Jungian psychotherapy
Jungian Psychotherapy
The supreme purpose of Jungian therapy is to help neurotic patients become healthy and to encourage healthy people to pursue work independently toward self realization. Jung was quite eclectic in formulating his theory and practice of psychotherapy. There was variation in his treatment according to the age, stage of development, and particular problem of the patient.
What to look for?
Since Jungian psychotherapy has minor goals and a varied techniques, no universal description of what it actually offers is possible. For the mature person, the goal may be to find meaning in life and strive toward achieving balance an self actualization. The self-realized person is able to comprehend much of the unconscious self into consciousness and, at the same time, remains fully aware of the potential dangers hidden in the far recess of the unconscious psyche.
How it works?
Jung (1931/1954b) specified four basic approaches to therapy, representing four developmental stages in the history of psychotherapy.
The first includes confession of a pathogenic secret. This is the cathartic method which was practiced earlier and adopted by Jung. For patients who only have a need to share their secrets, catharsis is effective.
The second stage is interpretation, explanation, and elucidation. This approach earlier used by Freud, provides the patients insight into the causes of their neuroses, but may still leave them incompetent of solving social problems.
The third stage, thus, is the approach adopted from Adler and includes the education of patients as social beings. Unfortunately, says Jung, this approach frequently leaves patients merely socially well adjusted.
Jung suggested a fourth stage, transformation. By transformation, he indicated that the therapist must at the first place be transformed into a healthy human being, preferably through psychotherapy. Only after transformation and with an established philosophy of life is the therapist will be able to help patients move toward wholeness, individuation, or self-realization. This fourth stage is especially for patients who are in the second half of life and who are interested with realization of the inner self, with moral and religious problems, and with finding a unifying philosophy of life (Jung, 1931/1954b).
Although Jung encouraged patients to be independent, he accepted the importance of transference, especially during the first three stages of therapy. He regarded both the transference (positive and negative) as a natural concomitant to patients’ revelation of highly confidential and personal information. Jung also recognized the process of countertransference, a term used to delineate a therapist’s feelings toward the patient. Like transference, countertransference according to Jung was something important and necessary for successful psychotherapy.
Jung used techniques like dream analysis, word test and active imagination to assist patients in discovering their personal and collective unconscious material and to establish a balance between unconscious images with their conscious attitude (Jung, 1931/1954a).
When to use?
Jungian therapy is useful for people with most type of mental health issues, such as depression, phobia, anxiety, relationship issues, or any trauma. Here it is worth mentioning, the therapy is also employed to improve the well being of an individual to undergoes it even if they do not have any psychological issues.
Role of therapist:
The therapist’s works in Jungian Psychotherapy is to help the client to move his/her unconscious thoughts and feelings to the conscious and to help the client develop their personality. It is important for the therapist to accept the patient and his/her psychological state with positive regards.
REFERENCE
Atkinson, R. L., Atkinson, R. C., Smith, E. E., Bem, D. J., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1996). Hilgard's introduction to psychology (12th ed.). Harcourt Brace College Publishers