Jungian Psychology

What is Jungian Psychology?

Also known as “Jungian analysis,” Jungian psychology is a branch of clinical and theoretical psychology that follows the ideas and methods of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. It is a complex set of theories and practices aimed at helping individuals to heal psychological wounds and become healthier through the exploration of unconscious forces. Jung believed that wholeness and fulfillment could be found by delving into the unconscious mind (through experiences such as dreams) and thus bringing unconscious desires and beliefs into the light of consciousness.

The idea of the collective unconscious, perhaps the most famous of Jung’s many theories, underlies much work in Jungian psychology. Essentially, the collective unconscious is the idea that there are certain “archetypes” that are inherent in the human psyche, and that the totality of these archetypes adds up to a common psychological foundation shared by all human beings. Jung believed, for example, that the archetype of the Hero was similar in all cultures, and that psychological insight could be gained by understanding the ways in which individual minds relate to this universal concept.

Jungian psychology is set apart from many other areas of psychology in that it relies less on the evidence of the natural sciences and more on insights gained from the study of things like mythology, literature, and dreams. This is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

Who should study Jungian Psychology?

Jungian analysts tend to be talented counselors with a knowledge of clinical psychology who for one reason or another do not have complete confidence in modern Western medical models of the human psyche. Jungians often see the process of psychotherapy as having a spiritual dimension that modern medicine fails to understand. An interest in mythology, folklore, history, culture, and a range of other topics is essential for anyone interested in Jungian psychology, as this field of psychology draws heavily on these “unscientific” areas of knowledge. The advantage of Jungian psychology in the eyes of many of its practitioners is that it brings an element of open-mindedness to the insights of modern psychology, and combines ancient insight and wisdom with 21^st-century science. Jungian analysis is the largest branch of “alternative” psychotherapy.

The History of Jungian Psychology

Carl Gustav Jung, the founder of Jungian psychology, was born in 1875, and began working as a psychiatrist in his early 20s. He was a close friend of Sigmund Freud, who also heavily influenced his thought. Their friendship, however, became strained when Jung published The Psychology of the Unconscious, a deeply influential book that contradicted many of Freud’s theories. After this intellectual falling-out, the two men also became personally cold to each other. Jung’s theory of the unconscious built on Freud’s, but expanded it in controversial new directions, including Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, mentioned above.

Throughout his life, Jung was interested in religion (especially Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hindusim), and incorporated many of their spiritual ideas into his psychological theories. In Jung’s mind, the spiritual journey undertaken by religious people was the same as the journey toward wholeness undertaken by a psychological patient. In both cases, Jung thought, there was an attempt to unite the conscious individual with a “divinity” or state of wholeness that could be reached in unconscious and preconscious states. He was also interested in what we today would call the paranormal or supernatural – he saw stories of ghosts, UFOs, and other such phenomena as modern expressions of ancient archetypes and myths buried deep in our cultural DNA. Although some of Jung’s ideas have been undermined by modern experimentation, many psychologists and spiritual leaders continue to draw inspiration from them.