Depth Psychology | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'depth psychology'

Life Crisis, Meaning and Psychotherapy

December 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment · analytical psychology, crisis, depression, depth psychology, Existential crisis, Individuation, Meaning, wholeness

When a psychotherapist, and especially a Jungian analyst uses the expression “life crisis” today, he or she means something specific. It’s something different from a “major crisis”, which might be some major change and disruption in a person’s life due to changes in external events or relationships. A life crisis is a crisis about the roots of a person’s life.

Jungian Psychotherapy Symbol Book: A Personal Journey

November 23rd, 2010 · 7 Comments · a personal journey, journey, Jungian psychotherapy, Psychology and Suburban Life

Artistic and religious symbolism worldwhile reflects the archetype of the journey. It’s one of the most universal expressions of the human condition and the development of the course of human life. The whole point of a journey is that it has a destination. This can be a very important thing to know in therapy, and in human life in general. But it must be something other than a glib platitude.

An Oakville Psychotherapist’s View of Work Life Balance

November 4th, 2010 · 7 Comments · Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Lifestyle, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, personal myth, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, stress, therapy, work

Work-life issues are not properly analyzed in terms of financial cost-benefit or markets. They are only properly analyzed in terms of individual decisions, and in terms of what the individual values in his or her life. Individuals can’t offload their responsibility to find a personal solution to these issues to any corporation or other employer — or to any other collective entity. Individuals have to really take hold of this issue, take personal responsibility for it, and examinine it deeply in the light of their own deepest values.

Stress, Power, Resilience and Myth, Part 3: In Myself

October 31st, 2010 · 7 Comments · depth psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, personal myth, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, resilience, Self, soul, therapy, wholeness

In this post, I would like to try and say something about the places in which I believe I really found some sources of resilience. If I had to point to one single characteristic of this small group of therapists that helped me more than any other, it was this: they really, really knew how to listen. My therapeutic journey has enabled me, ultimately, to find a kind of acceptance of my life. Insofar as I can make any meaningful sense of psychologists’ use of the word “resilience”, this is it.

Stress, Power, Resilience — and Myth, Part 1

October 10th, 2010 · No Comments · Anxiety, Carl Jung, depth psychology, Hope, Meaning, mythology, Oakville, power, Psychology and Suburban Life, resilience, stress, trust, work

There are many things in the 2010s that can easily make people feel powerless. In addition, the majority of us struggle, or have had to struggle with our own inner wounds. What we each need to meet our lives is what psychologists increasingly refer to as resilience, the power to “roll with the punches” that life throws. Where do we find it? How can psychotherapy or Jungian analysis help us?

A Video Portrait of Jung

October 1st, 2010 · 2 Comments · archetypal experience, Carl Jung, consciousness, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, personal story, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, soul, therapy

Here is a video which I re-tweeted recently on Twitter. I decided to post it on my blog because I think that it gives a particularly revealing portrait of the psychiatrist CG Jung in his latter years. The video is taken from “Face to Face”, an excellent interview program hosted by John Freeman of the [...]

What Do You Think About Therapy?

September 27th, 2010 · No Comments · Carl Jung, depth psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Mississauga, Oakville, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, therapy

What is your attitude towards doing therapy? Is it something that you would ever consider? Is it something only for severely damaged people, or “sick” people? Or is it something that may be of importance for ordinary, everyday people? In recent years, many peoples’ attitudes have changed — a lot! There was a time, not [...]

“They Want Google to Tell Them What They Should be Doing”

September 6th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Carl Jung, decision, freedom, Individuation, Psychology and Suburban Life, Self

Eric Schmidt, the Chairman of Google said recently, “I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.” But is he correct? Do we actually want Google to tell us what to do?

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

August 25th, 2010 · 1 Comment · depth psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, persona, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, Shadow, 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, collective consciousness, depth psychology, Halton Region, Home, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, 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.

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness