The Path of Therapy

The Goal of Analysis

On The Path I saw a post on the PsychCentral website this morning titled: Is There a Goal to the Psychoanalytic Process? In it the author, Leigh Pretnar Cousins, describes her original image of Psychoanaylsis as the endless “rehashing of every real or imagined detail of childhood, in a fruitless internal quest for The Answer to one’s […]

Approaching The Numinous

One aspect that differentiates Jungian Depth Psychology from other forms of therapy, is the importance that is placed on religious or numinous experiences.


For Jung, the experience of the numinous is the essential element of psychotherapy. In one of his letters he wrote: 

"You are quite right, the main interest of my work is not concerned with the treatment of neurosis but rather with the approach to the numinous. But the fact is that the approach to the numinous is the real therapy and inasmuch as you attain to the numinous experiences you are released from the curse of pathology. Even the very disease takes on a numinous character." 

Here is a video of Jungian Analyst Lionel Corbett, discussing the importance of such numinous experiences:

What is Depth Psychology?

I am planning a series of posts about Depth Psychology, exploring what it is, the people who practice it and write about it, and how a depth-oriented psychotherapy understands and seeks to effect healing. 

I'm kicking off this series with this video in which Stephen Aizenstat, the founding president of Pacifica Graduate Institute, offers his attempt at a definition of Depth Psychology:

 

Jung's Anima

Jung’s Anima

Sabina Spielrein, a pioneer of psychoanalysis Photo: MIA OVERGAARD An interesting article posted on the Telegraph website about the early history of psychoanalysis and Jung’s relationship with Sabina Spielrein. The article was prompted by the upcoming release of the movie A Dangerous Method, about the relationship between Jung, Freud, and Spielrein. The movie is directed by […]