Jungian Psychotherapy: Between The Symbolic And The Imagination
One does not achieve enlightenment by fantasizing about the light but by making the darkness conscious.
—Carl Jung
Within the different psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic schools that emerged from the approaches of Sigmund Freud, and that are sometimes included under the term deep psychology (psychoanalysis, Adler’s individual psychology and Jungian analytical psychology) the premise of the existence of a psychic substrate containing unconscious factors that condition and determine the ways of thinking, feeling and acting of individuals.
The unconscious: repressed desires and collective patterns
For Freudian psychoanalysis, the unconscious is a conglomerate of fantasies and desires that have been repressed by the individual in their process of adaptation to the social environment. Therefore, it refers to content related to the personal history of the individual, giving special relevance to the memory linked to parental figures.
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, creator of analytical psychology, is in part in agreement with this assumption but proposes that in addition to the biographical contents, In the unconscious it is also possible to identify elements that are part of the phylogenetic history of humanity. He then proposes that in addition to the personal unconscious, there is a collective unconscious made up of prototypes of experiences and behaviors shared by all human beings as a species.
Archetypes in the collective unconscious
These behavioral patterns, which Jung called archetypes, are closely related to instincts, to the extent that They operate as stimuli that compel us to perform certain behaviors and promote reactions. typical in the face of various circumstances in our lives (emancipating ourselves from parents, starting a family, having offspring, seeking a livelihood, appropriating a territory, participating in the collective, transforming the social order, death).
Unlike instincts, which are drives with a relatively closed and concrete circuit of realization, archetypes behave in an open and symbolic way ; However, not realizing it is also a source of discomfort and frustration.
Jung suggests that it is possible to infer the existence of archetypes from their manifestations, one of which are the typical dramatic images and structures that can be found, with different cultural clothing, in mythological and fantastic narratives from different places and times. .
Myths show us how humanity has faced different critical situations, and although some of them are thousands of years old, they continue to resonate and have an impact on our psyche since the challenges they allude to continue to accompany us.
Jung highlights that it is not often possible to adduce direct or indirect contact between peoples to explain the structural similarities of myths. It is also relevant that these typical dramas and characters also arise spontaneously in delusions and psychotic hallucinations, as well as in altered states of consciousness as an effect of meditative practices or due to the ingestion of psychedelic substances. Some dreams whose contents cannot be related to biographical aspects may also be an expression of archetypal images.
Freud and Jung not only distanced themselves due to their different conceptions regarding the unconscious, but also for his approaches about the nature of the fundamental energy that moves human beings : libido.
As is well known, libido is, according to Freud, of a sexual nature, while for Jung, the sexual is only one of the manifestations of a much broader and more encompassing vital energy. Jung describes libido then as a creative energy, which is the origin and engine of the universe. This energy manifests itself in human beings as a desire for transcendence, for fulfillment, for expansion of consciousness. Jung found that this process of manifestation and deployment of vital energy is manifested mythically through the archetype of the solar hero. This archetype that is the prototype of many ancient and contemporary stories in which the transformation of the hero is narrated (The odyssey, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings)
Through a series of journeys and adventures (undertaking a journey, fighting with the dragon, descent to hell, death, rebirth), and the encounter and confrontation with other archetypes (shadow, animus-anima, wise old man, the great mother ) the hero enters into a relationship with the forces of the underworld (the unconscious), finds the sought-after treasure and returns to his place of origin to share the “light”, the wisdom, with his people.
Jung proposes to understand this mythical structure, as a projection of a psychic process of transformation and evolution to which all human beings are called. Each human soul is forced to confront a series of circumstances that lead it to manifest its vocation, its particular calling, its unique contribution to the collective, to the world. It manifests itself as a desire for knowledge, for improvement, for wholeness. I call this evolutionary path the process of individuation and it is also considered a symbol of the gradual transformation of the ego in its confrontation and adaptation to the forces of the unconscious and the external world.
The emotional complexes
Archetypes are humanized in individuals based on what Jung called the personal emotional complexes. The complexes, in addition to being imbued with archetypes, They are nourished by our personal experiences. They can be considered as a set of images and representations, emotionally charged, around a common theme (relationship with the father or mother, power, eroticism, etc.)
Different circumstances in our lives constellate, that is, they make a certain complex more relevant. A constellation complex It alters our conscious perception and will, coloring it with the traces of the corresponding archetypes added to previous experiences regarding the same theme. Ancient demonic possessions and multiple personality disorders are expressions of highly constellated complexes. In these cases they behave like massive invasions of the unconscious that oppress and nullify the functions of the ego and conscience.
Complexes are expressed in our psyche as urges, needs, points of view, emotional reactions, disproportionate feelings of admiration or contempt, obsessive ideas. They have the ability to personify themselves in our dreams, and to generate events and circumstances in the physical world with analogous meanings (somatizations, accidents, encounters with people, repetition of a certain type of relationship). The externalization capacity of archetypes and complexes is the basis of the phenomenon described by Jung as synchronicity.
