Masters Dissertations

Permanent link for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10292/476

The Masters Dissertations collection contains digital copies of AUT University masters dissertations deposited with the Library since 2007 and made available open access. From 2007 onwards, all dissertations for masters degrees awarded are required to be deposited in Tuwhera Open Theses & Dissertations unless subject to an embargo.

Dissertations submitted prior to 2007 are usually recorded in the AUT Library catalogue where the full text, if available, may be accessed with an AUT password. Other people should request an Interlibrary Loan through their library.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 23

Building Into the Dark: Psychoanalytic Explorations Into Psychosis, Dream and Cinema
(Auckland University of Technology, 2005) Ladd, Emma
This dissertation is an investigation into the relationship between the experiences of psychosis, dreaming, and watching a film. Freud’s original idea that we might be able to subject both dream and delusion to analysis and interpretation in the clinical situation has also been extensively applied in the field of psychoanalytic film criticism. It has been argued, though, that this approach is influenced by our fear of the darkness and uncertainty associated with these regressive areas, and may thus be seen as somewhat limiting. This dissertation takes the form of a modified systematic review - with clinical illustrations - of the three areas: psychosis, dreaming and film spectatorship. The literature suggests that through an understanding and exploration of their own regressive shifts in consciousness, both psychotherapist and film spectator may become able to ‘stay with the dream a little longer’. Through accessing a state of reverie, the psychotherapist is able to dream with, and dream for, the psychotic client, and to attempt to create a space in which a client may begin to dream for herself. Conclusions are drawn that inform clinical practice, and implications for further research are considered.
Contemplating Silence: A Review of Understandings and Clinical Handling of Patient Silence in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
(Auckland University of Technology, 2007) Davies, Amber
Patient silence may cause the therapist serious anxiety. It is an enigmatic, over determined phenomena that has been variously defined and clinically addressed in psychoanalytic literature. This dissertation is a systematic literature review (with clinical illustrations) of psychoanalytic literature on patient silence. The findings have been classified into three broad categories: first, silence as resistance; second, silence as communication; and third, silence as creativity. Patient silence is illuminated as one of the greatest barriers to, and one of the deepest moments in an analysis.
Conversion Therapy Versus Gay-Affirmative Therapy: Working With Ego-Dissonant Gay Clients
(Auckland University of Technology, 2008) Kirby, Andrew
This dissertation explores the issue of doing psychotherapy with ego-dissonant gay male clients. The methodology used is a modified systematic literature review with clinical illustrations. A dichotomy exists in the literature in relation to treating egodissonant gay clients who experience conflict between their sexuality and opposing values and beliefs. Each position tends to respond with a limited, exclusionary choice to either reject or accept one’s sexual orientation. This dissertation examines if there is a way to treat ego-dissonant clients without endorsing homophobic treatments or negating opposing values and beliefs. Freud’s views on homosexuality and sexual reorientation are delineated to inform and contextualise later writings on the subject. A review of conversion therapy and gay-affirmative therapy investigates the evidence of each, following which emerging integrative solutions are examined. Finally, a Kleinian model is proposed for individuals where neither a choice of a side nor comfortable resolution of the conflict seems feasible. While it is proposed that gay-affirmative therapy benefits the majority of ego-dissonant gay clients, this study recognises that each psychotherapeutic paradigm discussed caters, to some degree, to the uniquely different needs of individuals.
Countertransference Guilt: The Therapeutic Relationship: A Literature Review With Clinical Illustrations
(Auckland University of Technology, 2003) Rudolph, Helmut M.
Guilt is an important concept in psychodynamic psychotherapy and much literature exists describing clients’ feelings of guilt and how the therapist can treat them. This dissertation explores the less published area of the therapist’s feelings of guilt, or “countertransference guilt”. Guided by personal and professional curiosity, I wished to know in what ways the therapist’s feelings of guilt affected his clinical working in the therapeutic relationship. A full and fair review of the literature available in the English language was carried out selecting all examples of literature where the therapist’s feelings of guilt appeared at least once. The literature was read, annotated and analysed according to an existing countertransference model (Marshall, 1979). Clinical vignettes from my own work further illustrated the literature. Countertransference guilt examples were distinguished according to therapist origin or client origin and grouped into the most frequent themes. An additional dimension of conscious / unconscious could not be verified as intended due to a lack of consistent description. Countertransference guilt was found to lessen therapist intentionality if unrecognised and unmanaged. Conversely the successful recognition and management of countertransference guilt was found to lead to appropriate interventions. An “Intrapersonal / Interpersonal Model of Countertransference Guilt” was created as the originally intended countertransference model proved not fully workable due to the inadequate level of description in the literature. Two additional tables succinctly list the numerous intrapersonal and interpersonal manifestations of countertransference guilt. The limitations and applications of this study are discussed, including recommendations for clinical practice and further research. In a final section I describe some aspects of how producing this dissertation has affected myself and my clinical work.
Death, Freedom, Isolation and Meaninglessness and the Existential Psychotherapy of Irvin D. Yalom
(Auckland University of Technology, 2012) Berry-Smith, Stephen Frederick
This dissertation examines the work of existential psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom. Yalom is acknowledged and respected globally for his contributions to contemporary psychotherapy; both for his theoretical understanding and his stance for practice which posits that a genuine, transparent, human connection in the therapeutic encounter is one that provides the most beneficial environment for emotional healing. His theory and approach to practice is grounded in the understanding that all human beings face four ultimate existential concerns – death, freedom, isolation and meaningless. Furthermore, he is of the profound belief that all psychopathologies are derivatives of the anxieties generated from awareness of the four concerns, and that a vital task of human development is to confront, and come to terms with the realities that each concern presents. This dissertation adopts the methodology of a traditional literature review to examine Yalom’s books, essays and interviews, and provides a synthesised study of his theory of Existential Psychotherapy and the implicit meaning of the four ultimate concerns. Included are critiques and comments from other contributors. A further aspect of the dissertation draws attention to some of the contrasting opinions that exist between psychoanalytic psychotherapy and those of Yalom’s existential approach. Lessons for practice are summarised and suggestions for future research are offered.
The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Communities in the Treatment of Addicts With Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Critical Review of the Literature
(Auckland University of Technology, 2015) Herath, Senanayake Mohan
This dissertation explores the links between antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and addictions, and the usefulness of treatment through modified therapeutic communities (TCs). It critically reviews and synthesises the literature in the areas of ASPD, addicts with ASPD, and TCs treating addictions. The review identifies a number of themes emerging from the literature; similarities in the behaviour of individuals with ASPD and addicts, difficulties in diagnosing ASPD, gender differences, difficulties of treating co-occurring disorders, and the effectiveness of particular treatment options including therapeutic communities. The review concludes with a number of guidelines for clinicians, which include important structures and modalities to be considered in the treatment of addicts with ASPD in therapeutic community settings.
Exploring the Relevance of Attachment Theory to Therapeutic Communities for Addictions: A Critical Review of the Literature
(Auckland University of Technology, 2013) Smith, Jyoti
This research project assesses the relevance of attachment theory to the work of therapeutic communities for addictions. It critically reviews the literature on attachment theory and addictions, and on therapeutic communities for addictions, and builds bridges between the two areas. Associations between insecure attachment and addictions have been demonstrated and progress has been made in clarifying which attachment styles are most associated with addiction and why. However, attachment theory has not been comprehensively applied to therapeutic communities for addictions despite the likelihood that most, if not all, their residents are insecurely attached. Six clinical guidelines have been developed on the basis of the findings of this review to summarise how a therapeutic community could encourage the development of secure attachment: • Respond flexibly to residents in recognition of their attachment needs, for example, negative feedback and sanctions are tailored to be therapeutic for each individual. • Support senior residents and staff to recognise and respond to attachment needs. • Create an experience of at least some aspects of a secure base for staff and residents, for example, senior colleagues/residents should be available and reliable. • Create rules and boundaries to provide containment but ensure they are not so rigid as to be overly controlling or protective. • Enhance mentalization by ensuring residents are provided with clear information on the values, norms, and standards of the therapeutic community. • Leaven the intensity of the therapeutic community to help residents and staff maintain mentalization, for example, through humour, games, creative expression, celebrations, etc.
