Term Paper on "Cg Jung"

Term Paper 6 pages (1834 words) Sources: 4 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

C.G. JUNG

Carl Gustav Jung was born July 26, 1875 in Switzerland, where he lived for the entirety of his life. A trained physician, Jung "came to see that the different forms of mental illness were not existence in themselves, with distinctive psychology, but disturbances of the normal working of the mind" (Bennet, 1966, 7). His "unhappy and unstable" mother, Emelie, may have motivated his curiosity within the subject of psychology (Bair, 2004, 7). Jung's unique approach to the field of psychology and psychiatry earned him world-wide recognition; he was considered one of the pioneers of his field. His interest lay mostly in learning all he could about how the conscious mind functions so as to infer knowledge of the unconscious mind. Contrasting to the work of Freud, Jung's methods of psychological analysis set him apart during the early twentieth century (Bennet, 1966, 7).

Among Jung's theories which shaped his approach to psychological analysis are concepts such as: archetypes, introvert vs. extrovert, dream, persona, animus and anima, the shadow, and conscious and unconscious. An understanding of the meaning of these terms and concepts is crucial to comprehending Jung's approach to psychology and psychiatry.

One of the terms most associated with Jungian psychology is the archetype. What is an archetype and how does it apply in Jung's theories? "The contents of the collective unconscious…are known as archetypes" (Jung, 1959, 4). Jung's text, the Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious continues to describe the history of archetypes, as a word applicable to mythology, fairy tales and philosophy. The four archetypes of Jungian psychology are as follows: The Shadow, the Anima, the Animus and the Self.

"Here the trickster is represented by counter-tendencies in the unconscious, and in certain cases by a sort of second personality, of a puerile and inferior character…I called it the shadow" (Jung, 1959, 262). Jung adds that while the collective shadow "breaks up under the impact of civilization…the main part of him gets personalized and is made an object of personal responsibility" (Jung, 1959, 262).

According to Jung, regarding the Anima archetype, one regards the realm "that metaphysics has reserved for itself" and that everything therein becomes unconditional, dangerous and taboo (Jung, 1959, 28). Both the Anima and Animus "live and function in the deeper layers of the unconscious, especially in that phylogenetic substratum which I have called the collective unconscious" (Jung, 1959, 286). How then, do the Animus and the Anima differ? According to Jung, the Animus is synonymous with "spirit" (Jung, 1959, 244). Throughout Jung's text, he suggests that the animus is the masculine component within a female's subconscious and that the anima is the female (and worldly) component in a male's subconscious (Jung, 1959, 284). Jung's discussions of each show how they are connected and the paths upon which they depart.

The fourth archetype, the Self, is described by Jung as "a psychic totality and at the same time a centre, neither of which coincides with the ego but includes it, just as a larger circle encloses a smaller one" (Jung, 1959, 142). The ego referred to here is that found in Freudian psychology (as in ego, superego and id discussed further in this text).

Murray Stein, author of Jung's Map of the Soul: An Introduction writes, "Jung makes a crucial distinction between conscious and unconscious features of the psyche: consciousness is what we know, and unconsciousness is what we do not know" (Stein, 1998, 16). The idea of conscious vs. unconscious is imperative to the study of archetypes, as well as other concepts of Jungian psychology, such as introverts and extroverts, dreams and the persona.

Robert H. Hopcke wrote in his book, a Guided Tour of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung, "Jung understood dreams…as natural and purposive, the spontaneous, undisguised expressions of unconscious processes" (Hopcke, 1989, 24). Because unconsciousness is what we do not know, dreams (and dream images) are therefore something akin to a method of translating the unknown. In contrast, the persona "is that part of the personality developed and used in our interactions, our conscious outer face, our social mask…" (Hopcke, 1989, 88).