The emotional complexes They are considered the constituent particles of the unconscious psyche, therefore they are not only part of the scope of psychopathology. They work as if pets lived in our house, and if we ignore or neglect them, sooner rather than later they will end up going against us, causing us multiple havoc. The alternative is to come into contact with them, pay attention to their needs, so that with time and effort we somehow manage to domesticate them, even being able to make use of their potential resources. The unconscious, whether we want it or not, is going to act on us so the most appropriate thing is to delve into its mysteries.
This dialogue with our complexes, with our inner characters, which as we saw are the expression of the drama towards the realization of our deepest being, requires the deployment of a symbolic attitude through imagination and creativity.
Imagination and creativity as a dialogue with the unconscious
Imagination has been reviled by rationalist and materialist thinking since the Enlightenment, considering it of no value to obtain valid and productive knowledge. Jung, however, joins the hermetic and phenomenological current that recognizes the realm of the imaginary, which includes myths, dreams and fantasies as elements that allow access to the paradoxical complexity of the psyche, to the depths of human nature and above all to that other sublime reality that inhabits and conditions us.
Imagination
The imagination is recognized as having the symbolic property of uniting and reconciling polarities; to express, suggest and evoke the incomprehensible; to comprehensively approach unclassifiable phenomena through concept and rationality. The analyst James Hillman proposes the imagination as the language of the soul.
The imaginary manifests itself spontaneously in dreams and that is why its interpretation is a fundamental part of Jungian psychotherapy. Also It is possible to artificially induce the imaginary in the therapeutic space through the technique of active imagination. This consists of giving the opportunity to express itself to the contents of the unconscious, making use of its capacity for personification.
It is then proposed to get in touch with our inner characters, listen to them carefully and rigorously, interacting and conversing with them as if they were real entities.
Ways to approach the unconscious
Our inner characters can be evoked through the image of a dream, an intense emotion, a symptom. Each of us has a modality that facilitates this communication. There are people who can hear voices, or perceive inner images, some express themselves through body movements in a kind of dance. For others, contact with the unconscious is possible through automatic writing, a technique used by the surrealists.
Jung differentiates idle fantasizing from active imagination, highlighting that In the latter, the ego assumes an active attitude, that is, it does not passively and submissively accept the voices and images of the unconscious, but rather challenges them. The active attitude involves supporting and maintaining the tension with the unconscious, allowing what is called the transcendent function to emerge, that is, a new birth, the emergence of a new attitude, the product of said confrontation.
The transcendent function of the psyche is what makes possible the reconciliation of apparently irreconcilable opposites. It is the emergence of a third element or perspective, which includes and integrates the elements that have been in dispute. It is a process of conflict, negotiation and temporary agreements.
The technique of active imagination is usually used in advanced stages of analysis, since it requires a structured ego that withstands the tension of opposites and does not succumb to dissociation or identification with some of the contents of the unconscious.
Jung emphasizes that taking the unconscious seriously does not mean taking it literally, but rather giving it credit, giving it the opportunity to cooperate with consciousness, instead of automatically disturbing it. This cooperation of the unconscious is related to the self-regulating principle of the psychea fundamental concept in the Jungian perspective.
Imagination as a facilitator of the self-regulatory mechanism of the psyche
The psyche is presented as a dynamic system of opposing forces (conscious-unconscious, progression-progression of libido, matter-logos), with an intrinsic tendency to maintain a balance. This self-regulatory mechanism implies a permanent interplay of compensation and complementarity between the psychic components.
The state of psychic balance is regularly altered by stimuli coming from the lability of the internal and external world. This alteration requires modifications aimed at adapting to new requirements, promoting a transformation in the psyche to stages of increasing complexity and comprehensiveness. Neurotic symptoms (obsessions, depression, anxiety, accidents, somatizations, repetition of relationship patterns, self-sabotage) are an expression of an attempt by the unconscious psyche in search of this higher balanced state. An attempt to create awareness through setbacks.
Dialogue with the unconscious psyche through imagination allows the self-regulatory mechanism of the psyche to act without the need to resort to symptomatic phenomena. It is in some way to anticipate events and avoid that Jungian sentence by which, “everything that is not made conscious will be experienced abroad as destiny.”
Self-regulation: one of the keys to the unconscious
The self-regulation mechanism of the psyche is called by analyst James Hillman as our inner daimon. With this Hellenic concept he intends to refer to that force that leads us through good and bad times to express our vocation, our particular calling. Imagination and creativity are a means then to interpret the winks of destiny, the signs of our daimon.
The development of the symbolic attitude that is intended to be fostered in Jungian psychotherapy through imagination allows us to escape from the narrow literality of facts. It gives us access to paradoxical subaltern logics. It links us to the deep polysemy of events through symbols, analogies and correspondences.
The symbolic attitude also It broadens our sensitivity and willingness to respond constructively to everything that the diversity of life calls upon us. and to integrate and live with our shadow aspects. Dialogue with the unconscious allows us to become co-creators of our reality and not simple slaves or victims of circumstances.
