Dr Phil Goss is a Jungian analyst (member of the Association of Jungian Analysts, London, and of the International Association of Analytical Psychology) and a UKCP-registered psychotherapist. He is course leader for the masters programmes in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Central Lancashire. Phil’s publications include Men, Women and Relationships, A post-Jungian Approach: Gender Electrics and Magic Beans (Routledge, 2010), journal papers and chapters on a range of themes in edited collections.
Praise for Jung: A Complete Introduction
‘This is a lucid and refreshingly innovative introduction to the complex thought of C.G. Jung. Its splendid mix of rich information and accessible presentation means it will be valuable to anyone from a whole range of disciplines, from Cultural Studies through to Psychology. I would not hesitate to recommend this genuinely helpful introduction to students and general readers alike, while analysts, too, will welcome Phil Goss’s thoughtful presentation of Jung’s theories.’
Paul Bishop, William Jacks Chair of Modern Languages, University of Glasgow
Phil Goss combines dexterity in writing and clarity of thinking to create a goldmine of knowledge in this eminently readable book that transcends the constraints of a set formula. The ideas of two towering figures in the contemporary Jungian world, Wolfgang Giegerich and Sonu Shamdasani, are skilfully elaborated as are the developmental stages of Jung’s thought. The latter culminates in Jung’s all-important contribution to the history of ideas, viz. the psychological application of alchemy. The author brings to life the first meeting between the neurologist, Freud, and the psychiatrist, Jung, in the course of which the more mature Freud grounds the fiery stream of Jung’s outpourings. Goss goes on to spell out the similarities in their thinking as well as the differences that led to their tragic split, the consequences of which continue to reverberate in the psychoanalytic world. Among the highlights of this far-ranging book is an account of the intellectual forerunners of Jung’s thought that include the genius of Schopenhauer. The book is studded throughout with insightful quotations and dreams from Jung, and the acknowledgement of his paramount importance as a religious thinker, the application of which is exemplified in appropriate clinical vignettes. Questions for the studious reader, definitions of key notions, and further references for deeper research make this book a supremely useful tool for teaching Jung in the academy and training institutions. It should also find a wide circulation among lay readers as well as experienced psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.’
Ann Casement, Licensed Psychoanalyst; Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute
‘Of the many introductions to Jung’s work, I find this one not only the most comprehensive but, importantly, very readable for the non-Jungian. It will appeal to those in the arts as well as to those working in the psychological therapies and complementary disciplines – whether they are a seasoned practitioner, a student or a lay person who wishes to learn more about the man who challenged Freud’s reductionist theories. Those not familiar with Jung’s ideas, terminology or life will find this a coherent guide to what otherwise might be a maze. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of his intricate thinking about human psychology and is written in a style that is both erudite – with serious scholarship behind it – and accessible. There are parallels for me with Jung’s own autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, which, unlike his scientific writings, offers poetic observations about life and how we psychologically negotiate the world. Phil Goss has written a work that not only celebrates his subject but also asks important questions. This work will endure, as it succinctly maps the remarkable contribution of Jung’s distinctive approach to a wide number of subjects, principally psychology, psychotherapy, philosophy and the human condition.’
Steve Mitchell, Dramatherapist / Director Pathfinder Studio; former Course Director of Dramatherapy, Roehampton Institute, London
JUNG
A Complete Introduction
Phil Goss
Contents
Introduction
How to use this book
SECTION 1: Introducing Jung and his discoveries
1 Creative madness? Confronting the unconscious
Working with the unconscious
Making sense of the unconscious
Jung’s ‘Red Book’
2 The dreamer awakes: Jung’s early life
A child of the unconscious?
Formative influences: family
Formative influences: Jung’s ‘big’ dream
Formative influences: childhood and adolescence
3 Jung’s early career and key influences
Jung’s turn towards psychiatry
Word association and Jung’s ‘complex’ theory
Searching for inspiration: Jung’s philosophical framework
4 Freud and Jung: a meeting of minds?
Common insights and ideas
Sticking points between Freud and Jung
Points of agreement between Freud and Jung
The end of the friendship
SECTION 2: The world within: Jung’s model of the human psyche
5 Self and ego: listening to the inner voice
Self: the missing piece for Jung
Self and its place in the psyche
The ego–self axis
Ego and its place in the psyche
6 Ego’s face and back: persona and shadow
Ego: outward looking and inward facing
Persona: a mask for every occasion
Shadow: a moral problem
Shadow as a resource
7 Anima and animus: inner partners or adversaries?
Contra-sexuality: personal and collective
Anima and animus
Anima and animus – still relevant?
8 From archetype to complex
Jung, archetype and complex
Archetypes: the collective and the personal
Complex and its influence on the psyche
Archetypes, complexes, analysis
9 Jung’s typological model
Personality: tabula rasa or constitutional factors?
