Posted by wendy b. on March 9, 2003, at 23:44:59
In reply to Jungian Analysis-what is it?, posted by catmint on March 9, 2003, at 4:37:26
Carl Jung was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud's, and belonged to the International Psychoanalytic Society which Freud began, in the early part of the 20th century. But Jung broke away from Freudian analysis, as did another 'rebel,' Willhelm Reich, at about the same time. Jung believed in a quasi-religious concept of the "collective unconscious," based on the universality (rather than the particularity) of human experience, using myths and archetypes, and metaphorical symbols like the mandala, as ways to fathom the human unconscious. He was fascinated with occultism and the paranormal. It is also well-known (and widely pointed out by his detractors) that he was anti-Semitic, and expressed these views in his writings.
Joseph Campbell is a more contemporary author and practitioner; his books like "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" or "The Power of Myth" are popularizations of Jungian thought about the way the human unconscious works. They have their appeal in the sense that human beings try to look for sameness, repitition, and universality of experience to understand and order their world, and religion and myth are expressions of that.
I'm not personally someone who looks for answers in mythic, over-arching explanations, so I personally don't find Jung or Campbell very useful to my own life (and the anti-Semitism is a real turn-off), though I am fascinated by the theories behind them, just as I would be in a course on Greek or Roman myths, or Native American stories about the origins of the universe. However, a book by one of Jung's followers, Linda Leonard, called: "The Wounded Woman: Healing the Father-Daughter Relationship" was very revealing to me...
As for Jungian analysis, I believe it can be incorporated into any type of therapy, depending on the theoretical leanings of the practitioner. My CB therapist would bring it into our discussions to a certain extent, whenever she thought it useful, and in the appropriate context. For example, she recommended the Leonard book when I was going through a period of feeling intense abandonment issues (having to do with my own father), and I found the book had a lot to offer, and though I often don't agree with Jungian theories, it was still helpful.
(Note, too: while Freud and Reich had to flee the Nazi regime before WW II, the fascists found Jung acceptable. There has been a lot of speculation about Jung's supposed support of the fascist movement, see Richard Noll's "Aryan Christ" as an example.)
I agree with Dinah, in that I don't think bipolars should rely on therapy alone - ANY therapy, not just Jungian - to get well. Medication is at least half as important to the healing process.
Blabbering on and on...
(the history of the psychoanalytic movement is one of my interests)Wendy
poster:wendy b.
thread:207321
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030203/msgs/207642.html