Who is Carl Jung and what is Jungian psychotherapy?
Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who developed a comprehensive psychology of the unconscious. James Hollis gives an excellent summary of Jung’s contribution to psychology here.
Jung felt that a primary goal in life is to become whole through making conscious one’s unconscious contents. Working towards wholeness, the integration of different aspects of oneself (one’s creative side, one’s inner rebel, one’s inner leader, etc.), brings a sense of meaning to life.
Jung worked with dreams because they provide an unbiased view of our life and its challenges from the point of view of the unconscious. Psychotherapy with a Jungian analyst tends to involve discussion of the client’s dreams. If there are no dreams in the beginning, they very often surface once the therapy begins.
Why Jungian psychotherapy?
Jung wrote: “the dream is a spontaneous self-portrayal, in symbolic form, of the actual situation in the unconscious.”
Psychotherapy with a Jungian Analyst offers the opportunity to explore and understand your dreams, connect with your inner guidance, and develop a greater sense of wholeness.
It can illuminate a path forward when life veers into the ditch.
And it tends to answer questions when the conscious mind encounters an impasse.
What is your authentic path?
How do you work through relationship challenges?
What aspects of you yearn to be expressed more?
What are you meant to do?
How do you express your authentic self more fully, moving from performing at life to being?
Jungian-oriented psychotherapy can align you with the whole you, even if you don’t know who that is right now.
When you have run out of answers in your waking life, your unconscious can lead the way forward.
What to expect in therapy with a Jungian therapist
Jungian therapy is a form of psychodynamic talk therapy, often incorporating work with dreams if clients bring them to their sessions. Therapy sessions with a Jungian therapist, also called a Jungian analyst, are 1 hr, 1.5 hrs. or 2 hrs. long and clients generally choose to see their therapist once per week, twice per week or once every two weeks.