From One Person to Two Person Psychotherapy: Considerations and Practicalities for Including the Partner in the Treatment
(Auckland University of Technology, 2011) Hay, Jonathan
This dissertation explores problems and considerations that arise when individual psychotherapy warrants consideration of the client’s partner, and they are subsequently introduced into the therapy either at the onset or at a later stage in the treatment. A systematic literature review was conducted and themes that emerged include: how individual psychotherapy impacts on the client’s partner; when to consider including the partner in the treatment; varying psychotherapy formats for treating both partners - including changing from individual to couple therapy, and introducing a simultaneous individual or couple therapy; and the advantages and disadvantages of one therapist treating both partners compared to two therapists conducting separate therapies. Although client’s partners are often overlooked or thought of as external factors, there are a variety of options for including them in the treatment.
How Has Surrender Been Written About in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy? A Thematic Analysis
(Auckland University of Technology, 2013) Southwell, Graham
This dissertation explores how surrender has been written about in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A thematic analysis of text was carried out, which in this case was of literature, and once a dataset was established through a process of literature review, the articles were subsequently coded and an initial model of surrender was produced. The subsequent thematic analysis revealed themes that collectively described the nature of the phenomenon and which were represented diagrammatically in a revised model of surrender. Surrender is concluded to be a transformative process that occurs within a tension of Trust and Need. Numerous suggestions are offered for future research as well as a critique of the method of study.
How Twins Experience Their Twinship, With Implications for Therapy: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Interviews
(Auckland University of Technology, 2016) Begg, Karen
This research project explores the meanings twin participants make of their twinship. The focus is the subjective experience of being a twin, with a view to considering what might be needed from a therapist working with a twin patient. Hermeneutic phenomenology provides a foundation for the research, which comprised a thematic analysis of interview transcripts. The themes identified were conceptualised as ?oneness?, ?twoness?, and ?threeness?; these describe respectively the experiences of twins as a single unit, as an individual within the pair, and in relation to a third person such as the therapist. It is suggested that the therapist working with a twin patient will need to acknowledge the twin?s oneness and twoness, whilst accepting their own position as third in a non-intrusive manner.
Insecure attachment and the therapeutic relationship: relational dynamics between therapist and addicts in psychotherapy
(Auckland University of Technology, 2008) Ekamparam, Gaytri
Using attachment theory as a framework to understand relationships and the dynamics of addiction, this dissertation addresses the difficulties encountered in the therapeutic relationship when both the therapist and client have an insecure attachment style. This study uses a modified systematic literature review with the use of hypothetical vignettes to demonstrate the problematic dynamics that are likely to be encountered in psychotherapy. Qualitative and quantitative research that addresses attachment styles of therapists and addicts in a therapeutic relationship will be reviewed. Attachment dynamics between therapists and addicts are conceptualised based on Bartholomew and Horowitz’s internal working models of self and other. Results highlight that insecure attachment is prominent among clients with addiction issues and in particular addicts with fearful and dismissing attachment styles are more difficult to engage in therapy. Findings indicate that insecure attachment in therapists leads to difficulties in managing negative countertransference reactions, which interferes with their ability to provide a secure base. Potential problems that may arise out of the match or mismatch between therapists and addicts insecure attachment are highlighted with particular emphasis on the development of the alliance and transference and countertransference issues. Recommendations for research highlight methodological problems and the lack of research exploring how therapist’s attachment styles may contribute to the difficulties of working with addicts.
