Depth Psychology | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'depth psychology'

Individuality, Therapy for Anxiety, & Jungian Analysis

October 7th, 2011 · No Comments · Anxiety, Jungian, Jungian analysis, Psychology and Suburban Life, therapy for anxiety

Therapy for anxiety and Jungian analysis might seem to be two very different things. But if a person really wants to get to the roots of anxiety, there are some very real and powerful connections to be made between anxiety and depth psychology.

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.

Jungian Psychotherapy, and Our “Typical”, Atypical Self

March 13th, 2011 · 2 Comments · analytical psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, journey, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, personal growth, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, Self, self-knowledge, The Self

How do you compare to the “most typical person” in this video? When it comes to the categories the video looks at, perhaps your conclusion, like mine is that “The most typical person in the world is not like me, in many respects.” But might there be some deeper ways, which don’t fit into the categories in the video, in which you and any one of these “typical people” are alike? At another level, what is it that gives you your particular identity, that makes any of these “typical” people and you both unique individuals?

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.

Saying No: Jungian Psychotherapy, the Self, and Compliance

February 9th, 2011 · 5 Comments · analytical psychology, archetypal experience, boundaries, C. G. Jung, depression, depth psychology, ego, Existential crisis, Identity, Individuation, life journey, Lifestyle, parental complex, personal growth, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, Self, The Self, therapy, unconscious, unlived life, wholeness

The self is something greater than, and distinct from, the ego,and it is something that plays a very active role in the psychological life of the individual. I often see it at work when I have the experience of working with individuals who have simply reached the point where they cannot accommodate the inappropriate needs of others any further.

Psychotherapy, Self and a Snow Day

February 2nd, 2011 · No Comments · analytical psychology, Anxiety, depression, inner life, life journey, Lifestyle, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, personal story, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, reflection, Self, soul, The Self, therapy

In this open space of time, you have the opportunity to learn something about yourself, about relationship, and about your feelings about your own real life. This day, seeming empty, may prove to be a doorway, if you take the opportunity it provides to look within yourself.

The Self as Hidden Treasure in Jungian Psychotherapy

January 27th, 2011 · No Comments · alchemy, art, C. G. Jung, collective consciousness, depth psychology, False self, Identity, parent-child interactions, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Relationships, religious symbolism, Self, self-knowledge, symbolism

Jungian psychotherapy and Jungian analysis put a high value on the uniqueness of the individual, and on the treasure that is the inmost Self. Jungians see symbollic reflection of the value of the Self as hidden treasure in many texts from the world’s artistic, religious, spiritual and philosophical traditions. At the base of all this symbolization there lies a profound and precious truth about human existence. It is a truth about the nature of the human self. At the core of each of us, there is that element in us, an awareness, that is unique and precious, that defines what we most fundamentally are. Sometimes that is represented symbollically as a hidden treasure, sometimes as a gemstone, sometimes in a variety of other ways.

In January, with Mind, Body, and Instinct

January 20th, 2011 · No Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, body, Carl Jung, consciousness, cravings, dreams, inner life, instinct, Jungian analysis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, seasonal affective disorder, self-knowledge, The Self, unconscious, wholeness

This post is much more directly concerned with the subjective experience of mind, and especially of body and instinct…. Modern humans can be very cut off from the instinctual basis of life, and even from being aware of our bodily existence…. But, even so, as Jung tells us, the instinctual side continues to function, along with the whole broad psychic processing of of inner and outer experience. It’s always with us, and one important way to move closer to wholeness is to work actively to be aware of that.

Consciousness, Unconscious Mind and Neuroscience

January 14th, 2011 · 5 Comments · brain science, cognitive science, consciousness, depth psychology, Jungian, neuroscience, Psychology and Suburban Life, Self, The Self, unconscious

I thought that I would do a brief blog post on a couple of quotations that relate to the whole mushrooming area of the science of consciousness and the unconscious mind, as it is being approached within the rapidly expanding new fields of neuroscience and cognitive science.

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness