Matching Items (2)

A Qualitative Study Examining the Longitudinal Impact of Residing in Romanian Orphanages as Infants and Later Psychosocial Development in Adulthood

Description
The overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989 uncovered extreme and disturbing environmental deprivation that took place in Romanian orphanages from 1965 to 1989, due to Decree 770, a public policy implemented to increase birth rates and human capital. This historical tragedy provides a rare window into the development…

The overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989 uncovered extreme and disturbing environmental deprivation that took place in Romanian orphanages from 1965 to 1989, due to Decree 770, a public policy implemented to increase birth rates and human capital. This historical tragedy provides a rare window into the development of children who experienced profound deprivation during a critical period of attachment formation. An examination of existing research on Romanian orphans’ past physiological functioning, attachment, language development, and attention and learning informs the research questions of the present study. Qualitative methodology will be utilized to explore former Romanian orphans’ psychosocial development of intimacy and generativity across early and middle adulthood. A semi-structured interview is proposed here with four distinct sections: inquiring about platonic and romantic intimacy, as well as kin and non-kin generativity. Each interview question was crafted to reflect and capture Erikson’s (1950) central crises during adulthood. Between twenty to thirty former Romanian orphans will be interviewed, or until saturation of themes is reached. A thematic analysis approach will be applied, where common patterns or ideas will be identified, analyzed, and interpreted.
ContributorsMartalogu, Cristina (Author) / Flores-Lamb, Valerie (Thesis director) / Hackney-Price, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2024-05
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Destigmatizing Entheogens: From Indigenous Roots to Modern Medicine

Description

Sacred plant medicines and psychoactive compounds have been used globally throughout indigenous cultures for spiritual and medicinal purposes as early as 3500 BCE. In 1970, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration criminalized entheogens, claiming they had no medical benefit whatsoever and that they were dangerous to the population. Scientific research…

Sacred plant medicines and psychoactive compounds have been used globally throughout indigenous cultures for spiritual and medicinal purposes as early as 3500 BCE. In 1970, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration criminalized entheogens, claiming they had no medical benefit whatsoever and that they were dangerous to the population. Scientific research over the past 60 years has demonstrated the therapeutic potential of entheogens in relation to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, autoimmune disease, analgesia, and more. With this new research and the demonstration of entheogens' safety in clinical settings, the U.S. DEA needs to reevaluate their 50-year-old classification of entheogens. This reclassification does not necessarily designate entheogens as recreationally legal for all to use, but rather should allow for further medical research and experimentation to improve understanding of these substances' mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential for a multitude of psychiatric and physiological diseases and disorders.
ContributorsWebber, Susan (Author) / Potenza, Krista (Co-author) / Martin, Thomas (Thesis director) / Flores-Lamb, Valerie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05