The therapist moves from a position of trying to understand the experience in relation to his own world, to the realisation that it is co-determined by the patient. From a position of reflective distance he re-appropriates aspects of his world that were closed to him while under the influence of the patient, in addition to appropriating previously unowned aspects. The therapist dialogues these appropriations with the invoked feelings, allowing him to differentiate those aspects of his feeling-state which are authentically his from those which are unowned aspects of the patient's aspects of his world that were closed to him while under the influence of the patient, in addition to appropriating previously unowned aspects. The therapist dialogues these appropriations with the invoked feelings, allowing him to differentiate those aspects of his feeling-state which are authentically his from those which are unowned aspects of the patient's world that he has been forced to embody. Through this process the therapist clarifies and gives meaning to his feelings. The therapist fee1s re1ieved and lighter, when in the service of the therapy, he temporarily gives himself over to the patient's experience of him, without feeling drawn to either disowning or appropriating it, while simultaneously remaining open to his own authentic reality. These findings were dialogued with the literature on projective identification.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
An explication of the dual nature of narcissism in Patrick White's novel The solid mandala
- Authors: Watts, Jacqueline Anne
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: White, Patrick, 1912-1990. The Solid Mandala White, Patrick, 1912-1990 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2907 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002072
- Description: The focus of this thesis has been to engage in a hermeneutic dialogue with Patrick White's novel The solid mandala, to provide an explication of the dual nature of narcissistic wounding. To this end a brief review of Patrick White's novels is given, which traces a thematic development of the hero's strivings to attain wholeness and merger with an idealized image. This struggle is understood to reflect man's strivings to return to a state of omnipotent fusion with the maternal image, be it God, nature, the idealized other, or the self. Literature which reflects the dual nature of narcissistic wounding is reviewed, and the concept of narcissism is traced from the historical roots of Freud, to current understandings of the function and experience of narcissism. Emphasis is given to understanding the experiential nature of narcissistic wounding. As such it is implied that narcissism is a normal developmental component which requires the facilitation of containment and reflection for its transformation into appropriate adult functioning. The importance of the maternal environment is discussed, together with the various theoretical conceptualizations of the consequences of failure of the environment. The hermeneutic dialogue with the novel's description of the experiences of the twins, Waldo and Arthur provides the basis for an amplification of the experience of narcissistic wounding. This amplification is used as clinical material from which a number of psychoanalytic formulations are drawn. These formulations are supported by a number of clinical examples from the researcher's own practice. There appears to be evidence for the value of focusing on the dual nature of the experience of narcissistic wounding. This focus reveals two aspects of experience, a damaged, positive, libidinal aspect and a defensive, pathological destructive aspect. Amplification of these two aspects of experience contribute to further the understanding of the conflictual experience of narcissistic wounding, and suggest the necessity for such an understanding for effective therapeutic intervention
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
- Authors: Watts, Jacqueline Anne
- Date: 1989
- Subjects: White, Patrick, 1912-1990. The Solid Mandala White, Patrick, 1912-1990 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2907 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002072
- Description: The focus of this thesis has been to engage in a hermeneutic dialogue with Patrick White's novel The solid mandala, to provide an explication of the dual nature of narcissistic wounding. To this end a brief review of Patrick White's novels is given, which traces a thematic development of the hero's strivings to attain wholeness and merger with an idealized image. This struggle is understood to reflect man's strivings to return to a state of omnipotent fusion with the maternal image, be it God, nature, the idealized other, or the self. Literature which reflects the dual nature of narcissistic wounding is reviewed, and the concept of narcissism is traced from the historical roots of Freud, to current understandings of the function and experience of narcissism. Emphasis is given to understanding the experiential nature of narcissistic wounding. As such it is implied that narcissism is a normal developmental component which requires the facilitation of containment and reflection for its transformation into appropriate adult functioning. The importance of the maternal environment is discussed, together with the various theoretical conceptualizations of the consequences of failure of the environment. The hermeneutic dialogue with the novel's description of the experiences of the twins, Waldo and Arthur provides the basis for an amplification of the experience of narcissistic wounding. This amplification is used as clinical material from which a number of psychoanalytic formulations are drawn. These formulations are supported by a number of clinical examples from the researcher's own practice. There appears to be evidence for the value of focusing on the dual nature of the experience of narcissistic wounding. This focus reveals two aspects of experience, a damaged, positive, libidinal aspect and a defensive, pathological destructive aspect. Amplification of these two aspects of experience contribute to further the understanding of the conflictual experience of narcissistic wounding, and suggest the necessity for such an understanding for effective therapeutic intervention
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1989
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