Counselling | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'counselling'

Jungian Counselling & Finding Your Life Purpose

December 13th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Jungian, Jungian counselling, life purpose, purpose

Finding your life purpose is key in individual therapy, and Jungian counselling stresses the need to make a personal search for meaningful direction in life. For many people, this is an essential journey to make, and Jungian counselling affirms that it’s a journey that we each can make.

Depth Psychotherapy, Stress Reduction & the Holidays

December 8th, 2011 · 2 Comments · depth psychotherapy, Psychotherapy, stress, stress reduction

Stress reduction during the Holidays: can a depth psychotherapy perspective help with keeping the season genuine and human? I hear from many people in many ways at this time of year how hard it can be to stay true to oneself.

Jungian Psychotherapy & Career Transition in Tough Times

August 21st, 2011 · 1 Comment · career, career transition, Jungian, Jungian psychotherapy

Career transition has a direct connection to Jungian psychotherapy because career and vocation are matters of importance to the inmost self. This is even truer in tough economic times, when people face hard situations and hard choices. Tough times push us back onto questions about the real meaning in our lives.

Jungian Therapy for Anxiety & Times of Crisis: 5 Truths

August 14th, 2011 · No Comments · crisis, Jungian, Jungian therapy, therapy, therapy for anxiety, times of crisis

In times of crisis like these, with financial panic and other factors, some important truths emerge from the practice of Jungian therapy, depth psychotherapy, and therapy for anxiety. Here are some key learnings important for resilience in times like these — and for getting through them.

Therapy, Personal Growth & Self Knowledge …Really?

August 8th, 2011 · No Comments · growth, personal growth, Self, self-knowledge, therapy

Many speak about therapy and/or psychotherapy as a route to personal growth and self knowledge, but that depends a lot on the kind of therapy, the attitude of the person undertaking it, and the knowledge and attitude of the therapist.

Psychotherapy and Renewal: Persephone’s Big Comeback

April 5th, 2011 · No Comments · analytical psychology, archetypal experience, Carl Jung, depth psychology, inner life, Introversion, journey, Jungian, Jungian analysis, life passages, mythology, personal myth, personal story, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, renewal, Self, soul, therapist, therapy, unconscious

The Persephone myth conveys a natural movement in psychological life For Persephone, it is only as she is detached from her familiar world, and descends to the Underworld that she can bring the blessing and the gift of the seasons, of new green life, and fecundity. Sometimes the encounter with life’s circumstances and with the unconscious can seem like a sudden plunge into darkness and descent into the underworld. But the underworld has its own gifts that it brings. Only those who can accept those gifts, and eat the food of the underworld, can bring the gift of life and fertility back to the “surface world” of their everyday lives.

Psychiatrists and Psychotherapy?

March 7th, 2011 · 4 Comments · analytical psychology, dialogue, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychopharmacology, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, self-knowledge, talk therapy

Psychiatrists in the United States have turned away from “talk therapy” or psychotherapy with their clients because it was too time-consuming. Now the focus of psychiatric practice is most often very short meetings. One psychiatrist interviewed by the Times sees some 1200 patients for 15 minute consultations about medications that are sometimes several months apart. While the economics and other factors are somewhat different in Canada, they are not all that different.

Jungian Psychotherapy and the Reality of Grief

March 4th, 2011 · 3 Comments · analytical psychology, archetypal experience, depth psychology, grief, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, life journey, Meaning, parent-child interactions, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, symbolism, wholeness

The intensity of grief as an experience is something shared by almost all human beings. Its devastating character echoes down through the aeons, affecting nearly every life in every generation. Clearly, anyone who has a grief reaction of any intensity is never going to forget the loved one, in any emotional sense. The yearning for their presence is always going to be a part of the bereaved person’s life. To find a place of security and acceptance to process these feelings is essential.

Anxiety, Regret and Persona in “Death of a Salesman”

November 19th, 2010 · No Comments · Anxiety, Father, Marriage, persona, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, regret, Self, soul, symbolism, unlived life

I was fortunate enough last Saturday to see Soulpepper Theatre’s production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Lots of people know the story of Willy Loman, the disintegrating salesman at the centre of the play, and the drama of his decline and eventual death. What’s worth emphasizing, though, is the profoundly psychological nature of this play, and the ways in which it deals with anxiety, regret and “persona”, or the false self. Clearly Willy is retreating more and more from reality and from life — but what pushes him into this?

A Jungian Psychotherapist’s Symbol Book

November 11th, 2010 · No Comments · analytical psychology, Carl Jung, dreams, Jungian, Psychology and Suburban Life, symbol

Symbols can have tremendous emotional power. When they resonate with us, they can affect us right down to our very core. And sometimes, after we really encounter them, they can even change us, right down at the center of who we are.

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness