Jungian Analyst | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'Jungian analyst'

Jungian Psychology Looks at Leslie Nielsen

December 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · analytical psychology, Current Affairs, Jungian, persona, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, Shadow, unconscious

Neilsen’s characters played in some hilarious ways with what Jungians call persona and shadow. It’s as the character of police Lt. Frank Drebin that most people will remember Neilsen. Drebin always presented with absolute deadpan seriousness, completely the stereotypical image of a serious policeman while surrounded by situation after situation of the most gobstopping absurdity.

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 2: Getting Real

October 25th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Anxiety, depth psychology, Existential crisis, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Meaning, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, stress, therapy

I’d like to share a personal experience of mine through which I became changed, and, I believe, much more resilient. It’s not that I’m trying to suggest that I’ve “got it all figured out”, or that this set of experiences gave me “the key to life” — mine or anybody else’s. But I do believe that this was an experience that affected me deeply, that it cost me a great deal, and that I genuinely grew through it. Resilience is directly connected to our convictions at the deepest level about our lives — our basic trust. And sometimes life can shake what we believe about our own individual lives to the very core. I had occasion to learn this in a period between my mid-20s and early 30s.

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 [...]

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.

Let’s Keep Jung’s Red Book Away from Spiritual Hucksterism

July 21st, 2010 · 4 Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, Carl Jung, collective consciousness, collective unconscious, Identity, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Shadow, The Self, unconscious, wholeness

Jung’s Red Book, which I wrote about in an earlier post, has created quite a stir in certain circles, and has been very well popularized. It has had quite an impact in cultural and literary circles, and has gained a lot of attention in the media. The Red Book documents Jung’s own profound psychological struggle in a manner so eloquent and deep that it is difficult if not impossible to describe. However, those of us who love Jung need to be careful not to portray it as some kind of divine revelation composed by a semi-divinity which answers all questions. Jung was very human, and he continually invites us to fully enter our own humanity.

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part II

July 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments · creativity, Film, Identity, Individuation, inner life, popular culture, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, soul, spontaneity, The Self, wholeness

Anxiety Behind the Mask, Part II, The Armoured Self, My Prison In the course of thousands of years of mechanical development, the mechanistic concept, from generation to generation, has anchored itself deeply in man’s biological system. In so doing, it actually has altered human functioning in the direction of the machine-like…. Man has become biologically [...]

The Creative Fire and the Burden of Guilt

June 20th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Carl Jung, creativity, depth psychology, guilt, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, 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 · complexes, depth psychology, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Science, unconscious, Wellness, 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 [...]

The Symbolic Power of Home, Part 2: Where is Home?

June 10th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Carl Jung, depth psychology, Halton Region, Home, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, Psychology and Suburban Life, Relationships, The Self, therapy, wholeness

In the first part of this series, I wrote about how the experience of connection to a specific place that is home can be powerful and profound. However, there are also many people for whom there is no connection to a sense of home. And, for any of us, there can be many times–perhaps long periods–when [...]

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness