Oh, Oh, I have, I have. No, just kidding. But I do think somewhere here has. Maybe BG?

Did you know Jung had a nervous breakdown for 6 years but then did all the awesome work he did afterwards? There is hope for me yet to recover from my madness!

Hey BG,

Thanks for responding. How cool. I recently discovered a blog by a Jungian psychologist and I have been spending hours there, completely fascinated. thirdeve.com if anyone is curious.

It's made me wonder what it would be like to work from that modality. Could you maybe share a little about how the specifically jungian aspects of your T's approach have been helpful to you (if they have been)?

Does he do a lot with images, dreams, and archetypes in your sessions?

My impression is that Freudian analysts focus more on the transference and early childhood stuff, while the Jungians will look out more for mythological themes and the collective unconscious. Is this mostly accurate or are things considerably more blended together these days?

Lately my dreams have been very vivid, intense, detailed, and mythic. I feel like there's a lot of energy and meaning embedded there. . . it's made me want a Jungian, lol. Of course I know I can do some of the dream work on my own, but it would be interesting to see what those explorations could lead to in therapy. My T hasn't been trained that way, but she's pretty adaptable so I'm going to try bringing that stuff to my sessions more and just see how it goes.

There is a Jungian analyst in a city two hours away from where I live. That would obviously be too far for regular therapy, but I'm toying with the thought of going to see her for a consult (isn't that what y'all call it?) and making a little day trip of it (there's a book store I want to visit there as well). Does anyone have any advice as to whether that would be a worthwhile or useful thing to do?

Just sort of thinking out loud. Would love to hear about any experiences, opinions, or random ramblings from any of you who have thoughts on any of this.

I read a great blog by a Jungian analyst: Jung at Heart

Gotta love the pun!

Hi there,

I will only go to Jungian analysts as long as I can afford it! I have always been interested in the additional aspects of the human experience that a Jungian analyst explores in their work with a patient. I believe we are informed by our unconscious mind, our dreams and other processes that are not always conscious to us. I have learned a lot from working with my dreams in analysis. I also appreciate the fact that to be certified as a Jungian analyst you have to undergo additional training and self-analysis above and beyond what is required to practice.

With that said, I think it is still important that the therapist gets all of you and what is going on for you, in particular, and that it is a good fit. You still must like the person!

I have had two Jungian analysts and they worked quite differently. My first analyst seemed to work more with the unconscious and symbols and less from a practical standpoint and completely missed my trauma history as the source of my issues. I liked him but we had no connection and I had little sustained growth.

My current analyst does a good job of integrating the unconscious work while helping me to recover from my childhood trauma because he is an expert in trauma. I think he uses similar modalities which are used by many therapists to treat people with my history but he can also bring this other aspect to the therapy which I really appreciate. He can be quite practical and, at times, we have had "arguments" because I want him to be more "Jungian".

With that said, it makes sense to me when my therapist refers to Jungian theories in my therapy. It actually helps me to consolidate confusing emotional states that I may be experiencing, i.e. unconscious complexes. We explore my dreams, we discuss archetypes and how they apply to dynamics in my emotional experience and life events. We discuss transference and projections as well. We spend a majority of the time talking about how my childhood has effected my life. He works in the belief that much of what I think and feel in the present is related to my past. He operates from more of the "blank screen" method. I know little about his personal life. I like him very much and we have formed a good connection. I have had the most growth in my life in my work with him. I am quite lucky to have found him.

I actually went to a few therapists who were not Jungian trained and while one of them gave good advice, in the moment, I still didn't get help for my trauma history and, personally, I missed working on the deeper connections to my psyche: my dreams, complexes, etc. I gave up and immediately went to the nearest Jungian Institute to find a Jungian analyst instead.

As far as going to see one that far away I suppose you could call her first and ask her that question? See how you feel about her on the phone? I called my current T first to get a sense of if I liked him before going in. He talked to me for awhile on the phone.

If you have any other questions I would be happy to try and help!

(((DpBluSee))) (((BlanketGirl)))

Thanks so much for telling me more about your therapists and your sessions. It was very fascinating and helpful to read about.

Sometimes I do have the sense that my process of psychological growth in and out of therapy pretty much generates itself from the unconscious, and I just get to choose whether to work with it or resist it. A little scary, that, because of the relative lack of control and I'm not sure what all the philosophical implications of thinking that way are. . . maybe I should read up on Jungian thought more?

But it does seem so cool from what I have gathered so far. DpBluSee, I think I can understand your preference for working that way. It seems like it opens up vistas from the psyche to connection with a larger world. . . I love how on the Jungian blog I've been reading the writer is always making tie ins to mythology, Christian spirituality, literature, etc. Of course I don't know how much of that is just her. It seems like a natural way to work because dreams kind of do that on their own anyway. At least mine do, lol.

I had a session with my T yesterday. I had emailed her earlier telling her I thought it might be helpful to make dreams more of a focus in therapy, and I also sent her a long dream from the night before with a half worked out interpretation I had done. I was really unsure about how the session would go, but it was fabulous. T was very enthusiastic and focused and it was fun to see her intuitively going after images with such facility. I didn't even know she could do that, lol. I've mentioned dreams to her in therapy before, but she's never delved into them that deeply. Then again, I've never asked her to. After two years she is still surprising me. I felt like we were really in sync this time. We kind of used the dream as the orienting point of the session and worked with both external and internal ramifications. She brought in a lot of connections I hadn't thought of.

Afterwards I expressed my pleasure and slight surprise that it had gone so well and she laughed at me (in a nice way). I asked her if she did this with other clients and she said, "Yeah, sometimes, but not all clients want to and not all can." So maybe she was just waiting for me to take the lead?

Anyway, we've decided to continue working this way and I'm looking forward to my next sessions with some anticipation and curiosity. Might hold off a bit on visiting that analyst in the other city while I see what my T can do. This is kind of a relief because I had been feeling a bit stuck.

(((AG))) Thanks for posting the link to that blog! Will go check it out soon.

(((Liese))) Sorry I missed your reply earlier! Yeah, I had heard that about Jung and I felt the same way. . . I mean about me, not about you, lol.

(((HELD)))

What a cool session. So glad it went well.

Yep.

My T is a Jungian analyst but I can't afford analysis so I used to go weekly for an hour and a quarter and now go fortnightly for the same time.

We discuss dreams and symbolism, look at my personality type as well as less Jung specific stuff. I chose her because I really like Jung's approach and spirituality is very important to me.

Hi Held,

So glad your session with your T went well. That is great!

So, I have read just enough books about Jung, by Jung and other Jungian analysts to be dangerous! Jung definitely went into directions of thought that were "alternative" (i.e. mysticism and alchemy being some of these alternative areas). I've also read works by Joseph Campbell, who was renowned for his work in mythology. He was greatly influenced by Jung. I love mythology and dreams and literature so I find all of it fascinating. I could just sit and read a dictionary of symbols for fun! .

In reference to your previous comment about working with the unconscious on your own (if that is what you meant), I have also done a fair amount of this. There is a great book by another prominent Jungian analyst named Robert A. Johnson. It's called "Inner Work" and he talks about how someone, on their own, can work with their dreams and the symbols and archetypes that come up in the unconscious. It is a good "easier" read than most. It can be scary to do some of this work but I have found it to be VERY rewarding and great grist for the mill for my therapy.

Any time you feel like trading info let me know! I could talk about this stuff all day!!

Hey DpBluSee,

Thanks for the book recommendations and suggestions. I will definitely check some of those out.

I do have some more ideas and questions to bounce off you, but unfortunately no time to type it all out at present. Will probably pm in a day or so, thanks!