Jung in education: a review of historical and contemporary contributions from analytical psychology to the field of education

The available literature on the influence of Jungian thought on the theory and practice of education leaves the impression that although the work of Carl Jung and analytical psychology have much to offer the field of education, the Jungian influence has so far been slight. While this has certainly been true, the last decade or so has nevertheless witnessed an increased scholarly interest in exploring how analytical psychology may inform and inspire the field of education. As an explanation for this burgeoning interest in Jung, several of the contemporary contributors mention that analytical psychology has the potential of functioning as a counterbalance to the tendencies in Western societies to focus on measurable learning targets and increasingly standardized measures of teaching and assessment. It seems pertinent then to gain an overview of how analytical psychology has so far inspired the field of education and how it may fruitfully continue do so in the future. To this end this paper is structured chronologically, starting with the different phases of Jung's own engagement with the field of education and ending with later post‐Jungian applications of his concepts and ideas to education.     

And the dish ran away with the spoon: a hodgepodge of reflections,as rigorous as they are rambling,on the true subject

In this article, the topic of ‘the true subject’ is explored in terms of a dialectical mode thinking which is in keeping with Jung's great insight concerning psychology's lack of an Archimedean vantage‐point distinct from its topics and subject matters. Evocative and expository, the emphasis is upon the performative poetics of such thinking within the sphere of our soul‐making. The interpretative mode of practice presented in the article is richly illustrated with examples from Biblical texts, literary images, and proverbial sayings, as well as from the sur‐real of nursery rhyme and the genre of the murder mystery. Essential insights of Jung's concerning the infinite and the finite as dimensions of self are revisited in terms of that contemporary trend of Jungian thought known as psychology as the discipline of interiority.     

Voices of Dialogue and Directivity in Family Therapy With Refugees: Evolving Ideas About Dialogical Refugee Care

In this article, we reflect on our evolving ideas regarding a dialogical approach to refugee care. Broadening the predominant phased trauma care model and its engaging of directive expertise in symptom reduction, meaning making, and rebuilding connectedness, these developing dialogical notions involve the negotiation of silencing and disclosure, meaning and absurdity, hope and hopelessness in a therapeutic dialogue that accepts its encounter of cultural and social difference. In locating therapeutic practice within these divergent approaches, we argue an orientation on collaborative dialogue may operate together with notions from the phased trauma care model as heuristic background in engaging a polyphonic understanding of coping with individual and family sequelae of forced displacement. This locating of therapeutic practice, as informed by each perspective, invites us to remain present to fragments of therapeutic positioning that resonate power imbalance or appropriation in a therapeutic encounter imbued with a social context that silences refugees’ suffering. In a clinical case analysis, we further explore these relational complexities of negotiating directive expertise and collaborative dialogue in the therapeutic encounter with refugee clients.     

No one here gets out alive: the Bluebeard story in therapy and in the culture

In this paper, the Bluebeard story is used to highlight mechanisms underlying an individual analytic case and some cultural phenomena from a Jungian perspective. I describe a patient whose psyche was dissociated into a tormenting monstrous figure and a regressed childish self, which Kalsched explains as activation of the archetypal defence system. As her analyst, I had to survive attacks of the patient's persecuting inner object, which she related to Bluebeard as a representation of relentless murderousness. At the cultural level, Bluebeard pertains to the concept of the totalitarian object (Sebek 1996) and to the pole of grandiosity of the Russian cultural complex.     

The controversy around the concept of archetypes and the place for an emergent/developmental model

This paper addresses two key controversial questions to do with the concept of archetypes – do they operate autonomously without connection to an individual's personal life experience? Does their biological base mean they are genetically determined, innate and thus a priori inherited psychic structures? These questions are addressed through the case of a person who began life as an unwanted pregnancy, was adopted at birth and as an adult, experienced profound waking visions. An emergent/developmental model of archetype is outlined which stresses developmental start‐points through this infant's engagement via response and reaction to the affective and material world of the infant/birth mother matrix and from which emergence later occurs by way of participation in a socio‐cultural and material context. The emergentism aspect of this model rescues it from being reductionist since it allows for cultural and socialisation inputs. The model's explanatory power is vastly enlarged by combining this with the developmental component. Critically, once developmentally produced mind/brain (image schema) structures are in place, they have the capacity to generate psychological life. Imagery can then appear as if it is innately derived when that is not the case. The contemporary neuroscience which supports this model is both outlined and related back to the case example.     

