The Emerging Maiden: Menarche as a Rite of Passage in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

This thesis addresses how depth psychotherapists might support female adolescent clients to begin the process of individuation when collective rituals that mark developmental transitions have been discarded in Western society. Utilizing heuristic, hermeneutic, and artistic-creative research methodologies, this study explores how ritual has been discarded, what modern girls are doing to be witnessed during this life transition, historic cultural rituals that aid young women during the individuation process, and how these learnings can be incorporated into viable means of witnessing for modern female adolescents to improve their mental health using depth psychology. Given that the rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide in preadolescent and adolescent girls has increased between 145–167% over the last 15 years, this study suggests that being seen by peers, mothers, elders, and mental health professionals in a supportive way during menarche may help girls feel cherished instead of breeding feelings of shame and isolation.