Dissertation Abstracts

Renata Ackermann Jamie Stover Schmitt Gemma Summers Luba Ivanova-Surkin

Stories Of Our Lives: Living with a Life-threatening Illness

Renata Ackermann (Union Institute, 1994)

This dissertation, entitled Stories of Our Lives: Living with a Life-threatening Illness, is a phenomenological and ethnographic study of health and illness. It investigates the meaning people attribute to illness experiences. The central hypotheses state that experiencing a life-threatening illness can be a catalyst for change and personal growth. The meaning of an illness experience can be discovered by bringing awareness to irrational fantasies connected to the experience. Awareness of the body states accompanying illness as well as the memories and fantasies around crucial moments connected to the illness are clues to necessary life changes.

The dissertation is structured around interviews with ten people who experienced life-threatening illness. The interviews elicit their irrational thoughts and fantasies regarding the illness onset, the reasons and explanations for the illness, life changes triggered by the illness experience, and valuable lessons gained from their experiences. The interview questions are based on the philosophy and theoretical framework of process-oriented psychology. The study further investigates cultural views on health and illness, living and dying. It examines the implications general attitudes towards illness have for those who become seriously ill. Illness itself is looked at as a potentially meaningful experience not only for the individual affected by it, but also for society. Seeing illness and death as integral parts of life rather than as disturbances that need to be eradicated reflects a shift in attitude which focuses on awareness rather than control. People who had been affected by life-threatening illness found valuable meaning, for themselves and the world around them, in their illness experiences. Illness took on different roles. It served as a reminder to listen to, value and appreciate the body and inner experiences. Illness was also experienced as an important change agent and push for personal growth. Finally, illness became a teacher which made people more aware of the interrelatedness and interdependence of human beings and the world.

Tracking The Dream Figure: A Systems Approach to Understanding Meaning in Movement

Jaime Stover Schmitt (Temple University, 1994)

This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between the inner organization and thereby meaningful structure of human experience as it is related to and reflected in spontaneous movement. An introduction to this area of inquiry is given, followed by a discussion of meaning in relation to movement. Three theoretical paradigms have been employed in enacting a practical exploration of personal meaning found in movement. Arnold Mindell's Process Work, based in Taoist Philosophy, and C. G. Jung's Analytical Psychology supplied the basis for understanding and organizing inner experience. Laban Movement Analysis, based on Rudolf Laban's movement theory and system of movement analysis, gave an orientation and tool for organizing and analyzing observed movement. Ludwig von Bertalanffy's systems theory provided an overall way of thinking that supported the relational nature of this study.

The practical exploration involved observation, video recording and subsequent analysis and notation of a single subjective-mover-participant in three distinct movement setting formats. The movement setting formats included: ordinary conversation; Authentic Movement, a movement experience done by following the spontaneous movements of the body; and Process Work, Arnold Mindell's psychotherapeutic method. The original movement data from these setting formats were then organized according to Laban theory and Process Work theory into two groups: primary process movement, movement with which the mover was seen to be more identified, and secondary process movement, movement with which the mover was seen to be less identified. Samples from these two categories were compared, as were instances of movement that were thought to represent particular aspects of the mover's personality termed dream figures in Process Work. Specific and general findings related to this exploration and to the pursuit of meaning in movement in general were summarized. Concluding statements were made with respect to the overall orientation and course of action taken in discussing and exploring the meaning and movement relationship, along with recommendations for further investigation.

Conflict: Gateway to Community

Process Oriented Conflict Resolution: An Interview with

Founder, Arnold Mindell

Gemma Summers (Union Institute, 1994)

This dissertation is a book-length manuscript entitled Conflict: Gateway to Community. It is based on an interview with Dr. Arnold Mindell, developer of Process Oriented Psychology, and is a descriptive account of the process-oriented approach to conflict. This approach views conflict as an opportunity to create more sustainable and democratic relationships and communities. It addresses the process of conflict, as distinct from the content of conflict. In particular, the process-oriented approach addresses the emotional and psychological dimensions of conflict, viewing conflict as an evolutionary and potentially transformative process for individuals, groups and communities.

The manuscript attempts to convey a way of working with conflict that is phenomenological and multi-dimensional. A phenomenological approach follows participants' subjective experience of conflict, their communication styles and modes of expression. It believes that individuals and communities, if helped to deeply unfold their subjective experiences, possess the solutions to their problems. A multi-dimensional approach to conflict provides flexibility for working with various manifestations of conflict, including intrapsychic, interpersonal, inter group and international. This multi-dimensional approach is holistic and holographic, viewing the different levels of conflict as interdependent.

The manuscript addresses issues including power and privilege, neutrality, human rights, majority-minority psychology and the facilitator role. It attempts to broaden the concept of conflict resolution by integrating concepts from psychology, politics, physics, religion and indigenous philosophy.

The manuscript is written in a style that makes it relevant and accessible to psychologists, conflict resolv-ers, mediators, social activists and the general public. It combines interview transcript with commentary.

The Russian Family as a Mirror of a Changing Society

Luba Ivanova-Surkin (Union Institute, 1994)

This doctoral dissertation is about Russian family life during the turbulent post-communist period. It is an in-depth study of one family in transition and the psychological dynamics of their lives in relation to the changing world around them. The purpose of the study is to offer an insider's view of this family. The reader is invited into the family's Moscow kitchen on a winter day in 1993, where she can observe the family's thoughts, words, dreams, illusions, hopes and fears.

This study follows the anthropological methods of Jules Henry and Oscar Lewis, the phenomenologi-cal approach of participant observation and the process-oriented model of social interaction. This methodology orients us to the psychological dynamics of family life in the context of the historical upheaval of post-communist Russia. The family is a reflection of society and the society a reflection of the family. The dramatic and extreme conditions of totalitarian and post-totalitarian Russian society make this process of change all the more poignant.

The dissertation provides a detailed descriptive analysis of one contemporary Russian family. I have extensively examined the everyday experience of this family to paint a true-to-life portrait. This approach will hopefully enable the reader to gain not only knowledge about life in Russia during this period of radical transition, but a feeling for the people and their struggle to overcome totalitarianism and build a foundation for democracy. The methods utilized have produced documentation of this family's personal and social backgrounds, psychological and social needs, interests, desires and goals. I have endeavored not only to describe this family's daily life, but to make the analysis accessible to an American audience. Since Russia is in such a state of flux and rapid change, this first-hand method has enabled the reader to get as close to the experience as possible. To the extent that this research has succeeded, the reader is able to transcend the cultural, linguistic and political differences represented by this study.

Books and Video Tapes

by Arnold Mindell Ph.D

Dreambody: The Body's Role in Revealing the Self, 1982

Working with the Dreaming Body, 1985

The Dreambody in Relationships, 1987

Coma: Key to Awakening, 1989

The Year I: Global Process Work, 1989

Working on Yourself Alone: Inner Dreambody Work, 1990

The Leader as Martial Artist, 1992

The Shaman's Body, 1993

Riding the Horse Backwards, by Amy and Amy Mindell, 1992

By Joseph Goodbread, Ph.D

The Dreambody Toolkit (to be reprinted by Lao Tse Press Summer 1995)

Video Tapes

(Available in NTSC for use in U.S. and PAL for use in Europe and Australia)
"Process Works" Series I (1990) 3 tapes NTSC $140

"Process Works" Series II (Illness and Life Myth, 1991)4 tapes NTSC $ 110

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Journal Back Issues

A limited number of back issues are available:

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Coma and Death Processes)

Summer 1994 (Extreme States of Consciousness) $12

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The Journal of

Process Oriented Psychology