The red shoes revisited

Cavanagh, L. J. (1993). The red shoes revisited (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 1993). UMI no.3002417

This study explores a particular emotional disorder by focusing on the cultural perspective and investigating the impact of religious tradition upon the psyche of women. The central focus of the research considers Selfdefeating Personality Disorder in terms of the repression of the feminine in the Christian religious tradition.
The research is designed to explore Self-defeating Personality Disorder through the psychological analysis of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of The Red Shoes. The study utilizes fairy tale analysis as hermeneutic investigation in psychology. This method sheds light on the influence of the collective level, that is, the importance of considering the power of religious tradition on the developing female psyche. Andersen's fairy tale of The Red Shoes illuminates the power of the religious community upon personal selfperception.
This study reviews the contemporary controversy surrounding Self-defeating Personality Disorder and also reviews Masochistic Personality Disorder, as the underpinning and the basis for the category of Self defeating Personality Disorder. The research analyzes the behavior of the protagonist in the fairy tale as case study of self-defeat. A failed individuative attempt on the part of the protagonist is highlighted as a predicament for girls who are socially and "religiously" enculturated within the Christian tradition. In addition to its do dogma rules, and accepted modes of behavior, the Christian religious tradition provides no female aspect of empowerment in its model of divinity. Thus, the research questions this neglect as an aspect of misogyny that may be considered an obscure, yet nonetheless real, culturalreligious precursor for psychological self-defeat. Providing no symbol of female empowerment, the Christian religious tradition may be considered a psychosocial risk factor for this emotional disorder in women.