Digital Commons Network^™

The Spark Of Recovery: Artistic Methods That Generate Dialogue And Reduce Stigma In Families Affected By Mood Disorders, Adara Jensen

Masters Theses

Mood disorders, such as major depression and bipolar disorder negatively affect family dynamics, often resulting in trauma, antipathy, mistrust, and the breakdown in communication between the individual suffering from mood disorder and members of his or her family. The impact of mood disorder on family members impedes recovery for the person suffering from the disorder as well as the health and well-being of the family as a whole. Even emotionally healthy families suffer from the subsequent pain, trauma, isolation, and stigma. The project proposes a solution to broken or inhibited family communication: the engagement of all family members in healing …

Stranger Harassment And Ptsd Symptoms: Roles Of Self-Blame, Shame, Fear, Feminine Norms And Feminism, Rachel Francesca Carretta

Masters Theses

We examined the relation between experiences of stranger/street harassment and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among 367 young adult women. We also examined novel explanatory (i.e., self-blame, shame, and fear of rape), risk (adherence to traditional feminine norms of sweet and nice and sexual fidelity), and resiliency (feminist identification) factors in predicting PTSD symptoms via a moderated mediation model. We found that stranger harassment was both directly and indirectly (via more self-blame, greater shame, and more fear of rape) related to more PTSD symptoms. In addition, we found that the direct effect of stranger harassment on shame and the conditional …

Purpose After Tragedy, Elena Tepavac

Masters Theses

Psychological trauma arises through the experience of conflict, such as war, fire, and terrorism. People exposed carry fragments with them throughout their lifetime. Buildings hold a great significance in the fabric of the cities they inhabit, and can also become vessels for trauma. They carry the gift of keeping memories alive even as they succumb to ruins.

One such building is the RTS- Radio Television of Serbia, located in the center of Belgrade, Serbia. During the Kosovo War of the late 1990’s, NATO saw this media center as a target because of its communication ties to the Yugoslav Armed Forces …

Death, Friendship, And The Power Of Words: Reflections Of The Holocaust In Liesel Meminger’S Traumatic Story, Jerusha J. Yoder

Masters Theses

Recounted through the voice of Death, The Book Thief explores the process of trauma recovery as it follows the story of young Liesel Meminger in Nazi Germany. The traumatic loss of her mother and brother rattle Liesel’s developing identity and destroy her personal narrative; however, as her story unfolds, she finds the strength to recover through the safety of friends and the power of words. Utilizing prominent theories in trauma recovery, this thesis charts Liesel’s recovery process in the wake of her traumatic loss. In this way, her story exposes the destructive power of trauma and affirms the importance of …

Gendered Racial Socialization As A Moderator Of The Relations Between Gendered Racial Microaggressions And Traumatic Stress Symptoms For Black Women, Anahvia Taiyib Moody

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between gendered racial microaggressions (i.e., subtle gendered racism), gendered racial socialization, and traumatic stress symptoms for Black women. This study applies an intersectional lens to explore the influence of the intersection of racism and sexism (i.e., gendered racism) on traumatic stress symptoms. Specifically, we tested the possible protective or exacerbating role of gendered racial socialization based on extant literature that demonstrates protective and exacerbating influences of racial socialization. We hypothesized that gendered racial microaggressions would significantly predict traumatic stress symptoms; in addition, we hypothesized that gendered racial socialization would moderate …

Traditional Rural Values, Posttraumatic Stress, And Posttraumatic Growth Among Rural And Urban Undergraduates, Emily Molly Keller

Masters Theses

Although rurality is often treated as an aspect of diversity, disagreement appears in the literature regarding whether the traditionally rural values of self-reliance, distrust of outsiders, religiosity, centrality of family, and fatalism continue to differentiate rural versus urban residents. The present study examined whether differences in these values exist between rural and urban residents and whether these values may predict posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) severity and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Undergraduates who reported experiencing traumatic and stressful events (N = 213) completed measures of these constructs through an online survey. Over a quarter (n = 56) of participants classified …