Individuation | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'Individuation'

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.

Individual Psychotherapy & Stress Reduction: 4 Basics

June 26th, 2011 · No Comments · individual psychotherapy, Psychotherapy, stress, stress reduction

Individual psychotherapy can enhance mental resilience and stress reduction. Increasing our capacity to cope with stress is a vital concern. A recent StatsCan study shows large recent increases in the number of Canadians over 15 who report that most days are extremely or quite stressful. Reducing stress matters a lot in a time like ours.

Psychotherapy for Men: 5 Truths from Jungian Analysis

May 20th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Jungian, Jungian analysis, men, mens issues, Psychotherapy, psychotherapy for men

Psychotherapy for men is intricate, because our culture is deeply unsure about men’s issues, or what males should do or be. While the women’s movement has brought much real change to the way women view themselves, males in our present culture are often profoundly disoriented.

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?

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.

Psychotherapy and Instinct: Saving Our Inner Sled Dogs

February 15th, 2011 · No Comments · animal nature, body, C. G. Jung, depth psychology, instinct, Psychotherapy, symbol, symbolism, therapy, unconscious

From a Jungian symbolic perspective, animals, and dogs in particular, often symbolize the bodily and instinctual dimensions of human life. When they appear in our dreams, for instance, dogs can often symbolize our instinctual side. This may relate to the sexual side of our nature, but it more often relates to the basic need for affiliation and companionship that humans share with dogs, and that we see mirrored in them.

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.

Shadow Identity: Inside You Someone Waits to Emerge

February 4th, 2011 · No Comments · analytical psychology, Jungian analysis, Self, self-knowledge, Shadow

The calling of the depth psychotherapist is to assist in the encounter of the one who wishes to emerge with the already established identity of the person who starts to hear the call of their inner self, in whatever form that call takes. The depth psychotherapist recognizes that these are elements of one and the same person. and that, for a person to love, accept and acknowledge him or herself, the known self and the undiscovered or emerging self must embrace each other. Then the person will live in the awareness of his or her true self, and her or his own real life.

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.

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness