Analytical Psychology of Carl Jung Essay

Psychological Therapeutic System, more commonly known as, Analytical Psychology, was developed and founded by a Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung. Carl’s family was very involved with the Christian faith, when Carl had his â€Å"initiation† he didn’t have any moving feelings and that was said to be a main reason to why he chose to go on with his later work, he was trying to replace the faith that was missing from his life (Mitchell). Jung and Freud met up and began a six year long journey of research and work together until they split right before World War I in May 1914. Jung soon started his own research which became Analytical Psychology in response to Freud’s psychoanalysis. (Mitchell). â€Å"Jung taught that the psyche consists of various systems including the personal unconscious with its complexes and a collective unconscious with its archetypes,† (PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries). Analytic psychology is the analysis of the human mind, psyche and the unconscious, as well as the conscious components of the mind. It is thought that man’s behavior and his conscious states can be explained only by unconscious sources of what motivates him. Jung believed that the mind could be divided into unconscious and conscious parts. The unconscious mind was made up of layers; the personal unconscious is the part of the unconscious mind where each person’s unique own experiences and that may not be consciously remembered are stored. Jung believed that the contents of each person’s personal unconscious are organized in terms of complexes, clusters of emotional unconscious thoughts. One may have a complex towards their mother or towards their partner. Jung referred to the second layer of unconsciousness as the collective unconscious. This level contains memories and behavioral predisposition’s that all people have inherited from common ancestors in the distant human past, providing us with essentially shared memories and tendencies. People across space and time tend to interpret and use experience in similar ways because of â€Å"archetypes†, inherited human tendencies to perceive and act in certain ways. During Analytic Therapy, Jung may use certain archetypes to explain a person’s unconscious thought that even affect their behavior. Jung believed that there are certain archetypes that are important in people’s lives. These archetypes are as follows. The persona archetype is the part of our personality that we show the world, the part that we are willing to share with others. The shadow archetype is the darker part of a person, the part that embraces what we view as frightening, hateful and even evil about ourselves – the part of us that we hide not only from others but also from ourselves. The anima is the feminine side of a males personality, which shows tenderness, caring, compassion and warmth to others, yet which is more irrational and based on emotions. The animus is the masculine side of a woman’s personality, the more rational and logical side of the woman. Jung posited that men often try to hide their anima both from others and from themselves because it goes against their idealized image of what men should be. According to Jung, these archetypes play a role in our interpersonal relationships. For example, the relationship between a man and a woman calls into play the archetypes in each individual’s collective unconscious. The anima helps the man to understand his female companion, just as the animus helps the woman to understand her male partners (PsychologyCampus. com, 2004). Jung distinguishes two differing attitudes to life, two ways of reacting to circumstances, which he finds so widespread that he could describe them as typical. The extraverted attitude, characterized by an outward personality, an interest in events, in people and things, a relationship with them, and a dependence on them. This type is motivated by outside factors and greatly influenced by the environment. The extraverted type is sociable and confident in unfamiliar surroundings. The introverted attitude, in contrast, is one of withdrawal of the personality and is concentrated upon personal factors, and their main influence is ‘inner needs’. When this attitude is habitual Jung speaks of an ‘introverted type’. This type lacks confidence in relation to people and things, tends to be unsociable, and prefers reflection to activity. This approach is especially helpful to clients that can remember their dreams and are either interested or troubled in them. They are often asked to keep a journal of their dreams and other impressions that they feel. When working with analytical psychology clients are expected to be as open, spontaneous, and self-observant as they can. Jungians will generally not use any formal assessment procedures while in therapy, and are not likely to diagnose problems. They take dreams very seriously and consider them central to establishing dialect between consciousness and unconsciousness. In a clinical setting, the helper will listen carefully to the client’s dreams and thoughts and intervene and identify important aspects that are noticed (Sommers-Flanagan, 2004). References Mitchell, G. (n. d. ). Carl jung & jungian analytical psychology. Retrieved from http://www. trans4mind. com/mind-development/jung. html PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries, Initials. (n. d. ). Psychoheresy: c. g. jung’s legacy to the church. Retrieved from http://www. psychoheresy-aware. org/jungleg. html PsychologyCampus. com, Initials. (2004). Analytical psychology. Retrieved from http://www. psychologycampus. com/analytical-psychology. html Sommers-Flanagan, J & R. (2004). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and practice. Retrieved from http://books. google. ca/books? id=BpzrBuSe0ikC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=case+example+analytical+psychology&source=bl&ots=ANhhYx5RIS&sig=NdjE_dCewzWNnrxc3dL0sB28ZUo&hl=en&ei=VNG0TITqJYGCsQPzkKjsCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=falseÃ'Ž