Shame on You: Exploring the Deep Structure of Posttrauma Survival

Transpersonal Research and Future Directions

“…To date, most researchers using intuitive inquiry have collected original empirical data in the form of interviews or stories from research participants who meet specific criteria as informants relevant to the topic of study (Coleman, 2000;Dufrechou, 2004;Esbjörn-Hargens, 2004;Manos, 2007;Phelon, 2004;Rickards, 2006, Shepperd, 2006Unthank, 2007). However, in a study of true joy among Christian mystics, Carlock (2003) chose a set of writings from historical mystics related for Cycle 3 because of the spiritual depth of the historical mystical sources and Rickards (2006) made extensive use of historical narratives and journal accounts provided by female World War II espionage agents.…”

“…To date, descriptive analyses of data have included edited interview transcripts (Esbjörn, 2003, Esbjörn-Hargens, 2004, portraits of participants (Coleman, 2000;Rickards, 2006), historical portraits (Carlock, 2003), portraits accompanied by illustrative examples of participants' art (Manos, 2007), aspects of discourse analysis plus interviewee stories (Unthank, 2007), portraits plus common themes in interviews (Brandt, 2007), common themes in interviews plus artistic expression (Perry, 2009), a series of participants' embodied writings (Dufrechou, 2004;Netzer, 2008;Shepperd, 2006), and common themes plus integral mandala artwork (Cervelli, 2009). The analytic procedures of action and participatory research, case study, focus group, ethnographic, grounded theory, heuristic, narrative, and empirical phenomenological research could be adapted to Cycle 3 of intuitive inquiry as well.…”

How self-blame empowers and disempowers survivors of interpersonal trauma: An intuitive inquiry.

“…For this reason, DA was an optimal way to analyze data exploring a theory about an underlying schema of shame fused with guilt. Further description of the results of my dis-course analysis of the interviews can be found in Unthank (2007).…”

“…In other words, never allow interpersonal vulnerability. Included as a part of a special section on intuitive inquiry, this study explores and clarifies the capacity to choose interpersonal vulnerability that does not remain intact and accessible to all survivors of trauma (Unthank, 2007). In the survival dynamic my study revealed, the psychological foundation of security dependent upon the common ground of vulnerability required for interpersonal trust (as described by Baier, 1993; Erikson, 1956; Erikson & Erikson, 1997; Maslow, 1954) is replaced by a foundation of security dependent upon a dynamic of interpersonal control.…”