Four personality functions
The hierarchy of typological functions
Typology in Jungian analysis
SECTION 3: Jungian analytic practice
10 Jungian analysis
Making space for psyche
Freud’s influence and the analytic frame
Ethics and boundaries
The analytic setting
The analyst as ‘blank screen’?
Analytic principles and process
Jung’s four-stage model
11 Working with dreams
Royal road to what?
Jung’s perspective on dreaming
The structure of a dream
Working with dreams
12 Active imagination
Working with image, archetype and the transcendent function
Working with active imagination
Active imagination in Jungian analysis
13 Alchemy and analysis
The influence of alchemy on Jung
Alchemical principles
Limitations and possibilities
14 Working with children and lifespan development
Jung and the ‘child’ archetype
Jung’s model of the life stages
Post-Jungian theory and practice
15 Working with mental health difficulties
Jung and the mind–body connection
Jung’s approach to depression
Addiction: a sickness of the spirit
Trauma: an archetypal approach
Personality disorders and other mental health needs
SECTION 4: Jung’s legacy: culture, spirituality and ther
apy
16 Jung’s legacy in the arts and sciences
Jung’s grand project
Synchronicity as connecting principle
Science and Jungian thought
Jung’s influence on the arts
17 Jung’s legacy in religion and spirituality
Jung’s religious grand project
Answer to Job and the evolution of the God Image
East and West
18 Jung’s legacy in politics, ecology and education
Peoples, politics and problems
Post-Jungian ideas in ecology
Post-Jungian ideas in education
Jungian thinking as a resource
19 Post-Jungian therapeutic developments
Diversity and commonalities
Is Jungian analysis effective?
Expressive arts therapies
‘Integrative Jungian’ practice
20 Post-Jungian thinking
Jung’s legacy for today’s world
Meaning, individuation and spirituality
Archetypal figures of psyche
The therapeutic relationship
Answers
Acknowledgements
To all colleagues and friends in the Jungian community, for their support and the constant flow of stimulating ideas; and to the memory of Carl Jung who set a ball rolling that continues to gather pace one hundred years on. To the efforts of all colleagues who work to get Jungian and post-Jungian ideas seen and heard in psychotherapeutic, academic and cultural contexts.
Introduction
‘… it is the function of consciousness not only to recognize and assimilate the outside world through the gateway of the senses, but to translate into visible reality the world within us.’
Jung, C. G., The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, CW8 para. 342 (London: Routledge, 1970)
When Carl Jung began to explore the unconscious, he soon came to realize its power. As a boy, he was privy from a young age to its mysteries through powerful dreams. Later, as a student and then doctor of psychiatry, he came face to face with its capacity to overwhelm fragile minds. He also came to recognize its potential for healing when the energies locked away within it could, first, be released and, second, channelled in a healthy way. The ‘world within us’ for Jung was a living reality and he saw it as our responsibility to notice and explore it, before applying the implications of what we had found to our understanding of the external world, and more importantly, to ourselves.
What does Jungian analytic thinking and practice – or, more accurately, in Jung’s own words ‘analytical psychology’ – have to offer us in our twenty-first-century interconnected world of increasing globalization, multiplying diversity of cultural identities, fast-developing technologies and high-speed living? Could his somewhat esoteric interests, such as synchronicity and alchemy, and his unusual perspectives on areas such as the place of religion in psychology, really have anything to contribute to scientific and postmodern perspectives on the human condition?
This book gives you the material to form a view on this question. We will explore the full gamut of Jung’s thinking – not to mention the ideas and applications of some of the more eminent thinkers and analysts who have followed in his wake. After all, one thing Jung cannot be securely criticized for is a lack of ideas. His reach in this respect was breathtaking: in areas from psychiatry to particle physics, from the analytic relationship to our experience of the divine, from archetypal influences to personality typology, Jung applied his considerable intellect and intuitive gifts. He did this to strong effect in order to generate insights, theories and visions about who we, as human beings, might be and how the healing powers of the unconscious can quietly transform us individually – possibly even collectively.
You might have got an idea already of how broad (and deep) Jungian theory and its applications are. The book is laid out to reflect this but also to help you to navigate your way through the material in a manageable and engaging way. This means you have a choice: either you can read the book through chronologically (if your objective is to get as full an overview as possible), or you can dip into specific chapters which will help you understand a particular theme or concept, or help you find the information you need for your studies (or an assignment you need to write).
The book has four sections, each working to a clear theme:
• Section 1, Introducing Jung and his discoveries, sets the scene for the model Jung developed (and others further modified). There are chapters on Jung’s discovery of archetypal influences in the psyche (1), a portrayal of his early life and formative influences (2), his early career and the philosophers who deeply influenced his thinking (3), and his momentous collaboration and then schism with Freud (4). This section will provide you with a clear picture of the man and his way of approaching human psychology.
• Section 2, The world within: Jung’s model of the human psyche, applies a magnifying glass to his key theories. This takes us on a journey into the human psyche and the archetypes within it as he named them. Chapter 5 explores the crucial relationship between ego and self for the individuation process (or ‘becoming more fully who we are’). Chapter 6 includes a foray into our dark side with shadow, followed in Chapter 7 by an exploration of Jung’s theories about the feminine and masculine (anima and animus). In Chapter 8 we consider the way in which archetypal influences in the human psyche (situated deep in the unconscious and ubiquitous to the human condition) can generate difficult states of mind (complexes). These dominate our way of dealing with life and can take some overcoming in therapy. Finally, in Chapter 9 of this section, Jung’s model for understanding personality types will be explained and critiqued. This section thus provides a picture of key influences in the human psyche, which will inform your understanding of how Jungian analysis is practised.
• Section 3, Jungian analytic practice, explains analysis as a concept and reality (Chapter 10), before we enter the fascinating world of dreams and dream analysis (in Chapter 11). Chapter 12 develops this theme of working with material from the unconscious by explaining what is meant by ‘active imagination’ and how it is worked with in analysis. Chapter 13 covers Jung’s exploration of the work of the medieval (and older) alchemists as they attempted to turn base metal into gold, something Jung came to see as a valuable metaphorical framework for understanding the therapeutic process in Jungian analysis. In Chapter 14 we consider an important development in the field after Jung’s initial model was established – the work of Michael Fordham and his developmental approach to Jungian analysis and thinking, something which complemented Jung’s predominant focus on adulthood and the second half of life. The final chapter (15) in this section describes valuable and innovative applications of Jungian thinking to mental health issues such as working with addiction, trauma and personality disorders – a fitting way to conclude a section that illustrates the relevance and creativity of the Jungian analytical approach.
• Section 4, Jung’s legacy: culture, spirituality and therapy, considers to what extent his ideas have influenced academic, cultural and religious thinking in the modern and postmodern world. We examine the relevance of Jung’s ideas to the contemporary world. The breadth of his ideas about the individual and the collective – and the wider influences on human history and ‘progress’ – comes across as we look at culture, arts and science (Chapter 16); religion and spirituality (Chapter 17); politics, ecology and education (Chapter 18). In Chapter 19 we then stand back to look at further developments in the Jungian analytic approach, and in particular consider how Jungian ideas and tools may be integrated into theory and practice in psychotherapy and counselling generally (as reflective of the growth in integrative approaches). We also look at research on the ‘effectiveness’ or otherwise of the Jungian approach. Finally, the concluding chapter lays out how the Jungian field has evolved after Jung and the discussion includes some interesting critiques of his fundamental tenets.
I hope this overview of the
content and structure of the book has whetted your appetite, even if some of the terms described are unfamiliar, or seem a bit weird and wonderful. The key thing about Jung and his ideas is that they have a life of their own. He once famously said he was ‘not a Jungian’, meaning that it is a mistake to try too hard to pin down what being ‘Jungian’ is, since we are all unique individuals. In that regard, you are invited to see this book as a reflective tool as well as an academic one. Do try to apply the concepts to yourself – though this works best where you feel motivated and engaged, as well as in a stable state of mind (working with the unconscious is not advisable if you are feeling distressed, markedly low, anxious or disturbed). One way to do this is to keep a journal in which you can write and draw, or stick words and images, in response to the ideas in this book. If you follow this approach, you will find that this book offers a rich resource for your personal development as well as a deeper understanding of the Jungian model and its applications.
However you choose to read, or use, this book, I hope you enjoy the experience and take away ideas and insights that enhance your studies and enrich your experience of life – principles which echo Jung’s intentions when he set out on his voyage of discovery in and around the unconscious.
Phil Goss
How to use this book
This Complete Introduction from Teach Yourself® includes a number of special boxed features, which have been developed to help you understand the subject more quickly and remember it more effectively. Throughout the book, you will find these indicated by the following icons.
All chapters include a few quotes from Jung, Jungian thinkers, or commentators on analytical psychology, which you can draw on for your academically assessed or examined work.
Each chapter includes a case study to help you situate the theories within the living experience of analysis (including the use of a fictional character ‘Jolanta’ and her experience of the Jungian therapeutic approach).
The key ideas and key terms are highlighted throughout the book. The key ideas explain one interesting aspect of, or influence on, the theme being discussed, to get you thinking further. Key terms used in the book are listed with their definitions at the end of each chapter for ease of reference.