Browsing by Author "Faber, Phillip"

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    Celibacy and individuation : a Jungian perspective
    (1990) Cowburn, Sheila; Faber, Phillip
    The aim of this study is to answer the question: is celibacy psychologically heal thy with specific reference to Christianity? Jungian theory is utilized to develop a theoretical framework in which celibacy may be viewed. The meaning of celibacy is initially examined from a Christian perspective as a form of love and contrasted with celibacy's meaning and implications from a Jungian perspective. This is done by means of a comprehensive exposition of Jung's concept of individuation, what is understood by "psychological health" and how this is linked with religious experience. The integration of instinctuality and spirituality is then centrally addressed in an elaboration of the concepts of sexuality, religion and mysticism and Jung's critique of Christianity. Further levels of the meaning of celibacy, as possible specific and unique constellations of an individual's psychic development are examined in both negative and positive forms. It is concluded that from a Jungian perspective celibacy in the main is not psychologically healthy, and specific points of departure between Jung and Catholicism are highlighted.
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    A clinical case study of some aspects of the significance of the father in the process of separation-individuation
    (1992) Cooper, Sue; Faber, Phillip
    In this study, recent psychodynamic literature on some aspects of the significance of the father in psychological development, is reviewed. Psychoanalytic and analytical perspectives on the father are considered, with particular reference to the father's role in preoedipal development of the daughter. This is seen to be crucial for the facilitation of differentiation, as well as for psychosexual development and the formation of gender identity. The clinical case study-method is employed to illustrate the impact of the father on a depressed woman's struggle towards separation-individuation. Therapy and dream material, taken from thirty sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy, which occurred over a period of nine months, are analysed and discussed in relation to the various theoretical positions outlined in the literature. It is concluded that for this patient, the persecutory nature of the negative paternal introject contributes significantly to the patient's inability to resist the regressive pull of symbiosis. In addition, the mother's passivity and dependence, as well as the patient's physical disability, are regarded as exacerbating factors.
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    The dream in terminal illness : a Jungian case study
    (1988) Welman, Mark; Faber, Phillip
    While it may be true that many of the mysteries of birth have been dispelled by modern science and medicine, death remains an enigma; the meaning of death and the question of what becomes of us after we stop functioning physically remain powerful concerns, anchored in antiquity. Nowhere are these concerns more manifest than in the care of the terminally ill. The present study, undertaken from a Jungian perspective, purports that nocturnal dream material affords a unique opportunity to explore and elucidate the psychological meaning and implications of death - to determine, in short, what death means from the point of view of the psyche rather than that of the body. In addition, the pragmatic place of dreams in counselling and caring for the terminally ill and their families will be briefly considered. In this way it is hoped that the present investigation shall serve as the impetus for further research and indeed for a shift away from the present tendency to exclude a psychological perspective in the care of dying patients. These objectives are undertaken primarily by way of a case study involving an intensive analysis of a series of dreams collected from a dying cancer patient.
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    The effects of a dreamwork technique on creative potential
    (1988) Katz, Linda; Faber, Phillip
    The aim of this study is to determine whether an awareness of unconscious processes, as elicited by a dreamwork technique, will increase creative potential. In the present investigation, 54 undergraduate students were randomly divided into three groups. Each group was tested for creativity on two measures: (1) The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and (2) The Rorschach Test (movement response). For three weeks all subjects completed a dreamwork assignment, which was systematically varied across the three levels of the independant variable. The experimental group recorded their dreams daily, and answered questions on a dreamwork questionnaire designed to stimulate associations and amplifications to dream imagery (Group A). One control group recorded their dreams and performed a logical task on their content (Group B), while the other control group collected dreams from other people, and performed the same logical task on their content (Group C). It was hypothesized that those subjects who had an opportunity to work with and amplify the unconscious imagery occurring in their dreams would be more likely to increase in their creative potential, than those subjects who did not have this opportunity. Each subject met weekly with the experimenter for supervisory and motivational purposes. At the end of the study all subjects were retested with a parallel version of the Torrance and the Rorschach. Scoring on the Torrance yielded ten different measures, and six measures on the Rorschach. Using a two-way analysis of variance of repeated measures, no significant changes occurred on the Rorschach scores, but on the Torrance Tests, highly significant changes took place in Figural measures of Fluency, Originality, Elaboration and Figural Totals, as well as highly significant increases on all four verbal measures of Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and Verbal Totals. Since no interaction occurred, t-tests were performed, to discover that the increases in creativity on the Torrance occurred not only to experimental subjects in Group A, but also to subjects in Group C. These findings are discussed in relation to previous theoretical and empirical work on the creative process, and it is suggested that the increase in creativity, as measured by a divergent thinking test battery (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking), was produced, not by the actual content of the tasks involved, but by the establishment of a problem-solving mind set.
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    Kinetic family drawings as indices of family functioning
    (1989) Betts, Jennifer; Faber, Phillip
    Kinetic Family Drawings (KFDs) are Projective drawings which require the drawer to give 'action' to the depicted figures. A number of studies have been conducted following its inception in 1970. (Burns & Kaufman, 1970; 1972). Upon examination of these studies, however, it is evident that those studies pertaining to aspects of family functioning obtained significant results to a greater degree. It was the contention of the present study, that the KFD may be measuring aspects of family functioning. The present study thus incorporated a measure of family functioning, the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) (Epstein, Baldwin & Bishop, 1983), to assess whether KFD depictions were indices of family functioning. The results were obtained through KFDs of 96 individuals who constituted 24 families. These individuals consisted of (n=48) parents and (n=48) adolescents. Due to constraints of research design, there were unequal numbers of males and females i.e. 38 males and 58 females.
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    Manifest dream content, sex role orientation archetypes and the menstrual cycle : an experimental investigation
    (1984) Osborn, Claire Barbara; Faber, Phillip
    Previous research has found that dream content may vary as a function of the menstrual cycle. Parameters which have been found to fluctuate with the menstru.al cycle include sexual and aggressive content of dreams, dream unpleasantness, the frequency of dream recall and maternal and heterosexual dream content. This research also investigated the possibility that agency, communion and archetypality may fluctuate across the menstrual cycle. In addition to this the effect of sex-role orientation was investigated. There were consequently two groups of subjects, one with a masculine sex-role orientation and another with a feminine sex-role orientation. The subjects were 14 women aged between 21 and 28, who did not take a contraceptive pill, who had regular menstrual cycles, and who did not suffer from any severe form of psychopathology. Dream reports were obtained from both home diaries and REM awakenings. Basal body temperatures were recorded daily to enable the phase of the menstrual cycle to be accurately determined.