I’m Torturing Myself: A Thematic Analysis of Psychoanalytic Literature on the Internal Persecutory Experience
(Auckland University of Technology, 2013) Boughen, Kiersten
Psychotherapists are familiar with working with clients who persistently self-sabotage and mentally torture themselves. This is inevitably re-enacted in the therapeutic setting and, through the process of projective identification, client and therapist become entangled in the internal persecutory experience. This dissertation is an analysis of the clinical material identified in peer-reviewed psychoanalytic literature on the experience of the internal persecutor in the therapeutic setting. A thematic analysis within an interpretive hermeneutic framework was critically applied to the literature and the salient patterns of meaning, or themes, were identified. Non-hierarchical networks of themes were developed based on the interrelationships among the themes. The results are six thematic networks: Destruction and Desolation, Hidden/Disowned, Stuckness, Disorienting, Bridging, and Connection and Transformation. The themes are discussed in the context of wider psychoanalytic theory and the clinical implications of these findings are considered. The analysis of the interrelationships between the themes reveals the internal persecutory experience as a destructive, self-perpetuating, persecutory cycle. The therapeutic process is identified in the analysis as bridging and transforming the internal persecutory experience.
Languages of Psychotherapy: The Therapist’s Bilingualism in the Psychotherapeutic Process
(Auckland University of Technology, 2007) Skulic, Tomislav
The ways in which the therapist’s bilingualism can influence the process and practice of psychotherapy are explored in this study. While the majority of research in the field addresses bilingual clients’ uses of dual languages to cope with difficult experiences in therapy, a proportionally small number of studies address similar dynamics relating to therapists’ bilingualism in clinical practice (de Zulueta, 1990). However, available research indicates that therapists’ bilingualism has significant implications for clinical practice and identifies a number of linguistic and cultural factors that can inhibit therapists from adequately attending to their clients and the therapeutic relationship. The literature suggests that therapists who develop their bilingual self-awareness can utilise their linguistic differences and limitations in their work. Furthermore, it is argued that bilingual therapists need to be aware of the ways in which they perceive their linguistic and cultural positioning, their work and their clients, in order to provide effective psychotherapy to them. Lastly, it is concluded from available research that the therapists bilingualism can both enhance and bring unique advantages to the practice of psychotherapy.
Love After Incest. How Does Father/Daughter Incest Impact Survivors’ Attachment and Later Developing Romantic Love Relationships and How Can the Therapeutic Relationship Assist in Helping Survivors Heal From Maladaptive Love Patterns? A Hermeneutic Literature Review
(Auckland University of Technology, 2016) Oliver, Yasmine Lorraine
The purpose of this hermeneutic literature review is to assess, critique and bridge together literature on love, father/daughter incest, and the therapeutic relationship in order to consider how psychotherapists might best assist father/daughter incest survivor clients to reconceptualise learnt maladaptive prototypes of love through the therapeutic relationship. As love, incest and the therapeutic relationship are fundamentally attachment experiences, this leads naturally to exploring attachment relationships between people and looks at how incestuous experiences may affect those attachment patterns and ways of relating. A substantial amount of research exists on the therapeutic relationship with survivors of sexual abuse as well as on the impact that sexual abuse has on attachment. The literature on both love and incest are also vast. However, there is a paucity of robust literature regarding the impact that father/daughter incest specifically has on these important areas of relating. Furthermore, none of these topics; the therapeutic relationship, attachment or love currently have any substantial links to one another. Thus, this report aims to review the role of love and the effects that father/daughter incest has on later developing love relationships. In order to better explore the abundance of research available, and to bring these discrete domains together, this report first develops working definitions from the many variations of love and incest. After gathering, analysing and synthesising the literature from a hermeneutic perspective in this report, the conclusion is that clients’ ways of loving will become apparent to the therapist via the transferential relationship, through the exploration of historical attachment relationships, current love-style dynamics and attachment patterns. As internal working models are fluid and attachment can be secured through the therapeutic relationship as described in the literature, it is my prediction that the way that individuals love in their current relationships will also begin to shift and change as clients’ begin to form more secure and positive modes of attachment through the therapeutic relationship.
