Introduction
Analytical psychotherapy is an approach to psychological treatment pioneered by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst. A follower of Sigmund Freud, Jung was trained in the psychoanalytic approach, with its emphasis on the dark, inaccessible material contained in the unconscious mind. Freud was fond of Jung and believed that he was to be the heir to the legacy he had begun. Jung began to disagree with certain aspects of Freud’s theory, however, and he and Freud bitterly parted ways in 1914.
Jung’s concept of the structure of personality, on which he based his ideas of psychotherapy, was influenced by Freud and the psychoanalytic tradition, but he added his own personal and mystical interpretations to its concepts. Jung believed that the personality consists of the ego, which is one’s conscious mind. It contains the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of which one is normally aware. Jung also proposed a personal unconscious that contains events and emotions of which people remain unaware because of their anxiety-provoking nature. Memories of traumatic childhood events and conflicts may reside in the personal unconscious.
Jung’s unique contribution to personality theory is the idea of a collective unconscious.
This consists of memories and emotions that are shared by all humanity. Jung believed that certain events and feelings are universal and exert a similar effect on all individuals. An example would be his universal symbol of a shadow, or the evil, primitive nature that resides within everyone. Jung believed that although people are aware of the workings of the conscious ego, it is the unavailable material contained in the personal unconscious and collective unconscious that has the greatest influence on people’s behavior.
Jung’s analytical psychotherapy was a pioneering approach during the very early era of psychological treatment. He conformed to the beliefs of other psychodynamic therapists, such as Freud and Alfred Adler, in the importance of discovering unconscious material. The psychoanalysts would be followed by the behavioral school’s emphasis on environmental events and the cognitive school’s focus on thoughts and perceptions. Psychoanalysis brought a prominence to psychology it had not known previously.
Personality and the Unconscious Mind
Jung believed that emotional problems originate from a one-sided development of personality. He believed that this is a natural process and that people must constantly seek a balance of their traits. An example might be a person who becomes overly logical and rational in her behavior and decision making while ignoring her emotional and spontaneous side. Jung believed this one-sided development eventually would lead to emotional difficulty and that one must access the complementary personality forces that reside in the unconscious. Even psychotherapists must be aware that along with their desire to help others, they have complementary darker desires that are destructive to others. Jung believed that emotional problems are a signal that people are becoming unbalanced in their personality and that this should motivate them to develop more neutral traits.
The process of analytical psychotherapy, as in most psychodynamic approaches, is to make patients conscious or aware of the material in their unconscious mind. Jung believed that if the conscious mind were overly logical and rational, the unconscious mind, to balance it, would be filled with equally illogical and emotional material. To access this material, Jung advocated a free and equal exchange of ideas and information between the analyst and the patient. Jung did not focus on specific techniques as did Freud, but he did believe that the unconscious material would become evident in the context of a strong, trusting therapeutic relationship. Although the patient and analyst have equal status, the analyst serves as a model of an individual who has faced her or his unconscious demons.
Stages of Analytic Psychotherapy
Analytic psychotherapy proceeds in four stages. The first stage is that of confession. Jung believed that it is necessary for patients to tell of their conflicts and that this is usually accompanied by an emotional release. Jung did not believe that confession is sufficient to provide a cure for one’s ills, however, nor did he believe (unlike Freud) that an intellectual understanding of one’s difficulties is adequate. Patients must find a more neutral ground in terms of personality functioning, and this can be accomplished only by facing their unconscious material.
The second stage of psychotherapy is called elucidation, and it involves becoming aware of one’s unconscious transferences. Transference is a process in which patients transfer emotions about someone else in their lives onto the therapist; patients will behave toward the therapist as they would toward that other person. It is similar to meeting someone who reminds one of a past relationship; for no apparent reason, one might begin to act toward the new person the same way one did to the previous person. Jung believed that these transferences to the analyst give a clue about unconscious material. A gentle, passive patient might evidence hostile transferences to the therapist, thus giving evidence of considerable rage that is being contained in the unconscious.
The third stage of analytic psychotherapy consists of education. Patients are instructed about the dangers of unequal personality development and are supported in their attempts to change. The overly logical business executive may be encouraged to go on a spontaneous vacation with his family with few plans and no fixed destinations. The shy student may be cajoled into joining a debate on emotional campus issues. Jung believed in the value of experiencing the messages of one’s unconscious.
The final stage of psychotherapy, and one that is not always necessary, is that of transformation. This goes beyond the superficial encouragements of the previous stages and attempts to get patients to delve deeply into the unconscious and thereby understand who they are. This process of understanding and reconciling one’s opposites takes considerable courage and exploration into one’s personal and cultural past. It is a quest for identity and purpose in life that requires diligent work between the analyst and patient; the result is superior wisdom and a transcendent calm when coping with life’s struggles.
Analytic Techniques
Jung developed several techniques aimed at uncovering material hidden in the unconscious. Like Freud, Jung believed that the content of dreams is indicative of unconscious attitudes. He believed that dreams have a compensatory function; that is, they are reflections of the side of personality that is not displayed during one’s conscious, everyday state. The sophisticated librarian may have dreams of being an exotic dancer, according to Jung, as a way of expressing the ignored aspects of personality.
Jung gives an example of the compensatory aspects of dreams when describing the recollections of a dutiful son. The son dreamed that he and his father were leaving home and his father was driving a new automobile. The father began to drive in an erratic fashion. He swerved the car all over the road until he finally succeeded in crashing the car and damaging it very badly. The son was frightened, then became angry and chastised his father for his behavior. Rather than respond, however, his father began to laugh until it became apparent that he was very intoxicated, a condition the son had not previously noticed. Jung interpreted the dream in the context of the son’s relationship with his father. The son overly idealized the father while refusing to recognize apparent faults. The dream represented the son’s latent anger at his father and his attempt to reduce him in status. Jung indicated to the young man that the dream was a cue from his unconscious that he should evaluate his relationship with his father with a more balanced outlook.
Amplification Method
Jung employed the method of amplification for interpreting dreams. This technique involved focusing repeatedly on the contents of the dream and giving multiple associations to them. Jung believed that the dream often is basically what it appears to be. This differs dramatically from Freudian interpretation, which requires the patient to associate dream elements with childhood conflicts.
The amplification method can be applied to a dream reported by a graduate student in clinical psychology. While preparing to defend his dissertation, the final and most anxiety-provoking aspect of receiving the doctorate, the student had a dream about his oral defense. Before presenting the project to his dissertation committee that was to evaluate its worth (and seemingly his own), the student dreamed that he was in the bathroom gathering his resources. He noticed he was wearing a three-piece brown suit; however, none of the pieces matched. They were different shades of brown. Fortunately, the pieces were reversible, so the student attempted to change them so they would all be the same shade. After repeated attempts, he was unable to get all three pieces of the suit to be the same shade of brown. He finally gave up in despair and did not appear for his defense. With a little knowledge about the student, an analytical therapist would have an easy time with the meaning of this dream. This was obviously a stressful time in the young man’s life, and the dream reflected his denied anxiety. In addition, the student did not like brown suits; one that does not match is even more hideous. It is apparent that he was unhappy and, despite his best attempts to portray confidence, the budding clinician was afraid that he was going to “look stupid.” Jung would have encouraged him to face these fears of failure that were hidden in his unconscious.
Active Imagination
A final application of analytical psychotherapy stems from Jung’s method of active imagination. Jung believed that unconscious messages could come not only from dreams but also from one’s artistic productions. He encouraged his patients to produce spontaneous, artistic material. Some patients sketched, while others painted, wrote poetry, or sang songs. He was interested in the symbols that were given during these periods, and he asked his clients to comment on them. Jung believed that considerable material in the unconscious could be discovered during these encounters. He also talked with his patients about the universal meanings of these symbols (as in his idea of the collective unconscious), and they would attempt to relate this material to their own cultural pasts.
Many modern therapies, such as art, music, and dance therapy, draw heavily from this idea that one can become aware of unconscious and emotional material through association involving one’s artistic productions. These therapists believe, as did Jung, that patients are less defensive during these times of spontaneous work and, therefore, are more likely to discover unconscious material.
Contributions to Psychology
Analytical psychotherapy is not considered a mainstream approach to psychotherapy, but it does have a small group of devoted followers. Some of Jung’s techniques have been adapted into other, more common approaches. Many therapists agree with Jung’s de-emphasis on specific techniques in favor of a focus on the establishment of a supportive therapy relationship. Jung moved away from the stereotypical analyst’s couch in favor of face-to-face communication between doctor and patient. Many psychotherapists endorse Jung’s belief that the analyst and patient should have relatively equal status and input. Jung also reduced the frequency of meeting with his patients from daily (as Freud recommended) to weekly, which is the norm today.
Jung’s analytical approach changed the focus of psychotherapy from symptom relief to self-discovery. He was interested not only in patients with major problems but also in those who were dissatisfied with their mundane existence. These people were usually bright, articulate, and occupationally successful.
Jung’s most lasting contributions probably have been his insights into the polarity of personality traits. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based on Jungian personality descriptions, is one of the most widely used personality tests in business and industry. Jung also believed that personality changes throughout one’s life, and he encouraged a continual evaluation of oneself. The idea of a midlife crisis, a period when people reevaluate their personal and occupational goals, is a product of Jung’s theory. He believed that individuals should continually strive to achieve a balance in their personality and behavior.
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