What is the experience of descent and ascent, and how does it impact a woman's psychological development? This study is based on personal narratives of fifteen women diverse in age, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, spiritual preference, level of education and physical ability. For the purposes of this research, descent is defined as psychological distress, loss and/or instances of depression or sadness. Ascent is defined as instances of psychological health and development. Holly's investigation included direct observation, video taped interviews and an assigned art task. Adding to the body of research on women's development, she created a document of core themes from the data, which was analyzed according to heuristic methodology. A spiral model was utilized as a hypothesis about women's development in a visual form.

Ph.D. Dissertation, June 1999

Holly Suzanne Reed is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and president of the East Bay Chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. A registered Art Therapist in private practice and workshop leader, she is employed by the Department of Mental Health in a medium security prison, and also teaches anxiety and stress management classes at Kaiser in Antioch, CA. She is working on a book about her life from a family systems point of view regarding surviving trauma and the subsequent use of a wheelchair for 6 years.