Marion Milner and Creativity: A Thematic Analysis
(Auckland University of Technology, 2014) Puckey, Jane Elizabeth
This dissertation analyses literature written by the psychoanalyst and artist Marion Milner, in relation to creativity. The focus of this research is Milner’s personal, creative process in order to bring further understanding as to how a psychotherapist can facilitate creativity for optimal practice. An interpretative methodology informed this study, which utilised a method of thematic analysis. The themes identified in this study have been conceptualised as a psychological model (Ego, Duality and Oneness) which addresses the way we can process lived experience to elicit psychic growth through an act of creative surrender – in order to develop the capacity to think unknown thoughts and to further awareness and freedom. The significance of creativity for clinical practice and a critical reflection of this research are discussed.
The ‘Other-Other’ Perspective: Perceptions and Experiences of Non-maori Ethnic-Minority Psychotherapists Practicing in the Bicultural Context of Aotearoa New Zealand
(Auckland University of Technology, 2015) Salpitikorala, Mihili
This dissertation explored the perceptions and experiences of non-indigenous ethnic minority psychotherapists residing and practicing in the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Four psychotherapists who self-identified as non-Māori ethnic minorities, participated in semi-structured interviews, which explored their lived everyday experiences in both personal and professional spheres. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and yielded three main themes; Acculturating to Mainstream, Encountering Indigenous Culture, and Relating to Biculturalism. Each of these themes was anchored on two or more sub themes. In the context of this study, these themes represent three different but interspersed cultural/experiential spheres the participants encountered as immigrants and ethnic-minorities, and describe their perceptions and engagement at each level. The theme ‘Acculturation to Mainstream’ captures, as a whole, the personal challenges the participants encountered as immigrants, in relocating to Aotearoa New Zealand and adapting to and finding a sense of belonging in mainstream New Zealand culture. The second major theme ‘Encountering Indigenous Culture’, describes participants’ experiences of coming into contact with indigenous Māori culture, and the perceptions and understandings developed through this encounter. The final theme ‘Relating to Biculturalism’ describes how the participants understand, relate to and make meaning of biculturalism, as it is viewed, conceived and lived by them in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Problem Gamers’ Perceptions and Experiences of Therapy: A Thematic Analysis
(Auckland University of Technology, 2014) Driver, James
This dissertation asks how treatment is experienced by problematic gamers and gaming addicts who have sought help for this issue. Four participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interviewing approach, and the transcripts of these interviews were analysed using the methodology of thematic analysis. Two central themes were identified: ‘Hope’, and ‘Fear’. These themes represented opposing forces which either motivated participants to engage with treatment and believe that positive outcomes were possible, or to avoid treatment and believe that negative outcomes were more likely. Each of these major themes was supported by two sub-themes which illustrated the major factors that contributed to a sense of hope or fear in treatment for this particular issue: ‘Belief in self’, ‘Identification and belonging’, ‘Judgement’, and ‘Dismissal’. ‘Belief in self’ related to participants’ trusting and valuing their own perceptions and experiences even when these were questioned or dismissed by clinicians. ‘Identification and belonging’ related to participants’ feeling that there was a place for them in treatment, and finding others with whom they could identify in treatment. Both of these sub-themes contributed to participants’ experiences of hope in the treatment. ‘Judgement’ related to participants’ experiences of being pitied, condemned, or otherwise negatively evaluated by clinicians. ‘Dismissal’ related to participants’ experiences of not being taken seriously, or being dismissed by clinicians. Both of these sub-themes contributed to participants’ experiences of fear in the treatment.
