Reintegrating Darkness: An Exploration into Lived Experiences of Natural Darkness

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dc.contributor.authorFrey, Sean
dc.contributor.supervisorHarper, Nevin
dc.date.accessioned2022-09-08T17:36:45Z
dc.date.available2022-09-08T17:36:45Z
dc.date.copyright2022en_US
dc.date.issued2022-09-08
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Child and Youth Careen_US
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractBackground: With current environmental issues of light pollution as a point of departure, this thesis draws a link between Western society’s subjugation of darkness within personal and collective psyches, and the harmful impacts caused by the decline of Natural Darkness (ND) at night, via the use of artificial light. Purpose of Research: Global and societal issues related to light pollution, viewed through a Jungian ecopsychological framework, led to the exploration of reintegrating ND within the human psyche through outdoor, overnight therapeutic practices in wilderness settings. Methods Used: Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with eight participants who described their memories with ND during overnight therapeutic wilderness experiences. Findings: Participants assigned ND with characteristics including spaciousness, magical, enveloping, and being cocoon-like; and described experiences of reduced boundaries, increased fear, feelings of interconnection, as well as greater connection to the spiritual realm and to unprocessed psychological material. Conclusion: Findings suggest that, for this sample, ND provided conditions for rest, spiritual connection and the processing of psychological material.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/14231
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectlight pollutionen_US
dc.subjectdarknessen_US
dc.subjectdarken_US
dc.subjectecopsychologyen_US
dc.subjectnighten_US
dc.subjectecotherapyen_US
dc.subjectecologyen_US
dc.subjectwilderness therapyen_US
dc.subjecthealingen_US
dc.titleReintegrating Darkness: An Exploration into Lived Experiences of Natural Darknessen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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