Jung: A Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself

Phil Goss

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781473601789
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Psychologie jungienne

Jung: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear, jargon-free English and providing added-value features like summaries of key books, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam.The book uses a structure that mirrors the way Jung is taught on many university and counselling courses. Chapters include individuation and the archetypal power of the unconscious, Jung's early life, Jung's early career and key influences, Freud and Jung, the self and ego, the dark side, anima and animus, archetypes, typology, Jungian analysis, working with dreams, active imagination, developmental approaches, application of Jungian analysis to mental health needs, and Jung's legacy in culture, spirituality and therapy. Jung employs the 'Breakthrough Method' to help you advance quickly at any subject, whether you're studying for an exam or just for your own interest. The Breakthrough Method is designed to overcome typical problems you'll face as learn new concepts and skills.- Problem: "I find it difficult to remember what I've read."; Solution: this book includes end-of-chapter summaries and questions to test your understanding.
- Problem: "Lots of introductory books turn out to cover totally different topics than my course."; Solution: this book is written by a university lecturer who understands what students are expected to know.

Section 1

Introducing Jung and his discoveries

1

Creative madness? Confronting the unconscious

What is ‘the unconscious’? Why is it such an influential idea? What part has the thinking of Carl Jung and his followers played in promoting its significance for understanding who we are, for dealing with human suffering, and promoting healing and growth? We will begin to consider these questions in this chapter as well as describe how Jung approached the unconscious himself. We will also start to unpick some crucial Jungian terms such as individuation, archetypes and shadow.

Working with the unconscious

‘The unconscious is the ever-creative mother of consciousness.’

Carl Jung, 1966, para. 207

The proposal underpinning this statement by Carl Jung (1875–1961) is a crucial aspect of psychoanalysis, and depth psychology generally. This proposal is that much of what informs our thinking and behaviour as human beings occurs beyond our conscious awareness. When we get irrationally angry, for example, it is because of something influencing us that is beyond our rational capacity to control.

Whatever this ‘something’ is – a repressed hurt from our early childhood, perhaps, or an underdeveloped capacity to mediate our primitive rages, or an aspect of our potential which has somehow not been ‘allowed’ to develop or express itself healthily – it has a lot of power. When we are not conscious of the source of this power to make us mad with someone else, we are unconscious of what the ‘something’ is and, until we become more conscious of it and how it operates, we will remain vulnerable to its influence. When we fall in love, or when we dream – these are other examples of the unconscious at work. This ‘discovery’ (Ellenberger, 1970) of the unconscious can be found earlier in the work of philosophers such as Schopenhauer (1788–1860) and Carus (1852–1919), as well as in the attempts by pioneers in the world of psychiatry such as Charcot (1825–1893) and Janet (1859–1947) to uncover and address unconscious influences on their patients.

The term ‘depth psychological’ refers mainly to the approaches in psychotherapy that stemmed from the initial model of psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) (Storr, 1989). Jung’s work is one such approach, and a hugely influential one, not just in counselling and psychotherapy, but stretching out into fields of study and popular interest such as cultural and religious studies, politics and identity, and film studies, to name but a few. (These areas and more will be explored in Section 4.)

For Jung, the notion of the unconscious was much more than an idea. For him, it was a living reality that requires us to pay heed to what may be going on within it, as a fundamental part of becoming fully human. Many of his key theoretical ideas arose from his own encounters with the unconscious. Here he wrestled with his personal demons, and experienced influences arising from the pool of human experience (stretching back over a million years), which he said we all carry around within us.

Encountering the unconscious

A man sat still at his desk, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his knees. He had placed his glasses and pipe on the desk so that he could really concentrate. However, what he was trying to do was, in a way, the opposite of concentrating. It was more like letting go of concentration. He was trying to allow all his thoughts and worries to fade into the background: his worries about his job as a psychiatrist at the local hospital, about his family – his wife and four children – and about his professional relationships, including one connection which meant so much to his hopes for promoting his ideas and developing his practice, which had soured and ended recently.

Instead, the man was clearing a space in his mind. He opened his eyes and began to stare at the wall, a blank space on the wall, his eyes glazed over. Then he let himself ‘drop’ – his mind was falling, falling into the unconscious, or as near as he could get to into it. It felt as if he was dropping through the floor and into an abyss that was opening up beneath him; there was nothing to stop his fall and nothing for him to reach out and grab as he descended, at speed. He had chosen to do this, but now he was wondering what had driven him to take such a risk with his own sanity. Then the man found himself standing on soft but sticky ground, in the dark. After a while his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could just make out what looked like rocks and the opening of a cave. There was a short figure standing in the entrance. The man wondered where he was, who this character might be, and what the figure might say (or do?) to him.

Key idea

There are around 2,500 qualified Jungian analysts practising around the world, and more than 30 training institutes approved by the International Association of Analytical Psychologists, the organization that governs Jungian analytic practice and training. There are training institutes in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Carl Gustav Jung was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He was a scientific thinker but also a dealer in visions, dreams and imagination. He came to believe that who we are as human beings is powerfully influenced, even determined, by unconscious forces outside of our awareness. At the same time, he strongly promoted the vital task of the individual to find out who they are, and become that person as fully as anyone can become within the three score years and ten of an average human lifespan. Jung saw this as our central task in life, our task of individuation.

That is the term Jung used to describe this task to become (Jung, 1953 para. 266) ‘a psychological “in-dividual,” that is a separate, indivisible unity or “whole.”’ The challenge life throws up for us, according to Jung, is to become more completely who we are, through integrating our unconscious influences and conscious minds. Jung was convinced it is the individual human being rather than the popular masses, or God, who held the key to humanity’s development. Our task in this respect is to get to know all key aspects of ourselves, including our shadow (Jung, 1968) (which holds the darker, hidden aspects of us), and integrate these so we can be more authentic and complete. Jung did not see this as an ‘ultimate’ process where we achieve some kind of perfected wholeness, but rather as a ‘work in progress’ that we get as far as we can with in one lifetime.

Jung was a thinker in the field of psychotherapy for whom paradox was key. He came to understand that two (or more) principles, which may seem antithetical to each other, can both be real or ‘true’ at the same time. His approach to understanding the human psyche and its journey through life was hallmarked b...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• Contents 
• Dedication
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• Section 1: Introducing Jung and his discoveries
• Section 2: The world within: Jung’s model of the human psyche
• Section 3: Jungian analytic practice
• Section 4: Jung’s legacy: culture, spirituality and therapy
• Answers
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright