What is Jungian Psychotherapy?
Steven M. Harris, Ph.D.
This is a very difficult question to answer because just as there are many types of people, so it is with the uniqueness of your therapy or my therapy, etc. So a regimen or specific agenda is out of the question for any “Jungian” psychotherapy. This brings us to an important distinction between Jungian psychotherapy or a Jungian-oriented psychotherapist, and a “Jungian Analyst.”
A Jungian orientation generally suggests that a psychotherapist approaches or views the process from a Jungian perspective. This perspective will need to be elaborated further. This perspective can range significantly from therapist to therapist in terms of experience, training, and exposure to the Jungian perspective. Some may have just read Carl Jung and have been exposed to him more or less theoretically (e.g., textbook knowledge). An interesting point in this respect is that some are more well-read in Jungian literature than Jungian Analysts themselves, while others have simply “dabbled.” Others may have taken coursework. Still others may have participated to some degree or quite extensively in their own analysis. According to Jung’s own dictum while still working with Freud, all analysts must undertake their own analysis if they are to be considered fully trained. On the other hand, a Jungian Analyst has take up formal training at one of the Jungian Institutes throughout the world. Their training includes a formal curriculum for a number of years, undertaking their own analysis for a specified time period, and is trained through their work with cases and so on. Thus, a Jungian Analyst has followed a standardized curriculum which may or may not mean they have more experience than other Jungian-oriented psychotherapists, but suggests a certain level of formalized training has been obtained.
Jungian psychotherapy shares some characteristics with other “depth” approaches. I will elaborate these here before I explore what is considered most unique about a Jungian psychotherapy. As with other schools, Jungian psychotherapy is dialectical. For Jungians, this means that the therapist and the patient are seen as more or less equals. Two individuals in dialogue elicit, both intentionally and unintentionally, a mutual experience for exploration. Thus, this can be as unique of a process as the snowflake. The emphasis is on the patient of course, but the therapist’s intricate involvement in the process is necessary for the healing process. The synthesis and understanding of the dialectic dialogue that occurs between the two is seen as exceedingly valuable as it combines and transcends them both. So the therapist participates as much in the process as the patient. In this respect, we might say that the therapist activates the healing doctor inside the patient and the patient activates the struggles and healing function in the therapist. This can be thought of two individuals who go on a journey together that is mutually explored, sometimes even in the dark at times and that the only difference is one of them is more familiar with this territory of the psyche than the other so that he/she can facilitate understanding for emerging healing process in the patient.
Some object to the use of “patient” here and prefer the word client. Arguments here seem to have validity on both sides. I prefer the word patient, because I feel that a patient wants to get well. It is often not until we can admit that we are patient that we want to get well. Am I right? Of course not. That is just my way of seeing the process. Having been a patient who finally had to admitting to myself what great need I was in was when I really undertook the task of healing and individuation. Other Jungians may feel differently about these definitions.
A important emphasis for most Jungians appears to be their way of viewing psychopathology, or what is more commonly today called disorders or syndromes. Jungians typically observe that one of the human psyche’s functions is to “pathologize.” The purpose or aim of pathology is seen as part of the healing process. For instance, if the psyche did not create symptoms, we would never know that anything was amiss. Not only this, but the healing message is thought to be found in the symptoms. It is a mistake on this point however, to think that Jungians would view that pathology or some destructive behavior is to be encouraged. What is salient here is that symptoms are not to be avoided or downplayed, but the meaning, which has often heretofore been missed, needs to be discovered in order for healing to take place. One popular way Jungians have for viewing is illustrated with the very word psychopathology. By breaking up the word into its parts:
psyche = soul, pathos = suffering, logos = meaning.
Thus, the word can be seen as meaning the “meaning of the suffering of the soul.”
To return to my discussion about the mutual dialogue, the participation of the therapist is a necessity and is seen as a barrier to treatment if he/she is not. For this reason, a Jungian therapist may not see a patient or send them on to someone else. There can be many reasons for this. But the primary concern is ultimate respect for the patient. The reasons may include not feeling competent to help, or a basic incompatibility that is difficult to overcome. Whatever the reason, it can be seen as having a far greater value (ethical choice) not to waste the time of take the money from someone when one does not feel the necessary ingredients are there. One might imagine the painful of story or experience of someone who has been married for years only to find that their partner “never loved them.” Some feel “compelled to be all things to all people,” and are concerned about “rejecting” the patient.
Perhaps this leads to one of the all important distinctions of a Jungian psychotherapy. Other schools may feel similarly but explain it differently. One of these differences for many Jungians might be called the “non-personal” factor. This non-personal factor relates to a spiritual one, a factor that is important for self-realization. The language of religion often expresses this idea. In the New Testament, Christ is cited as saying, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother…” This statement well illustrates the non-personal factor. Self-realization, in this respect does not appear to mean that relationships are unimportant. In fact, it appears to underscore the importance of distinctions in relationships. The spiritual principle, the development of the self in psychological terms, has a non-personal level. This is a higher level ethical principle of people that results from the realization of the self and does not deny the existence of man as a social creature, but broadens the meaning of relationships. From a Jungian perspective, the more the self is realized, the more meaningful relationships become.
All therapies frequently contain a highly personal element and this can often be the most important healing element. In fact, while Jungians are sometimes mistakenly seen as avoiding childhood issues, escaping into some kind of nether-world, it is often impossible to skip over this very critical world of the patient. Also, some people select Jungian psychotherapy in order to try to skip over some very painful issues from their past. The problem with this approach is that if their childhood was not that important, there would be no need to avoid it or approach its meaning at all! This clear fact of the work can be illustrated by patients who come for psychotherapy, and when we begin to deal with their dreams, the psyche via their dreams, brings them right to their childhood! It becomes inescapable. This underscores another aspect of the Jungian approach. Going back to finish unfinished work in childhood is not a regression, but re-collecting one’s self to move forward.
Finally, perhaps the most distinctive feature of all, and one that can be the most difficult to understand is the way Jungians work with dreams. Dreams are considered to be a spontaneous product of the psyche. The main importance for Jungians is that the dream is an image coming from the unconscious that elaborates what is going on in the psyche right now. It could be described as a picture from the “other side (the unconscious)” of what is going on right now. Not only this, but this unconscious view helps give perspective on what problems the patient is dealing with right now. One of the difficulties is to understand the language of the unconscious and for the patient try to learn that there is any value at all to the somewhat strange, if not bizarre, messages from the unconscious.
Marie Louise von Franz, a student of Jung’s, tells the story of a young woman who told her she lived on the moon. Jung insisted that she did live on the moon and asked her to discuss this with her young patient. Von Franz was beginning to question her vocation and whether Dr. Jung was quite crazy! However, it turned out that the patient had “lived on the moon since an earlier trauma and that since then she could not live in this world. This expresses the lesson of the reality of the psyche. The outwardly delusional behavior of this woman, in objective terms was expressing something any one of us could have dreamed. We may not go to the moon, but a dream can take us there. The reality of the psyche, the inner world has a language that expresses a very important meaning. We may not all experience such a dramatic story, but we do know that the psyche expresses itself if we can participate in our inner drama that leads us through the path towards self-realization.
This concept of the reality of the psyche states something important about the Jungian analytic experience. It is important for the patient to be able to be able to develop a way to abstract, to evaluate things symbolically. A tremendous limitation of overly concrete thinking is to view the dream as a literal reality. For those who have a fairly active dream life, we can thank our lucky stars! But more importantly, the ability to think symbolically allows the patient full freedom to explore the inner meanings, rather than project them back into the world, running the threat of continual “loss of self.” For example, death in a dream rarely indicates real death. Most often, this relates to the discontinuation of something. Examples include having an attachment to something that is “dying,” or an old way of coping is dying, and/or perhaps most common of all, there is often a message of a life and death motif/process. This frequently relates to an old part of us that is transforming into a new one. There are many more possibilities to explore, but these illustrate the symbolic value of a dream as opposed to a concrete/literal view of them.
For Jungians, dreams are so valuable because they offer an unedited, pure expression of the situation from the unconscious’ point of view. How do the various dreams work toward self-realization? Dream products which carry various symbolic expressions of the living psyche within are all seen as carrying elements of the self, so that we can see that the psyche is a united diversity. Once the elements of the dream are understood and integrated, they become united further into the whole. One discovers many helpful hints, directions, healing messages but also things that they prefer not to disclose to anyone, much less themselves. However, this “confession” becomes a further dimension of the analysis. One might see this aspect of psychotherapy as serving a redemptive function.
Dreams are also seen as far more than an expression of a cause-and-effect message from the past. Rather, they offer the reality of the psyche as it is. In this respect, the dream communicates a complimentary and/or compensatory statement in relation to our conscious perspective. Therefore, dreams might express causes, but the overall effect is to provide direction, telos, or a teleological function, giving direction to us. Complementary here means that a dream gives us the rest of the picture, providing helpful clues or information about what is going on. Compensatory dreams provide us with somewhat of an opposite expression of what is going on. For example, just before taking a job, a man dreamt of the new place of employment blowing up. This brought up for him many areas of discomfort that he had about the job, but had not given room to discuss. Perhaps more importantly, while a competent Jungian has an extensive understanding of dreams, the analyst does not interpret them. The dialogue is a mutual process of discovery, involving both, with the final interpretation lying with the patient. In this respect, the analyst hopes the patient becomes a subject of their own experience, not an object of the analyst’s expectations or other agenda.
The goals of Jungian Psychotherapy are ambitious, but so is the idea of coming to terms with the unconscious. Ultimately it is the experience that is important in the final equation. Efforts to elucidate these experiences into words have obvious limitations. As my great mentor has said to me, “The road is not the map.” Hopefully, I have given the reader a bit more of an idea of some of the values and intentions of a Jungian experience. Another Jungian would rightly express other aspects, because the process of individuation dictates we grow into our own destiny expressing what we were created to be. With this limitation in mind, I have tried to cover some of the general issues that might be addressed by the Jungian community. From here, there is not typical Jungian psychotherapy, for the uniqueness of the issues brought by the patient are too special to be placed into a formula—and we can thank each other and the unconscious for helping us to not forget this very fact.
Author Bio
Dr. Harris has an active private practice in Newport Beach, CA. where he directs The Center for Depth Psychology (www.centerfordepthpsychology
APA Refernece Citation Information
Harris, S. M. (2005). What is Jungian psychotherapy? Retrieved from the Depth Psychotherapy Network website: http://www.depth-psychotherapy-network.com/Consumer_Section/Orientation_Overviews/
Jungian%20Psychotherapy/Harris_Jungian.htm