While many concepts comprise Jungian psychological theory, there are two remaining which bear the necessity for explanation in this text. Introvert and extrovert describe a person's orientation for interest in his or her world. "Individuals who are naturally drawn to the inner world Jung called introverts" whereas "people to whom the outer world has more appeal he termed extroverts" (Pascal, 2009, 10).

At the heart of Jung's therapeutic process, goals, function and role is the notion that "Jung saw the patient not as an isolated individual but as an individual in the community" (Bennet, 1966, 8). This belief shaped his approach to psychological and psychiatric treatment by broadening his focus to include factors that may go unnoticed directly by the patient. In other words, by viewing a situation from a larger perspective, one may hope to see how elements and stimuli from multiple sources may combine to form said situation. Regarding his approach to therapeutic methodology, "Jung was convinced that the events of the current period in a patient's life and thoughts were significant in relation to his illness" (Bennet, 1966, 145). He focused on the unsolved problems in the present as opposed to the past or future. This set Jung apart from his colleagues and previous psychological treatment procedure.

"Dreams foreshadowed Jung's concept of the collective unconscious" (Bennet, 1966, 90). His interpretation of dreams and dream images helped shape his approach to psychological and psychiatric treatment. Because of this, "Jung's methods in treatment began to widen and he paid more and more attention to the dreams of the patient" (Bennet, 1966, 141). Another influence on Jung's view of treatment practices and procedures was transference:

I am not of the opinion that the transference to the doctor is a regular phenomenon indispensable to the success of treatment. Transference is projection, and projection is either there or not there…the absence of projections to the doctor may in fact considerably facilitate the treatment, because the real person values can then come more clearly to the forefront (Bennet, 1966, 149).

Jung wrote this opinion on transference in 1942. His statement demonstrates his preference that the issues under treatment remain within the focus of the patient.

From therapeutic process, goals, function and role, Jung developed a unique style of technique and procedures that are still practiced today in Jungian psychology. "Between patient and myself…lie the instinct, the archetypes, the unconscious. So I prefer to wait and let the patient make a start" (Bennet, 1966, 146). Jung never started an interview by asking a patient "How are you?" only to wait for the patient's response. He asked questions but did not dominate the interview. The important question Jung retained in his mind was, "how does this situation appear from the other side, from the unconscious?" (Bennet, 1966, 146) Bennet continued to comment on the same page that [Jung] did not guide the conversation. Instead, he allowed it to flow organically, having realized that importance rested in what the patient chose to say. He asked patients about their life, job, family, health and situation. Initially, Jung would interview a prospective patient for an hour or so to determine if further treatment was necessary (Bennet, 1966, 147).

"He was more likely to sit facing his patient; his participation was obvious to the patient as well" (Bennet, 1966, 142). Bennet goes on to say, on page 151, that Jung took on the duty to accept the emotions of his patient. He was a proponent of natural conversation and believed the stereotypical couch to be a barrier to achieving such a result.

Jung observed movements of the hands and feet, coughing, laughing, etc., as well as the reaction time. When patients replied with the same word again and again to a number of stimulus words, he looked into this carefully. That those actions can go beyond the control of the will was a most impressive discovery (Bennet, 1966, 141).

By observing his patients in these ways, Jung was able to collect information about the patient's unconscious, and, combining that with what he knew of the patient's conscious (in other words, what the patient chose to reveal), he was able to provide psychiatric and/or psychological therapy.

While there are numerous psychologists considered to be "great minds," the scientist whose work is most often compared and contrasted with that of Carl Jung is Sigmund Freud. Both working in the field of psychology in the early twentieth century, the work of both scientists largely impacted the progression of psychological and psychiatric theory and practice. From decades of comparison, there are equal opportunities to defend one theory over another. For example, Edward Glover (a prominent psychoanalyst) is said to have been an advocate of Freud's approaches to the field (in the introduction to his book, Freud or Jung, which was written by James William Anderson) (Glover, 1991, 2).

Some criticism of Jung's work can be found in From Freud to Jung:… READ MORE

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