Empowering Personal Development Through Jungian Psychoanalysis

Therapeutic areas of Jungian Psychotherapy

Discover the transformative power of Jungian psychotherapy, a time-honoured approach to deep healing and personal growth.

Life purpose

Every human being is put into the world for a reason, and part of the therapy process is therefore about finding this experience of purpose and thus finding the creative and creative energy that lies in following your purpose in the world.

Early childhood

Few of us have entered this world without scars on our souls. Our scars from birth and early childhood will therefore usually characterise us for the rest of our lives unless we work on them. This work can even turn out to be a source of your life purpose. Research shows that we are shaped by our experiences right from conception.

Adolescence and transition to adulthood

Adolescence and transition to adulthood: Adolescence is a transitional phase, and in our culture, we often don’t have rites of passage to mark this bridge between childhood and adulthood. Some young people may therefore need help during this transition, which includes becoming independent and establishing themselves in the world.

Adulthood and midlife crisis

Adulthood has its own challenges, but from around the age of 35-40 onwards, many may experience a so-called midlife crisis. In Jungian therapy, this period is seen as very important in the sense that it is the transition to the ‘second half of life’. Questions about the meaning of our individual lives and the relationship with death that looms ahead can be particularly important here. It can be a difficult but also very fulfilling and enriching period.

Spiritual experiences and spiritual crises

Human beings are more than flesh and blood; we also need to experience purpose, meaning and significance, and to find or rediscover a spiritual dimension in life. In the Jungian tradition, spirit and spirituality are as real as other human phenomena and help give life direction and meaning.

Personal shadow sides

As we grow up, we all learn that there are some parts of our personality that surrender, while there are other parts of our personality that we have to hide away to fit in and gain acceptance and maybe even love. The parts of ourselves that we let go of growing up are called our shadow. The shadow is personal qualities that we contain, but that we cannot stand by and use in our lives because we have learnt that they are unacceptable. Often these repressed shadow sides contain a lot of life energy and qualities that we need if we are to fulfil ourselves in life. If we don’t get to know these shadow sides, they will often hold us back in life.

Attachment and close relationships

One of the most important things in life is forming bonds with other people, but these bonds can be painful and difficult for some. Both to establish and to maintain. Especially if you have wounds from early attachment, this can show up in your relationships. These crises and pain in close relationships can therefore become the path to healing your attachment wounds.

Sexuality and intimacy

Our sexuality is closely linked to the core of our personality (the Self). Our sexuality is, therefore, closely linked to our personal history and who we are. Sexual liberation in this context is about getting in touch with who you are and what you need. Because sexuality is close to our core, it is also influenced by the relationships and events we encounter in our upbringing and personal development.

Dreamwork

Jung once wrote ‘A dream is a small hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul that opens into the cosmic night. (…) In dreams, we become like the more universal, more true and more eternal man who lives in the darkness of the primaeval night.’ (CW 10, §304) In Jungian psychoanalysis, the dream is a symbol that bubbles up from our unconscious psyche. The dream gives us a picture of what is happening in the unconscious parts of ourselves. Every dream contains a medicine for the dreamer. The dream comes from within ourselves and is addressed to ourselves, but we must learn to understand its language. Many therapy programmes will therefore include work with the client’s dreams.

Creativity and creation

Creativity is basically about using something from within yourself to create something in the world. Jung writes about the source of creativity: ‘From the living source of instincts flows all that is creative; the unconscious is therefore not only a product of our life history, but it is the very origin of the creative impulse. It is like Nature itself.’ (CW 8, § 339) Creativity can be about making art, but living creatively means using your energy and drive to make something in the world. Often we are blocked in our creativity because we have lost access to the source of life; the centre of the personality where the creative impulse originates. Or maybe we have learnt to adapt to our surroundings so much that we have forgotten how we can also influence and change the world – maybe just by being our authentic self.

Active Imagination

Jung’s own self-therapy was done using the method he called ‘active imagination’. He wrote about the method: ‘Active imagination is an awareness of the material that lies at the threshold of consciousness.’ (ETH Lectures, Vol. II, p. 12.) Our inner images (imagination) are in contact with a larger part of our personality than our conscious thoughts, and therefore you can use dialogue with your inner images as a way to contact those parts of yourself that have been disconnected from consciousness. You can also use active imagination to work with dreams, where you can enter into a dialogue with characters from a dream. Active imagination is therefore a tool that we can use in therapeutic work.