Office in Walnut Creek, California CA
Jay Slupesky, M.A., MFT
As did Adler, Carl Jung departed from Freud's school of thought. Going on to develop what is known as Analytic Psychology, Jung postulated the existence of the collective unconscious, a large body of ancestral knowledge and experience which is available to all humans. Arising from this collective unconscious are the tendencies to think and behave in certain ways, which Jung termed archetypes. Jung agreed with Freud that the unconscious mind can be accessed via the interpretation of dreams and by the transference and countertransference between client and therapist. Once the unconscious is understood, the Jungian therapist helps the client to grow and to achieve a healthy balance between the conscious and the unconscious, with the hope that the true self will eventually emerge.
As described in Corey (2001), Carl Jung developed the notion of the collective unconscious, a body of ideas and understanding that all human beings share and from which we all benefit. The collective unconscious is not learned; we are all born with it. In fact, we inherited it from our ancestors. The collective unconscious links every human with every other human, both living and dead. According to Jung the common themes and stories of the world's religions, mythologies, and fables, coupled with the fact that these themes and stories appear in our dreams, are proof that the collective unconscious exists. To describe the contents of the collective unconscious, Jung pioneered the notion of the archetype, an organizing principle which can be a story or a character which tends to guide our human experiences. Examples of archetypes are the persona, the mask we wear to present a pleasing public image, the animus and anima, male and female psychological tendencies which are present in both men and women, and the shadow, our dark side which we tend to deny in ourselves while projecting it onto others.
Jung agreed with Freud that the human mind has both conscious and unconscious portions. We are directly aware of the conscious; it contains our day-to-day thoughts and emotions. The unconscious mind contains both the collective unconscious and other material which is unique to each individual: our memories, our ideas, and our feelings. According to James and Gilliland (2004), Jung believed that humans cluster this material into distinct units which he named complexes. Each complex is organized around an archetype. Like Freud, Jung thought that the unconscious reveals itself in dreams, although Jung went further and wrote that dreams can be compensatory and prophetic.
Recalling Jung's belief that all human beings share the knowledge of a great trove of myths, legends, and characters, it is easy to see that individuals who live their lives in ignorance of this deep symbolic and spiritual side of themselves are not able to reach the highest levels of being. For example, it is a mistake for a person to pretend that his or her dark side doesn't exist. If the evil within is ignored for too long, it can develop into a complex centered around the shadow archetype, growing in power until it becomes a major factor in one's personality. In the most extreme cases, the repression by the conscious of the undesirable portions of the unconscious can cause the conscious to be overwhelmed and may result in a psychotic episode. In other words, the takeover of the conscious by unwanted portions of the unconscious results in insanity (James and Gilliland, 2004).
Jung believed that human beings are motivated by a lifelong urge to grow psychologically and to find deep meaning within their lives. A well person is able to maintain this growth process by coming to an understanding of his or her unconscious, both the good and the bad. Rather than denying the existence of our dark side, we should acknowledge it and come to terms with it (Corey, 2001). Of course, the best way to understand the contents of our unconscious is to pay careful attention to what our dreams tell us.
Jung used the term individuation to describe the process in which a well person harmonizes his or her unconscious and conscious and understands the contents of all the archetypes from the collective unconscious, particularly the shadow. The well person is then able to properly handle the influences of the archetypes. Jung diverged sharply from Freud with the notion that an individual is not bound by deterministic forces but is in fact able to progress beyond the past and play an active role is her or her own healing and to attain everything of which he or she is capable. The process of individuation results in a person shedding naive idealisms, realizing the self, and becoming more complete.
Understanding how Jung views wellness helps to define the role of an effective counselor. As James and Gilliland (2004) outline, the Jungian counselor is thoroughly trained in the process or exploring and investigating the archetypes in the collective unconscious. The Jungian therapist aids the client's understanding of the archetypes by interpreting dreams, by using active imagination techniques, and by analyzing the transference and counter-transference that takes place between the counselor and the client. The end goals are to successfully integrate the conscious and unconscious, to come to terms with the dark contents of the shadow, and to allow the "true self" to emerge. This Jungian therapy process can take a great deal of time to reach fruition and requires a dedicated effort by both the therapist and the client.
2004 Sep 28