Psychology ETDs

Publication Date

7-24-1979

Abstract

An experiential treatment program based on the concepts of Outward Bound, the Wilderness Experience was investigated regarding its thera­peutic efficacy for the criminal first offender and offenders soon to be placed on probation/parole. The level of stress, defined as danger de morte or fear of death, and the degree of group cohesiveness that developed in the small working groups were studied as the principal causative actors for therapeutic gain. Relative to a control group composed of offender volunteers at the Penitentiary of New Mexico undergoing sixty-day diagnostic evaluation, different therapeutic effects were found for the two levels of stress. Using the MMPI, the low stress condition which consisted of a fourteen-day river rafting trip in Canyonland , Utah produced a significant reduction on the depression (D) scale and a significant increase on the masculine-feminine (Mf) scale. The high stress condition included fourteen days in the San Juan Mountains c>f southwestern Colorado above 10,000 feet, a technical peak ascent, and an untried exit route. The high stress group had significant changes on the K, Mf, Pa, Pt, and Si scales of the MMPI. The high stress conditions also favored the development of a high level of group cohesiveness as measured by sociograms, while the low stress conditions allowed for hostility to develop and for a much lower degree of within group bondi.ng. Erikson's developmental theory is detailed as a context for understanding the development of sociopathic behavior and its amelioration.

Degree Name

Psychology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Psychology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Samuel Roll

Second Committee Member

John Paul Gluck Jr.

Third Committee Member

Norman William Katz

Fourth Committee Member

Britton Kenneth Ruebush

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS