Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling

Shadow Garments: Costume Creation For Integrating Alienated Parts Of The Self, Mega M. Galvin Jan 2027

Shadow Garments: Costume Creation For Integrating Alienated Parts Of The Self, Mega M. Galvin

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

This study explores costume creation as a narrative-based intervention for integrating "shadow" parts, or aspects of the self that are repressed or alienated due to shame, trauma, or social pressure. Grounded in Jungian analytic psychology, narrative therapy, and expressive arts theory, the research addresses the limitations of traditional talk therapy in accessing somatic memory and proposes costume making as a pathway for externalization and re-authorship. Using a qualitative, participatory study inspired by Pat B. Allen’s Open Studio Process, four adult participants engaged in a three-session workshop to design, construct, and wear costumes representing their identified shadow aspects. Data was collected …


Re-Painting Motherhood: A Community-Based Expressive Arts Project Exploring Motherhood’S Myths, Realities, And Hopes Through A Narrative Therapy Lens, Lauren Grignaffini-Morris May 2026

Re-Painting Motherhood: A Community-Based Expressive Arts Project Exploring Motherhood’S Myths, Realities, And Hopes Through A Narrative Therapy Lens, Lauren Grignaffini-Morris

Expressive Therapies Theses

This thesis examines how socially constructed ideals of motherhood shape maternal identity, distress, and isolation, and explores the potential of addressing these experiences through a community-based expressive arts project. Drawing on motherhood studies, expressive arts therapy, and narrative therapy, the project highlights the potential benefits of utilizing expressive arts in a community setting to ease the tension between romanticized cultural narratives and the lived realities of mothers. Conducted with a support group for mothers in rural Vermont, the project used visual art, movement, creative writing, and collaborative mixed-media painting to examine problem-saturated motherhood stories, connect through embodied experience, and explore …


Enhancing Self-Acceptance And Reducing Anxiety Through Tree Ring Self-Portraits In Art Therapy: A Mixed-Methods Study, Stacey Kamp Jan 2026

Enhancing Self-Acceptance And Reducing Anxiety Through Tree Ring Self-Portraits In Art Therapy: A Mixed-Methods Study, Stacey Kamp

Art Therapy | Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed-methods dissertation examined the therapeutic potential of the Tree Ring Self-Portrait, a novel art therapy intervention designed to enhance self-acceptance and reduce anxiety through symbol-based, life-phase self-portraiture grounded in narrative meaning-making and image-based processing (White & Epston, 1990; Moon, 2010; Hinz, 2020). Adults who self-identified with anxiety-related concerns were recruited through community and clinical referral sources and completed a standardized three-session intervention involving reflective mapping of life phases, a watercolor-based concentric-ring self-portrait process, and a guided review of the completed artwork with semi-structured interviews. The final sample (n = 20; ages 22–74) included participants with varied engagement in psychotherapy …


Altered Book Making With Siblings Of Adults With Schizophrenia: A Mixed Methods Approach, Anna-Marie M. Vargas Jan 2025

Altered Book Making With Siblings Of Adults With Schizophrenia: A Mixed Methods Approach, Anna-Marie M. Vargas

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that affects the entire family unit. Due to deinstitutionalization, families are often left to care for their loved ones the best they can without the structured support offered by long-term hospitalization. As parents age and become less able to care for adult children with schizophrenia, the task of ongoing support in various capacities falls to the next of kin, most often, to siblings. There is limited research on the experiences of siblings of adults with schizophrenia, and to date, there have not been any published studies with this population in the field of art …


The Therapeutic Benefits Of Children’S Literature: Responding Through Making Art And Writing Stories, Janae Dueck Jan 2022

The Therapeutic Benefits Of Children’S Literature: Responding Through Making Art And Writing Stories, Janae Dueck

Art Therapy | Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the use of a children's book followed by the application of the Draw A Story (DAS) art therapy assessment tool by Rawley Silver (1988). The study takes place in three elementary school classrooms located in the greater Bay Area region. Previous literature addresses the historical uses of children’s books and their potential to offer therapeutic benefit to young readers. Through a quasi-experimental, one-group posttest only design, eighteen second to third grade level students were asked to reflect on a children’s book by writing a story of their own. Participants were between the ages of seven and nine, …


Individual Versus Sequential: The Potential Of Comic Creation In Art Therapy, Christine Phang Jan 2021

Individual Versus Sequential: The Potential Of Comic Creation In Art Therapy, Christine Phang