Self-Destruction: Clinical Implications of the Death Instinct
(Auckland University of Technology, 2006) Nyemecz, Monique (Monique Reina)
This dissertation is a modified systematic literature review of Freud’s (1920) contentious concept of a biological death instinct turned inward, including commentaries and criticisms. It begins with a brief clinical vignette introducing a masochistic terminally ill cancer patient. Freud argued that externalisation of the death instinct in the form of aggressive and destructive expression is necessary in order to protect against our primary impulse to self-destruction. Possible psychosomatic aetiology of biological disease as a form of self-destruction is explored in connection with the death instinct. The biological underpinnings of psychoanalytic phenomena that led Freud to hypothesise a death instinct are illuminated by recent advances in cell biology. Empirical studies on the effect suppression of emotions has on immune function and the discipline of psychoneuroimmunology is introduced to demonstrate the biological advantage of expressing emotions and as a way of conceptualising Freud’s theory of a death instinct. The implications for disease development and/or progression are discussed. The dissertation concludes by considering clinical implications of the death instinct.
Spontaneous Images in the Mind: A Thematic Analysis of Psychoanalytic Literature on Psychotherapists’ Unbidden Visualizations
(Auckland University of Technology, 2013) Gross, Claudia
When psychoanalysts and psychotherapists are in a particular mental state, it may happen that visual images come up spontaneously in their minds. When they appear, these unbidden visualizations seem to be unrelated to what is going on in the therapy at the time. This dissertation is a review and analysis of texts published by psychoanalytic practitioners about these events. My research has three related foci: 1) psychotherapists’ clinical descriptions of their inner experience of unbidden visualizations and their reflections on what it is like; 2) the effect and function of unbidden visualizations in the therapeutic process; and 3) psychotherapists’ use of spontaneous images in the therapeutic relationship with their patient. My method of analysis is a critically applied thematic analysis, developed within a hermeneutic-interpretive methodological framework. In this approach themes (patterns of meaning across the data) are conceptualized as integrated networks of subthemes, and the final analysis of interrelationships among major themes is essential. The results are nine major themes, (Personal, inner experience; Disturbance by the unknown; Dream-like perceiving; Sensing and evocatively gathering unsayable complexities; Revealing by giving shape; Care and scrutiny; Togetherness; Intimacy; Generative aliveness) and two dynamic major themes (Tensions of time and temporality; Movement through tension and paradox), eleven in total. These themes reveal that unbidden visualizations are creations of the psychotherapist’s unconscious but intersubjectively activated and motivated by complex unconscious processes in the therapeutic relationship—they are relational events. Unbidden visualizations crystallize central issues and dynamics in psychoanalytic practice and evocatively express visually what is momentarily obscure and unsayable. Furthermore, unbidden visualizations open a triangular mental space between psychotherapist and patient, by functioning as a third object which is created within the psychotherapist-patient dyad but simultaneously experienced as external to it—as an intrusive, sensory mental object and experience. This dissertation ends with a discussion of findings in the context of current psychoanalytic thinking, of clinical implications of findings, and of further research implications.
Suicide: A Dying Shame: A Literature Review of the Therapeutic Relationship
(Auckland University of Technology, 2004) Goldstiver, Susan P.
The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the role that shame plays in suicidality. Shame is an emotion that is not easily communicated or identified and suicidal ideation is often taboo. Given that shame and suicide can both be hidden and silent, how does a psychotherapist work with clients who experience chronic shame and who are potentially suicidal? The case of Kurt Cobain is used as an illustrative example. A modified systematic literature review was the method used to ensure a thorough investigation of the psychological literature available on this topic. It was found that shame is present in many attempted and completed suicides. This dissertation raises the possibility of a fundamental connection between suicide and shame but further research is required, as other emotions were not reviewed for their connection with suicidality. Clinical implications are highlighted for the practicing psychotherapist.

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