Depth Psychology | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'depth psychology'

The Not-So-Simple Task of Simply Being Honest, Part 1

August 25th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Shadow, depth psychology, inner life, persona, psychotherapist, truth, unconscious

We all like to feel that we know ourselves, and that we are fundamentally honest with ourselves, but is it so? Sometimes deliberate not-wanting-to-know keeps us from being conscious of things that we really need to understand for our own individuation process. To set yourself on the course of being fundamentally honest with yourself is to set yourself on the path of encounter with the unconscious.

Under the Surface of Suburbia

August 20th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Carl Jung, Halton Region, Home, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, collective consciousness, depth psychology, psychotherapist, soul, suburbia / exurbia, unlived life, wholeness

Under the surface of suburbia, life is the same here as it is anywhere else. The endless communities of single family dwellings stretch out and stretch out, beyond where the eye can see. Yet beneath the appearances, there are a myriad of individual lives. People are moving through life towards their individual destinies, with happiness or with discontent, with sorrow or exultation, with unresolved pain and grief, or with yearning. Each of us is a story, and each of us is a journey, and that the only real freedom is in finding our own true nature.

Sarah Palin, “Mama Grizzlies” and the Mother Archetype

August 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Carl Jung, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, archetypal experience, archetypes, collective consciousness, depth psychology, mother archetype, parent-child interactions, popular culture, symbolism, unconscious

Andrea Huffington commented recently in the Huffington Post on Sarah Palin’s use of archetypal imagery in the political ads that she has recently run with incredible success online. Huffington seeks to use the concepts of Jungian psychology to analyze Palin’s message. In my opinion, it’s a fruitful approach.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 3: Through Phoenix Gate

August 11th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Shadow, complexes, depression, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, regret, soul, therapy, unconscious, unlived life, wholeness

Hopefully I have succeeded in making one very central thing clear: regret is not some peripheral thing in our lives that is going to be cleared away by simply improving our thinking. It strikes deeper. It is much more fundamental. How then are we to deal with the presence of regret in our lives? To answer this question in our own personal way, we have to meet this question for ourselves head on.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 2: The Power of Regret

July 29th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Hope, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, The Self, complexes, compulsion, decision, depression, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, life passages, midlife, regret, soul, therapy, unconscious, wholeness

In my last posting, I tried to open up the whole subject of regret, and the powerful and sometimes crippling place that it can occupy in our lives, and how we can be held in slavery to regret of all the choices we could have made differently, or courses of events that could have turned out differently. In this posting, I’d [...]

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 1

July 26th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, complexes, compulsion, depth psychology, guilt, life passages, midlife, regret, soul, therapy, unlived life, wholeness

Regret can be a potent emotion, and a great many of us have experienced its power. In my next few postings, I will be examining the phenomenon of regret, and the way it impacts us. It can have a huge grip on us. It can even imprison us, and embitter us beyond words. But, let me ask a question that might seem strange: Is there health in regret?

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part III: Heart Trouble

July 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Carl Jung, Current Affairs, Identity, Individuation, Jungian psychology, Lifestyle, Meaning, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, collective consciousness, collective unconscious, depth psychology, inner life, persona, popular culture, soul, symbolism, unconscious, wholeness

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part III, Heart Trouble
…I asked him why he thought the whites were all mad.�
“They say that they think with their heads,” he replied.
“Why of course. What do you think with?” I asked him in surprise.
“We think here,” he said, indicating his heart. [Italics mine]
Conversation between Ochway Biano, Chief of the Pueblo Indians and [...]

G20 Toronto: What the Heck Just Happened?

July 6th, 2010 · No Comments · Carl Jung, Current Affairs, G20, Ontario, Psychology and Suburban Life, Toronto, Trauma, collective consciousness, collective unconscious, complexes, depth psychology, panic, popular culture, trust

On June 26 and 27, the leaders of the G20 nations and numerous other nations met in downtown Toronto. For many living in this area, what happened in the course of those two days has something of the character of a nightmare in the collective psyche of the City of Toronto, and indeed, the whole of the [...]

The Creative Fire and the Burden of Guilt

June 20th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Carl Jung, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, creativity, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, soul, visual arts

We may seek to avoid the experience of guilt, but we will never really succeed. As Jung frequently pointed out, the feeling of guilt is the unavoidable accompaniment in any situation when we cross any of the taboos inherent in social structures and actively, creatively express ourselves and live our lives. And while guilt feelings will occur, [...]

Depth Psychotherapy Heals

June 14th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Science, Wellness, complexes, depth psychology, unconscious, wholeness

The research paper that I have linked to below is both striking and very important. It provides strong empirical evidence of the effectiveness of “psychodynamic psychotherapy”. That’s a technical term for those forms of psychotherapy, like the Jungian approach, which:

take the unconscious dimension of individuals seriously;

seek to relate to the unconscious in the therapy process;

focus on affect and expression [...]

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness