Jungian Analysis
Jungian Analyst - Psychoanalyst
Registered Canadian Counsellor
C.G. Jung Institute Zurich
C.G.Jung
Jungian Psychoanalysis - What is it?
Also known as “Analytical Psychology” or “Jungian Psychotherapy”, Jungian analysis was developed by the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). It is a psychodynamic therapy founded on a unique and inspired way of thinking about the psyche and how it exists both within the individual and the world.
Central to this approach is the recognition that the human psyche has a desire for psychological development and balance. In Jungian psychology, the innate impulse toward this balance is called individuation and analysis can be a way to support and become conscious of its development. Jung wrote, “The urge and compulsion to self-realization is a law of nature and thus an invincible power…”.
Jungian analysis focuses on bringing consciousness to imbalances in the psyche which often comes about through identifying and dealing with unconscious complexes which are frequently the root of emotional and physical pain and/or unwanted behavior.
These symptoms or “complexes”, understood from the point of view of the individuation process, are viewed as the result of psychic one-sidedness and are potential starting points toward recovering a sense of depth and balance in one’s life.
Analysis works at making complexes more conscious which not only gives one more freedom and choice in day to day life situations but also leads to a feeling of being connected to the underlying current of one’s life.
Who was C.G. Jung?
Born in Switzerland in 1875, C. G. Jung has become one of the most significant thinkers of our time. His pioneering work has profoundly touched many aspects of our modern culture, including medicine, religion, philosophy and psychoanalysis. It is through his work that many of the terms we now consider common have been introduced into culture, for example, archetype, introvert and extrovert, collective unconscious, anima and animus, persona, synchronicity, shadow, etc.
Jung was a close colleague of Sigmund Freud’s in the early days of psychoanalysis and in 1910 became the first President of the International Psychoanalytic Association. Then, in 1914, he abandoned Freud’s approach and founded his own approach to psychoanalysis and psychology.
Included in Jung’s investigation of the human psyche was a diversity of areas including mythology, alchemy, fairy tales, modern physics, the I Ching and eastern religions.
Jung’s understanding of the interpretation of dreams, the make-up of the psyche, the unconscious and the dynamics of the personality continue to attract scholarly investigation and influence collective thought today.