Advances in functional brain imaging technology and developmental neuro‐psychology: their applications in the Jungian analytic domain

Analytical psychology shares with many other psychotherapies the important task of repairing the consequences of developmental trauma. The majority of analytic patients come from compromised early developmental backgrounds: they may have experienced neglect, abuse, or failures of empathic resonance from their carers. Functional brain imagery techniques including Quantitative Electroencephalogram (QEEG), and functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery (fMRI), allow us to track mental processes in ways beyond verbal reportage and introspection. This independent perspective is useful for developing new psychodynamic hypotheses, testing current ones, providing diagnostic markers, and monitoring treatment progress. Jung, with the Word Association Test, grasped these principles 100 years ago. Brain imaging techniques have contributed to powerful recent advances in our understanding of neurodevelopmental processes in the first three years of life. If adequate nurturance is compromised, a range of difficulties may emerge. This has important implications for how we understand and treat our psychotherapy clients. The paper provides an overview of functional brain imaging and advances in developmental neuropsychology, and looks at applications of some of these findings (including neurofeedback) in the Jungian psychotherapy domain.     

Myers‐Briggs typology and Jungian individuation

Myers‐Briggs typology is widely seen as equivalent to and representative of Jungian theory by the users of the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and similar questionnaires. However, the omission of the transcendent function from the theory, and the use of typological functions as its foundation, has resulted in an inadvertent reframing of the process of individuation. This is despite some attempts to integrate individuation and typology, and reintroduce the transcendent function into Myers‐Briggs theory. This paper examines the differing views of individuation in Myers‐Briggs and Jungian theory, and some of the challenges of reconciling those differences, particularly in the context of normality. It proposes eight principles, drawn mainly from Jungian and classical post‐Jungian work, that show how individuation as a process can be integrated with contemporary Myers‐Briggs typology. These principles show individuation as being a natural process that can be encouraged outside of the analytic process. They make use of a wide range of opposites as well as typological functions, whilst being centred on the transcendent function. Central to the process is the alchemical image of the caduceus and a practical interpretation of the axiom of Maria, both of which Jung used to illustrate the process of individuation.     

Theoretical foundations of analytical psychology: recent developments and controversies

This article gives an introductory overview of the papers in this volume originally given at the Joint Conference of the IAAP and the University of Basel, Basel, October 18‐20, 2018. The aim of the conference was to bring core concepts of analytical psychology together with theorizing and research from academic sciences, at the very place where Jung started his academic career, the University of Basel. The conference focussed on three fields: the relationship of consciousness and the unconscious and the theory of complexes; the theory of archetypes; and the status of analytical psychotherapy in contemporary psychotherapy research. The aim of the conference was to further the development of theory in analytical psychology in relation to results and insights in contiguous areas of knowledge. In the first area, contributors pointed to the solid evidence especially from the neurosciences for the psychodynamic conceptualizations of the unconscious, and also for the concept of complexes. In contrast to this, the concept of archetypes is controversial, with a majority of contributors questioning Jung’s biological conceptualizations of archetypes, and speaking instead for reformulations from the perspective of cultural theory, dynamic systems theory and other approaches. In the field of psychotherapy research, contributors pointed to the profound need for conducting more empirical studies on the outcome of Jungian psychotherapy, but also for a thorough reconsideration of standard research designs in the field.     

Jung,Winnicott and the divided psyche

In his review of Memories Dreams Reflections, Winnicott diagnosed Jung as suffering from a psychic split, and characterized the content and the structure of analytical psychology as primarily moulded and conditioned by Jung's own defensive quest for a ‘self that he could call his own’. This pathologizing analysis continues to be endorsed by contemporary Jungian writers. In this paper I attempt to show that Winnicott's critique is fundamentally misguided because it derives from a psychoanalytic model of the psyche, a model that regards all dissociation as necessarily pathological. I argue that Jung's understanding of the psyche differs radically from this model, and further, that it conforms by and large to the kind of dissociative model that we find in the writings of Frederic Myers, William James and Theodor Flournoy. I conclude that a fruitful relationship between psychoanalysis and analytical psychology must depend upon an awareness of these important differences between the two psychic models.     

Binding legacies: ancestor,archetype and Other

This article discusses the multicultural interconnection between Jungian analysts’ training and Africanist training candidates. The importance of ancestral lineage and archetypal influences in the clinical setting are explored for better understanding of issues related to the transference and therapeutic interventions. A discussion of racial relations and racism is addressed as a frequently missing element in the psychoanalytical training of future Jungian analysts.     

Political and clinical developments in analytical psychology, 1972‐2014: subjectivity,equality and diversity—inside and outside the consulting room

Utilizing Jung's idea of theory as a ‘personal confession’, the author charts his own development as a theorist, establishing links between his personal history and his ideas. Such links include his relationship with both parents, his sexuality, his cultural heritage, and his fascination with Tricksters and with Hermes. There follows a substantial critical interrogation of what the author discerns as the two main lines of clinical theorizing in contemporary analytical psychotherapy: interpretation of transference‐countertransference, and the relational approach. His conclusion is that neither is superior to the other and neither is in fact adequate as a basis for clinical work. The focus then shifts to explore a range of political and social aspects of the clinical project of analytical psychology: economic inequality, diversity within the professional field, and Jung's controversial ideas about Jews and Africans. The author calls for an apology from the ‘Jungian community’ for remarks about Africans analogous to the apology already issued for remarks about Jews. The paper is dedicated to the author's friend Fred Plaut (1913‐2009).     

Who is my Jung? Memories,Reflections, Prospects

The author describes his personal and professional journey in relation to the subject of the AJA 40^th anniversary conference, ‘Who is my Jung?’ The first part of the paper covers his early life and his attempt to bring together two opposing parts within him: valuation of a scientific approach, and an interest in the inner world, dreams and the paranormal. Discussion of his professional life follows, including his relationship with Gerhard Adler, past problems and splits within the Jungian community and the author's attempts to heal these. The value of both remembering and forgetting is questioned. This leads onto ideas that bring value and meaning to his work and life, and which bridge the inner divisions he felt in his early life: notably Jung's focus on applying scientific theory to the mystery of the psyche, his relational attitude (exemplified by the dialectical process and his interest in countertransference) and his theory of synchronicity. Recent discussion in Jungian writing has questioned the nature of synchronistic experiences and explored how they may emerge naturally from complex systems. The paper ends the author's continuing journey with two personal vignettes describing how meaning may emerge from the unconscious.     

Race,power and intimacy in the intersubjective field: the intersection of racialised cultural complexes and personal complexes

This paper presents work with a biracial young woman, in the context of a predominantly white Jungian training organisation. The patient's relational difficulties and her struggle to integrate different aspects of her personality are understood in terms of the overlapping influences of developmental trauma, transgenerational trauma relating to the legacy of slavery in the Caribbean, conflictual racial identities, internalised racism, and the British black/white racial cultural complex. The author presents her understanding of an unfolding dynamic in the analytic relationship in which the black slave/white master schema was apparently reversed between them, with the white analyst becoming subservient to the black patient. The paper tracks the process through which trust was built alongside the development of this joint defence against intimacy ‐ which eventually had to be relinquished by both partners in the dyad. A white on black ‘rescue fantasy’, identified by the patient as a self‐serving part of her father's personality, is explored in relation to the analytic relationship and the training context.     

Bounded in a nutshell and a king of infinite space: the embodied self and its intentional world

This paper explores the implications of developments in phenomenological biology for a reconsideration of synchronicity and the self. The enactive approach of Maturana and Varela aims to reformulate the relation between biological organisms and the world in a non‐Cartesian way, breaking down the conceptual division between mind and world so that meaning can be seen as a function of the species‐specific way in which an organism engages with its environment. This leads to a view of the self as inherently embodied and engaged with the particularities of its material, cultural and social worlds, while being infinitely extended through the power of imagination; this enables humans to adapt to many different social and material environments. In order to understand these differences, we need to ‘enter into the world of the other’. Where understanding of other animals requires immersion in their environmental milieux, understanding other humans requires us also to recognize that differences in socio‐cultural milieux create significantly different worlds of meaning and experience.     

INTRODUCTION to Special Edition of JAP on the ‘Who is My Jung?’ conference held at the British Library in October 2017 to mark the 40th Anniversary of the foundation of the Association of Jungian Analysts (AJA)

The paper reviews the processes which went into the creation of an exceptionally comprehensive conference on Jungian analysis and psychology. The conference brought together all five of the constituent societies based in London of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). The personal nature of the conference contributions is highlighted together with observations about the passage from spoken to written modes. The idea of ‘conference space’ is reviewed and this leads to a discussion of the often overlooked benign role of conferences in professional life.     

Cultural unconscious in research: integrating multicultural and depth paradigms in qualitative research

Culturally focused research has gained momentum in many disciplines, including psychology. However, much of this research fails to pay attention to the unconscious dynamics that underlie the study of culture and culturally influenced human beings. Such dynamics may be especially significant when issues of marginalization and oppression are present. Therefore, this paper seeks to contribute a framework for understanding cultural dynamics, especially unconscious cultural dynamics, within depth psychological qualitative research influenced by Jungian and post‐Jungian scholarship. Inquiry that is approached with a commitment to making the unconscious conscious seeks to empower and liberate not only the subject/object studied but also the researchers themselves. Following a brief review of multiculturalism in the context of analytically informed psychology, this paper offers several case examples that focus on researchers' integration of awareness of the cultural unconscious in their study of cultural beings and topics.     

Supervising away from home: clinical,cultural and professional challenges

This paper explores some challenges of supervising clinical work of trainees, known as ‘routers’, who live in countries with diverse cultural, social and political traditions, and the analysts who travel to supervise them. It is written as an evolving dialogue between the authors, who explore together the effects of their own culture of origin, and in particular the legacy and values of their own training institutes on the styles and models of analytic supervision. Their dialogue is framed around the meaning of home and experiences of homesickness for analysts working away from home in an interactive field of strangeness in countries where analytical psychology is a relatively new discipline. The authors outline the findings from their own qualitative survey, where other supervisors working abroad, and those they have supervised, describe their experiences and their encounters with difference. The dialogue ends with both authors discussing what they have learned about teaching and supervising abroad, the implications for more flexible use of Jungian concepts, and how such visits have changed their clinical practice in their home countries.     

Influences on my clinical practice and identity. Jungian analysis on the couch–what and where is the truth of it?

The author considers the various influences that have shaped his clinical practice and particular identity as a Jungian analyst. It is hoped that the sharing of these observations will, like a shard of a hologram, reflect aspects of the Jungian community as a whole. The author also attempts to put Jungian analysis ‘on the couch’ by looking at the current debate in the Journal between traditional and relational psychoanalysis. This is compared to the discourse that philosophy has been struggling with for centuries concerning the nature of truth.     

Rivers of milk and honey ‐ an exploration of nurturing the self in a Russian context

This paper is an exploration of the relationship between nurturing in all its contexts ‐ among them, the nursing couple and the therapeutic relationship ‐ and the evolution of an individual self. The ideas are illustrated by a case vignette of a Russian patient. An attempt is made to show that when the self as an integral unity of body and soul is addressed in the analytic setting, ‘nutritional dreams’ emerge as expressions of the self‐in‐action. Certain psycholinguistic features of the Russian cultural context are described which suggest a link of meaning between development of the self and secure parenting. This linguistic association may facilitate the process of self‐centering.     

Bridging worlds: participatory thinking in Jungian context

Introducing the ‘participatory’ paradigm associated with the work of transpersonalists Richard Tarnas and Jorge Ferrer, the author outlines an approach to Jung's archetypal thinking that might offer a more adequate basis in which to ground a non‐reductive approach to practice. In order to demonstrate the relevance of this outlook at the present time, the author begins by examining recent debates concerning the nature of ‘truth’ in the clinical setting. Reflecting on the difficulties analysts face in attempting to maintain professional authority without falling into an implicit authoritarianism, it is argued that any approach to therapy seeking to orient itself towards ‘the unconscious’ must posit the challenges of pluralism as a central concern for practice. With reference to the relationship between analytical psychology and the psychoanalytic mainstream, attention is drawn to the theoretical problems raised by the relational commitment to constructivist epistemologies, and a consequent tendency towards biological reductionism. Turning to the Jungian literature, similar tensions are observed at play in the present state of analytical psychology. Drawing attention to the process‐oriented qualities of Jung's work, it is suggested that the speculative nature of Jung's psychology offers a more adequate basis for contemporary practice than might be assumed.