Jungian Psychology | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'Jungian psychology'

The Psychological Meaning of the Chilean Miners

October 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments · archetypal experience, Current Affairs, Hope, inner life, mine rescue, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, resilience, symbolism, therapy

The story of rescue of the miners trapped at the bottom of the mine at Copiapo, Chile embodies resilience,to a remarkable degree. The world’s media have been following the fortunes of the miners with tremendous verve and intensity. From a psychological point of view, why is it that this story grips us so?

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 [...]

The Not-So-Simple Task of Simply Being Honest, Pt 2: Shadow

September 14th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Carl Jung, depth psychology, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Shadow, soul, The Self, unlived life, wholeness

As I indicated in Part 1 of this post, if we really get serious about the task of being honest with ourselves, sooner or later, we are going to run into what Jung calls the Shadow. The Shadow represents all those parts of ourselves that we do not, or do not want to, acknowledge as [...]

Jungian Psychology, Caregiving and the Self

August 31st, 2010 · No Comments · aging, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, Self

Studies like Supporting Informal Caregivers – The Heart of Home Care and Caring for Seniors With Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Forms of Dementia show us an important aspect of a social reality that impacts our society, and in Jungian terms, has a huge impact on the individuation processes of very large numbers of individuals.

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.

Sarah Palin, “Mama Grizzlies” and the Mother Archetype

August 15th, 2010 · No Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, Carl Jung, collective consciousness, depth psychology, mother archetype, parent-child interactions, popular culture, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, symbolism, unconscious

Andrea Huffington commented recently in the Huffington Post on Sarah Palin’s use of archetypal imagery in the political ads that she has recently run with incredible success online. Huffington seeks to use the concepts of Jungian psychology to analyze Palin’s message. In my opinion, it’s a fruitful approach.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 3: Through Phoenix Gate

August 11th, 2010 · 4 Comments · complexes, depression, depth psychology, guilt, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, regret, Shadow, soul, therapy, unconscious, unlived life, wholeness

Hopefully I have succeeded in making one very central thing clear: regret is not some peripheral thing in our lives that is going to be cleared away by simply improving our thinking. It strikes deeper. It is much more fundamental. How then are we to deal with the presence of regret in our lives? To answer this question in our own personal way, we have to meet this question for ourselves head on.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 2: The Power of Regret

July 29th, 2010 · 2 Comments · complexes, compulsion, decision, depression, depth psychology, guilt, Hope, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, life passages, midlife, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, regret, soul, The Self, therapy, unconscious, wholeness

In my last posting, I tried to open up the whole subject of regret, and the powerful and sometimes crippling place that it can occupy in our lives, and how we can be held in slavery to regret of all the choices we could have made differently, or courses of events that could have turned out differently. In this posting, I’d [...]

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness