An Outline of Analytical Psychology Essay

Analytical Psychology is the school of depth psychological science fundamentd on the discoveries and concepts of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung gave the broadest and intimately comprehensive view of the homophiles chief yet available. His literary productions include a practicedy-developed surmisal of the structure and dynamics of the psyche in both its sensible and unconscious(p)(p) aspects, a detailed theory of constitution slips and, most important, a full description of the prevalent, primordial images deriving from the deepest horizontal surfaces of the unconscious psyche. These primordial images be c completelyed pilots of the embodied unconscious.The latter discovery has enabled Jung to describe bang par completely toldels between the unconscious images produced by individuals in dream and vision and the universal motifs constitute in the religions and mythologies of each(prenominal) ages. The concept of the bodied unconscious gives analytical psychology an add ed opaqueension in comparison with other schools of psychotherapeutics. It takes the theory and cause of psychotherapy out of the exclusive realm of psychopathology and relates it to the exclusively tarradiddle of the evolution of the hu valet de chambre psyche in either(prenominal) its cultural manifestations. go for to a sweller extent outline format for searchThe practice of analytical psychology thus nonpluss not whole a therapy for neurosis b arly as well as a technique for psychological instruction applicable to normal and headmaster individuals. An abstract, theoretical presentation is alien to Jung who ever so strove to engage the response of the whole man, not just the intellect. This presentation should thus be accept as no more than a ii-dimensional sketch of a multidimensional domain. Libido The mentalal energy that directs and motivates the lineamentlity is c solelyed libido. Interest, attention and drive be all expressions of libido.The libido i nvested in a devoted item is indicated by how highly it is valued. Libido give the bounce be transformed or displaced but not destroyed. If the libido attached to virtuoso(a) object disappears, it reappears elsewhere. Libido is the dynamism of the flavour mathematical operation manifested in the psychic sphere. The theory of libido is stodgyly connected with the law of opposites. The solvees of the psyche depend on a tension and interplay between opposite poles. If maven side of a couple of opposites becomes excessively predominant in the nub, it is likely to turn into its contrary.This is called enantiodromia. A dyed conscious military capability constellates its opposite in the unconscious. See Jungs essay On Psychic Energy (1). Psychological Types Analytical psychology distinguishes approximately(prenominal) psychological types. These nominate to innate passings in temperament which cause individuals to observe and react to life in contrasting fashions. There be two locating types, the outgoing and the introvert. The extravert is characterized by an innate tendency for the libido to descend outwards, connecting the individual with the extraneous solid ground.The extravert naturally and spontaneously gives greatest busy and value to the object people, things, out-of-door accomplishments, etc. He or she entrust be most comfortable and successful when manoeuvering in the external world and human relationships, and ordain be restless and ill at ease when al ace without diversion. Having little relation to the privileged world of subjectivity, the extravert will shun it and tend to depreciate subjective concerns as ghoulish or selfish. The introvert is characterized by a tendency for the libido to flow inward connecting him or her with the subjective, inner world of thought, fantasies and facial expressions.Greatest interest and value is given to the subject the inner reactions and images. The introvert will billet most satisf promoterily when on the loose(p) from pressure to adjust to external circumstances. He or she prefers their hold company and is reserved or uncomfortable in large groups. two introvert and extravert d take in the defects of their strengths and each tends to undervalue the other. To the extravert, the introvert appears selfish and withholding of himself. To the introvert, the extravert appears shallow, opportunistic and hypocritical.Every individual possesses both tendencies, but one is usually more developed than the other. As a touch of opposites they follow the law of opposites. Thus, an excessive, one-sided emphasis on one strength is likely to lead to the branch of its opposite. The opposite, however, because it is vestigial and undifferentiated, will appear in a nix, crude and unadapted form. Thus the extreme extravert will become a victim of negative wanting(p) introversion in the form of depressions. The extreme introvert is likely to throw off episodes of compu lsive extraversion which are crude, ineffectual and unadapted to outer reality.In addition to attitude types, we withal distinguish four mould types. The four basic psychological head for the hillss are thinking, emotional produce, sensation and intuition. Thinking is the rational capacity to structure and compound discrete data by means of conceptual generalizations. Feeling is the function which find oneselfs value. It is the function that values and promotes human relationships. Sensation is that function which perceives and adapts to external reality via the senses. Intuition is defined as perception via the unconscious, that is, the perception of delegations or conclusions whose telephone line is obscure.These four functions arrange themselves into two pairs of opposites thinking feeling and sensation intuition. Although any individual has all four functions potentially at their disposal, in actuality one function is usually more fully developed than the others. Thi s is called the superior function. The one least developed is the one that is most primitive and unconscious the middle-level function. Often a second function will have achieved colossal culture which approaches that of the superior function. This is an addendum function.Since any one of the four functions may be superior, we have the possibility of four function types the thinking type, feeling type, sensation type, and transcendental type. The thinking type is bring more practically in men than in women. The thinking types genial life is concerned largely with the creation of intellectual formulae and the fitting of all life image into these forms. To the degree that the individual is identified with the thinking function and unconscious of the other functions, the thinking will tend to be despotical and limit the full experience of life.Since feeling will be the inferior function, its values will suffer the most neglect. Human relationships will be quickly sacrificed if they interfere with the judgment formula. The feeling type is found more more than in women than in men. The development and sustenance of personal relationships is the major(ip) aim. A sensitivity to human needs and a willingness to meet them is its smashing peculiar(prenominal). It finds its greatest satisfaction in rapport with others. In its extreme, this function type toilette be objectionable in its excessive emphasis on personal social occasions.Since thinking is the inferior function, its capacity for abstract, impersonal judgments will be neglected or denied. Thinking will be accepted only so coarse as it plays a subservient role to the interests of feeling values. The sensation type is characterized by the excellent adaptation to simple, matter-of-fact reality. He or she is sum to relate to life on its most chief(a) terms without subtlety, reflection or imagination. The sensation type appears stable and unadulterated but may lack creative spark. Vision and i magination, which could mitigate this matter-of-fact state, are products of intuition, which is the inferior function of this type.The sensation type, in fact, will often depreciate intuitive expressions as unrealistic fantasies and thus be disadvantaged of badly needed leaven at ms of mental heaviness. The intuitive type is motivated in the main be a steady be adrift of new visions and possibilities, derived from active intuition. The new, the strange and the different are a constant quantity lure. He or she often perceives obscure connections between things which underwritem start out and unrelated. The intuitive mind works in quick jumps, which is sometimes catchy for others to follow.When asked to proceed more slowly, he or she is apt to become impatient, mayhap considering listeners slow in making connections. This types weakness lies in its inferior sensation function. The relationship to reality may be poor. The secure work required to bring a possibility into actual ity or to agnize an intuitive flash generally accepted seems too onerous. He or she may remain misunderstood with insights, which if they are to bear fruit, essential be patiently developed by others. The function types are seldom as definite as would appear by these descriptions.Usually the development of an auxiliary function will soften and modify the sharp characteristics here described. In addition, we have a further complication. According to the attitude type, each of the function types may have either an introverted or an extraverted orientation. Ideally, all four functions should be available to the individual in order to have a complete response to life experience. It is one of the goals of Jungian psychotherapy to bring in to mind and to aid the development of the inferior undeveloped functions in order to approach psychic wholeness.Many conflicts in human relationships and disputes terminate be understood through the theory of psychological types. For instance, Jung has explained the difference between the psychological theories of Freud and Adler on this basis. Freuds theory is concerned chiefly with the individuals need for and love of the object. Thus it is an extraverted theory. Adlers theory is based on the individuals need to concord his own self-esteem, prestige and power. Adler emphasizes the inner, subjective need hence his is an introverted theory. Differences in type provide underlie difficulties in interpersonal relationships.Marital conflicts are often related to differences in psychological type. Knowledge of ones own type and of the fact that other equally valid types live on can often help to relativize ones own personal reactions and can lead to more conscious and fruitful human relationships. (2) Structure of the Psyche The psyche can be divided into conscious and unconscious aspects. The swelled head is the center of conscious and the starting point for all empirical psychology. It is the seat of individual individuation, and all confine which are conscious, must be connected with it.The unconscious includes all psychic elements which are away conscious awareness and therefore are not connected with the ego. limit of the unconscious are first encountered as complexes. A complex is an emotionally charged unconscious psychic entity made up of a calculate of associated ideas and images clustered around a central core. On investigation, this core is found to be an first image (see below). One recognizes that a complex has been in love by the emergence of an affect which upsets psychic balance and disturbs the customary function of the ego.The ego stands between the inner world and the outer world, and its task is to adapt to both. By its extraverted orientation, it relates itself to external reality. By introversion, it perceives and adapts to inner, subjective reality. The requirement for external adaptation leads to the construction of a psychic structure which mediates between the ego and the external world of society. This mediating structure is called the persona, the Latin word for the ancient actors mask. It is the carve upially calculated public face an individual assumes towards others.The persona is composed of various elements, some based on the individuals personal propensities and others derived from the societys expectations and the early training of parents and teachers. The persona is a mediating compromise between individuality and the expectations of others. It is the role one plays in society. It is likewise a protective covering that shields from public view what is personal, intimate and vulnerable. The characteristic symbol for the persona is the habiliments we wear. Dreams involving missing or inappropriate clothes refer to a persona problem.Ideally a persona should be appropriate, well fitting and flexible. It is especially important that the individual realize that he is not identical with his persona. The persona sometimes lends one a prestige a nd authority belonging to the collective group which is not powerful employ for personal ends. To identify with the persona can cause inflation and lunacy from reality. other(a) persona disorders include a lack of persona which leaves the individual sensitive and exposed to every social touch, and a too rigid, justificative persona which is a barrier to realistic adaptation.For further password of the persona, see (3). Just as the persona stands between the ego and the outer world, so another psychic entity stands between the ego and the inner world of unconscious. This entity is called the over vestige. The dwarf is a composite of personal characteristics and potentialities of which the individual is unaware. Usually the quarter, as indicated by the word, contains inferior characteristics and weaknesses which the egos self-esteem will not bear it to recognize. The shadow may be personified in dreams by such(prenominal) figures as criminals, drunkards and derelicts.Technic ally it must be of the like sex as the dreamer. As with all unconscious contents, the shadow is first go through in projection. This means that an unconscious quality of ones own is first recognized and reacted to when it is discovered in an outer object. So long as the shadow is projected, the individual can hate and condemn freely the weakness and iniquity seen in others while maintaining a sense of righteousness. Discovery of the shadow as a personal content may, if it is sudden, cause temporary confusion and depression. This will be most likely if the egos previous attitude has bee especially inflated.The shadow is the first layer of the unconscious to be encountered in psychological analysis. It is not always a negative content. In some(prenominal) cases unconscious positive potentialities of the personality reside in the shadow. In such cases we speak of a positive shadow. Furthermore, the evil and dangerous aspect of the shadow is often due more to its circumstances than to its essence. Just as animals which have become vicious by starvation and brutal treatment can be changed into loyal companions by loving care, so the shadow loses much of its negative aspect when given conscious acceptance and attention.The problem of the shadow and its projection applies to collective psychology as well. The persecution of the Jews by the Nazis is a terrorize example of the extent to which a collective shadow projection can go. The same psychological mechanism operates in discrimination against other nonage groups. For more on the shadow, see (4). The first layer of the unconscious, the shadow, is also called by Jung the personal unconscious, as distinguished from the collective unconscious.The personal unconscious or shadow contains personal contents belonging to the individual himself which can and properly should be made conscious and integrated into the conscious personality and ego. The collective unconscious, on the other hand, is composed of transpersona l, universal contents which cannot be assimilated by the ego. Between these two layers of the unconscious, the personal and the collective, is another entity with, so to speak, one metrical foot on each side. This is the anima in a man and the animosity in a muliebrity.The anima is an autonomous psychic content in the male personality which can be described as an inner woman. She is the psychic representation of the contrasexual elements in man and is depict in symbolic imagery by figures of women ranging from harlot and seductress to divine wisdom and spiritual guide. She is the personification of the powder-puff formula in man, the rule of Eros, furbish uping to love and relatedness. The projection of the anima is responsible for the phenomenon of a mans fall in love. Too much credit of the ego with the anima causes the man to outwardly manifest feminine qualities.Anima moods or states of anima possession can be recognized by their characteristic features of resentment a nd emotional withdrawal. such a condition renders a man psychically paralyzed and impotent. It is most likely to occur in relation to a woman with whom he is emotionally and sexually involved. With full psychological development, the anima leads the man to the full meat of human relationship and provides him an entrance to the deeper layers of the psyche, the collective unconscious. The animus is the corresponding illustration of the masculine contrasexual elements in the psychology of women.It can be show in symbolic imagery by a multitude of male figures from frightening, rough men threatening rape to divining bringers of prosperous. It is the personification of the masculine principle in women, the principle of Logos, which is the capacity for rationality and consciousness. A womans falling in love is as well as due to the projection of the animus. Subjective identification of the ego with the animus causes the woman to lose contact with her feminine genius and to take on more masculine qualities. The animus-possessed woman is more leaven in power than in relatedness.As with the mans anima, the animus is most often activated in relation to an emotionally portentous man, especially a man with whom she is sexually involved. Indeed, the anima and animus have a marked affinity for each other. The slightest evidence of one is likely to evoke the other in the partner. With maturity and maximum development, the animus can become a of import psychic entity enabling the woman to function with impersonal rationality and, similarly to the anima in a man, opens to her the collective unconscious. Further discussion of anima and animus is in (5) and (6).The collective unconscious, more recently termed objective psyche, is the deepest layer of the unconscious which is ordinarily inaccessible to conscious awareness. Its nature is universal, suprapersonal and non-individual. Its manifestations are experience as something alien to the ego, sacred or divine. Th e contents of the collective unconscious are called pilot programs and their particular symbolic manifestations, archetypal images. The concept of the archetype has a close relation to the concept of instinct. An instinct is a pattern of look which is inborn and characteristic for a certain species.Instincts are discovered by observing the behavior patterns of individual organisms. The instincts are the strange motivating dynamisms that determine an animals behavior on the biological level. An archetype is to the psyche what an instinct is to the body. The existence of archetypes is inferred by the same service as that by which we infer the existence of instincts. Just as instincts common to a species are postulated by observing the uniformities in biological behavior, so archetypes are inferred by observing the uniformities in psychic phenomena.Just as instincts are unknown motivating dynamisms of biological behavior, archetypes are unknown motivating dynamisms of the psyche. pilot programs are the psychic instincts of the human species. Although biological instincts and psychic archetypes have a very close connection, exactly what this connection is we do not know any more than we understand just how the mind and body are connected. Archetypes are perceive and experienced subjectively through certain universal, typical, recurring mythological motifs and images.These archetypal images, symbolically elaborated in various ways, are the basic contents of religions, mythologies, legends and fairy tales of all ages. Such images also emerge from the collective unconscious of individuals through dreams and visions in cases of deep psychological analysis, profound subjective experience or major mental disorder. The experience of encountering an archetypal image has a strong emotional impact which conveys a sense of divine or suprapersonal power transcending the individual ego. Such an experience often transforms the individual and radically alters their outlook on life.Archetypal images are so various and legion(predicate) that they defy comprehensive listing. For our purposes, we shall describe four broad categories of archetypal imagery. I. The Archetype of the Great Mother, the personification of the feminine principle, represents the fertile womb out of which all life comes and the patricianness of the grave to which it returns. Its fundamental attributes are the capacity to cling to and to devour. It corresponds to mother nature in the primordial swamp life macrocosm constantly spawned and constantly devoured. If the great mother nourishes us, she is good if she threatens to devour us, she is bad.In psychological terms, the great mother corresponds to the unconscious which can nourish and instigate the ego or can swallow it up in psychosis or suicide. The positive, creative aspects of the great mother are represented by pap and womb. The negative, destructive aspects appear as the devouring mouth or the vagina dentata. In mor e abstract symbolism, anything hollow, concave or containing pertains to the great mother. Thus, bodies of water, the earth itself, caves, dwellings, vessels of all kinds are feminine. So also is the box, the coffin and the belly of the monster which swallows up its victims. See Neumann(7). II.The Archetype of the Spiritual Father. As the great mother pertains to nature, matter and earth, the great father archetype pertains to the ream of light and spirit. It is the personification of the masculine principle of consciousness symbolized by the upper solar region of heaven. From this region comes the wind, pneuma, nous, ruach, which has always been the symbol of spirit as impertinent to matter. Sun and rain likewise represent the masculine principle as fertilizing forces which impregnate the receptive earth. Images of not bad(p) and penetration such as phallus, knife, spear, arrow and ray all pertain to the spiritual father.Feathers, birds, airplanes and all that refers to flying or height are part of this complex of symbols which emphasizes the upper heavenly realms. In addition, all imagery involving light or illumination pertain to the masculine principle as opposed to the dark earthiness of the great mother. Illumination of the countenance, crowns, halos and dazzling brilliance of all kinds are aspects of masculine solar symbolism. The image of the wise old man as judge, priest, doctor or elder is a human personification of this same archetype.The positive aspect of the spiritual father principle conveys law, order, discipline, rationality, understanding and inspiration. Its negative aspect is that it may lead to alienation from concrete reality make inflation, a state of spiritual hubris or presumption that generates grandiose thoughts of favorable position and results in the fate of Icarus or Phaeton. III. The Archetype of Transformation pertains to a psychic process of growth, change and transition. It can express itself in many different images with the same underlying core of meaning.Perilous journeys to unknown destinations, exploration of dark places, purposeful descent to the underworld or under the sea or into the belly of a monster to find a hidden treasure are expressions of this archetype. The theme of death and re acquit as well as the symbolism of initiation rites in all of their various forms the crossing of rivers or waters or chasms and the climbing of mountains the theme of redemption, salvation or recovery of what has been lost or degraded, wherever it appears in mythological or unconscious symbolism all of these are expressions of the archetype of transformation.The theme of the nativity of the chock or wonder-child also belongs to this archetype. This image expresses the emergence of a new, dynamic content in the personality presaging decisive change and enlargement of consciousness. (8) A plentiful and complex example of this archetype is provided by the symbolism of medieval alchemy. In alchemy, the psyc hic transformation process was projected into matter. The goal of the alchemists was to transmute base matter into gold or some other supremely valuable object. The imagery of alchemy derives from the collective unconscious and belongs properly to the psychological process of transformation.(9) IV. The Central Archetype, The Self, expresses psychic wholeness or totality. The Self is defined by Jung as both the center and circumference of the psyche. It incorporates within its paradoxical unity all the opposites embodied in the masculine and feminine archetypes. Since it is a minimum concept referring to an entity which transcends and cut acrosses the individual ego, we can only allude to it and not encompass it by a definition. As the central archetype is emerging, it often appears as a process of centering or as a process involving the pith of opposites.Alchemical symbolism gives us numerous examples of the central archetype as a substance of opposites. For example, the philos ophers stone, one of the goals of the alchemical process, was depicted as resulting from the marriage of the red king and the white queen, or from the union of the sun and moon, or fire and water. The product of such a union is a paradoxical image often described as hermaphroditic. Other images which are used to express the union of opposites are the reconciliation of debate partisan factions andthe reconciliation of good and evil, God and Satan.The emerging central archetype gives rise to images of the mandala. The term mandala is used to describe the representations of the Self, the archetype of totality. The typical mandala in its simplest form is a quadrated circle combining the elements of a circle with a center plus a square, a cross or some other expression of fourfoldness. Mandalas are found everywhere in all times and places. They seem to represent a basic unifying and integrating principle which lies at the very root of the psyche.Mandalas can be found in the cultural pr oducts of all races. A fully developed mandala usually emerges in an individuals dreams only after a long process of psychological development. It is then experienced as a kindling from an otherwise irreconcilable conflict and may convey a numinous awareness of life as something ultimately harmonious and meaningful in spite of its apparent contradictions. (10,11) Psychological Development is the progressive emergence and specialty of the ego or consciousness from the pilot burner state of unconsciousness.It is a process which, ideally, continues throughout the lifetime of the individual. In contradistinction to physical development, there is no time at which one can say that full psychic development has been achieved. Although we may distinguish various symbolises of development for descriptive purposes, actually one stage merges into another in a single fluid continuum. In the early grade, the ego has very little autonomy. It is largely in a state of identification with the ob jective psyche within and the external world without.It lives in the world of archetypes and makes no clear distinction between inner and outer objects. This primitive state of ego development is called, after L? vy-Bruhl, participation mystique, and is shared by both the primitive and the child. It is a state of magical participation and interpretation between the ego and its surroundings. What is ego and what is non-ego are not distinguished. Inner world and outer world are experienced as a single totality.This primitive state of participation mystique is also unembellished in the phenomena of mob psychology inwhich individual consciousness and responsibility are temporarily eclipsed by identification with a collective dynamism. Jung made no effort to present a systematic theory of psychological development. However, some of his followers, especially Neumann(12), have attempted to fill in this gap.Following Neumann, the stages of psychological development can be described as follo ws. The first or original state is called the uroboric stage, derived from uroborus, the circular image of the tail-eating serpent. It refers to the original totality and self-containment which is prior to the birth of consciousness.The ego exists only as a latent potentiality in a state of primary identity with the Self or objective psyche. This state is presumed to pertain during the prenatal power point and early infancy. The transition between this state and the second stage of development corresponds to the creation of the world for the individual psyche. Thus world creation myths refer to this first decisive event in psychic development the birth of the ego out of the unconscious. The basic theme of all creation myths is separation. place of undifferentiated wholeness one element is discriminated from another.It may be expressed as the creation of light the separation of light from darkness, or as the separation of the world parents the distinction between masculine and f eminine, or the emergence of order out of chaos. In each case the meaning is the same, namely, the birth of consciousness, the capacity to discriminate between opposites. The second stage of psychological development is called the matriarchal word form. Although beginning consciousness has appeared, it is as yet only dim and fitful. The nascent ego is gloss over largely passive and leechlike on its uroboric matrix which now takes on the aspect of the great mother.Masculine and feminine elements are not yet clearly differentiated so that the great mother will still be undifferentiated as to sex. To this stage belongs the image of the phallic mother incorporating both masculine and feminine components. Here, the ruling psychic entity is the great mother. The predominant concern will be to desire her nourishment and support and to avoid her destructive, devouring aspect. The father archetype or masculine principle has not yet emerged into separate existence. Mother is still all.The ego has achieved only a precarious separation and is still dependent on the unconscious, which is personified as the great mother. The matriarchal phase is represented mythologically by the imagery of the ancient Near Eastern mother religions, for example, the Cybele-Attis myth. Attis, the son-lover of Cybele, was unfaithful to her. In a frenzy of regret, reflecting his dependent bondage, he was castrated and killed. The matriarchal phase corresponds to the Oedipal phase as described by Freud. However, analytical psychologists interpret incest symbolically rather than literally as was done by Freud.The matriarchal phase is the phase of original incest, symbolically speaking, prior to the emergence of the incest taboo. In the life of the individual, this phase corresponds roughly with the early years of childhood. The third stage is called the decrepit phase. The transition is characterized by particular themes, images and actions. In an attempt to break free from the matriarchal p hase, the feminine with all its attributes is rejected and depreciated. The theme of initiation rituals pertains to this rate of flow of transition.The father archetype or masculine principle emerges in full force and claims the allegiance of the individual. Tests, challenges, rules and discipline are set up in opposition to the sympathy and comfortable containment of the great mother. The incest taboo is erected prohibiting regression to the mother-bound state. once the transition to the patriarchal stage has been accomplished, the archetype of the great father, the masculine spirit principle, determines the values and goals of life. Consciousness, individual responsibility, self-discipline and rationality will be the normal values.Everything pertaining to the feminine principle will be repressed, depreciated or subordinated to masculine ends. In childhood development, the patriarchal phase will be particularly evident in the years front puberty. The fourth phase is designated the integrative phase. The preceding patriarchal stage has left the individual one-sided and incomplete. The feminine principle, woman and therefore the anima and the unconscious have been repressed and neglected. Another change or transition is thus needed to redeem these neglected psychic eleme.