Art Therapy | Theses and Dissertations

This research study explored the potential of comics within an art therapy and narrative therapy framework. The process of depicting a past problem as a single image was compared to the process of depicting the same problem as a comic. This study worked with 15 normally functioning adults to compare the effectiveness of the two formats (comics vs. single image) in processing a past problem or challenge. Participants evaluated these two formats through a survey and a brief verbal interview. The quantitative data from the survey and the qualitative data from the interview were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of …


Changing The Narrative For Lgbtq Adolescents: A Literature Review And Call For Research Into Narrative Therapy To Improve Family Acceptance Of Lgbtq Teens, Felicia Jordan Jul 2020

Changing The Narrative For Lgbtq Adolescents: A Literature Review And Call For Research Into Narrative Therapy To Improve Family Acceptance Of Lgbtq Teens, Felicia Jordan

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

A large body of existing research has demonstrated the importance of family acceptance as a protective factor for LGBTQ youth facing increased risks of low self-esteem, depression, suicidal ideation, and other mental-health problems. However, little research has been done on therapeutic interventions for families specifically to address stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ adolescents. In particular, narrative therapy, with its focus on deconstructing and re-storying oppressive cultural narratives, seems a natural fit, but little to no quantitative research has been done on family-based narrative therapy for LGBTQ adolescents, and only a handful of qualitative studies have been published. Therefore, the paper …


Evaluating The Use Of Narrative Therapy And Art Therapy Among Women Who Have Experienced The Trauma Of Domestic Violence, Cindy G. Bryant Apr 2020

Evaluating The Use Of Narrative Therapy And Art Therapy Among Women Who Have Experienced The Trauma Of Domestic Violence, Cindy G. Bryant

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research study is aimed at evaluating the artwork created by a woman who has experienced the trauma of domestic violence. A qualitative research approach was used to capture the phenomenological outcomes in the art created during art therapy sessions using the theoretical lens of narrative therapy to analyze the art. For this study the subject was a young woman from Central America who had come into therapy per court mandate to address the issues of domestic violence at a community-based mental health center where the researcher was conducting her second- year practicum. The data (art) was gathered after each …


Narrative Therapy And Shame: A Testimony View, Andrew Earle Dec 2019

Narrative Therapy And Shame: A Testimony View, Andrew Earle

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

This article provides the clinician with an overview of how narrative thought can create spaces for possibilities and hope midst shame. As a part of an integrative practice, it is important for the therapist to acknowledge the impact various ideas have on the people who consult them. This testimony and other literature will be used to make a case that the existence of shame is contingent on structural assumptions of the self.


Religious Couples Re-Storying After Infidelity: Using Narrative Therapy Interventions With A Focus On Attachment, Mark Karris , M.A., M.Div., Katarena Arger , M.A Mar 2019

Religious Couples Re-Storying After Infidelity: Using Narrative Therapy Interventions With A Focus On Attachment, Mark Karris , M.A., M.Div., Katarena Arger , M.A

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Attachment-focused narrative interventions used with religious couples of the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) dealing with the effects of infidelity is discussed in this article. With religious couples, the couple attachment bond is commonly harmed after infidelity. The attachment bond with God can also be affected with one or both partners. Partners who once felt close and connected with God can feel angry and distant because of infidelity. Since the Abrahamic faiths are narrative-based religions, and an attachment bond with God is essential, attachment-focused narrative interventions can help couples re-story their relationship with each other and with God. Attachment-based …


A Grounded Theory Investigation Of Adaptations To Adverse Childhood Experiences, Jeffrey Michael Friedman Jan 2018

A Grounded Theory Investigation Of Adaptations To Adverse Childhood Experiences, Jeffrey Michael Friedman

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, and household dysfunction. Much has been reported about the detrimental outcomes associated with these experiences. The associated negative outcomes of ACEs can include addiction, suicide, disability, teenage pregnancy, and early death. However, it is well known that many people experience ACEs and do very well. Rather than viewing negative outcomes only as symptoms of trauma and positive outcomes only as signs of resilience, it is possible to consider adaptations. This study focused on how adults adapted to their adverse childhood experiences. Data were collected …


Conversation Analysis Of Michael White’S Decentered And Influential Position, Dragana Ilic Jan 2017

Conversation Analysis Of Michael White’S Decentered And Influential Position, Dragana Ilic

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The relationship between the therapist and the client is an important consideration for most models of therapy, with all models of therapy emphasizing the importance of establishing a positive therapeutic relationship. Quantitative and qualitative studies have shown that the relationship between the therapist and the client is a predictor of positive outcomes. However, different models define the preferred therapeutic relationship differently. This study was a qualitative exploration of a decentered and influential position of the therapist in narrative therapy. A video of a one-session narrative therapy case conducted by Michael White was analyzed using conversation analysis to answer the following …