A technique Jung used during his own self-analysis as well as with many of his pa- tients was active imagination.This method requires a person to begin with any im- pression—a dream image, vision, picture, or fantasy—and to concentrate until the
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impression begins to “move.” The person must follow these images to wherever they lead and then courageously face these autonomous images and freely communicate with them.
The purpose of active imagination is to reveal archetypal images emerging from the unconscious. It can be a useful technique for people who want to become better acquainted with their collective and personal unconscious and who are willing to overcome the resistance that ordinarily blocks open communication with the un- conscious. Jung believed that active imagination has an advantage over dream analy- sis in that its images are produced during a conscious state of mind, thus making them more clear and reproducible. The feeling tone is also quite specific, and ordi- narily a person has little difficulty reproducing the vision or remembering the mood (Jung, 1937/1959).
As a variation to active imagination, Jung sometimes asked patients who were so inclined to draw, paint, or express in some other nonverbal manner the progres- sion of their fantasies. Jung relied on this technique during his own self-analysis, and many of these reproductions, rich in universal symbolism and often exhibiting the mandala, are scattered throughout his books. Man and His Symbols(1964), Word and Image(1979), Psychology and Alchemy(1952/1968), and Claire Dunne’s (2000) illustrated biography, Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul,are especially prolific sources for these drawings and photographs.
Carl Jung, the wise old man of Küsnacht.
In 1961, Jung wrote about his experiences with active imagination during his midlife confrontation with the unconscious:
When I look back upon it all today and consider what happened to me during the period of my work on the fantasies, it seems as though a message had come to me with overwhelming force. There were things in the images which concerned not only myself but many others also. It was then that I ceased to belong to myself alone, ceased to have the right to do so. From then on, my life belonged to the generality. . . . It was then that I dedicated myself to service of the psyche: I loved it and hated it, but it was my greatest wealth. My delivering myself over to it, as it were, was the only way by which I could endure my existence and live it as fully as possible. (p. 192)
Psychotherapy
Jung (1931/1954b) identified four basic approaches to therapy, representing four de- velopmental stages in the history of psychotherapy. The first is confession of a path- ogenic secret. This is the cathartic method practiced by Josef Breuer and his patient Anna O. For patients who merely have a need to share their secrets, catharsis is ef- fective. The second stage involves interpretation, explanation, and elucidation. This approach, used by Freud, gives the patients insight into the causes of their neuroses, but may still leave them incapable of solving social problems. The third stage, there- fore, is the approach adopted by Adler and includes the education of patients as so- cial beings. Unfortunately, says Jung, this approach often leaves patients merely so- cially well adjusted.
To go beyond these three approaches, Jung suggested a fourth stage, trans- formation.By transformation, he meant that the therapist must first be transformed into a healthy human being, preferably by undergoing psychotherapy. Only after transformation and an established philosophy of life is the therapist able to help pa- tients move toward individuation, wholeness, or self-realization. This fourth stage is especially employed with patients who are in the second half of life and who are con- cerned with realization of the inner self, with moral and religious problems, and with finding a unifying philosophy of life (Jung, 1931/1954b).
Jung was quite eclectic in his theory and practice of psychotherapy. His treat- ment varied according to the age, stage of development, and particular problem of the patient. About two thirds of Jung’s patients were in the second half of life, and a great many of them suffered from a loss of meaning, general aimlessness, and a fear of death. Jung attempted to help these patients find their own philosophical orien- tation.
The ultimate purpose of Jungian therapy is to help neurotic patients be- come healthy and to encourage healthy people to work independently toward self- realization. Jung sought to achieve this purpose by using such techniques as dream analysis and active imagination to help patients discover personal and collective un- conscious material and to balance these unconscious images with their conscious at- titude (Jung, 1931/1954a).
Although Jung encouraged patients to be independent, he admitted the impor- tance of transference, particularly during the first three stages of therapy. He re- garded both positive and negative transference as a natural concomitant to patients’
revelation of highly personal information. He thought it quite all right that a number of male patients referred to him as “Mother Jung” and quite understandable that oth- ers saw him as God or savior. Jung also recognized the process of countertransfer- ence,a term used to describe a therapist’s feelings toward the patient. Like transfer- ence, countertransference can be either a help or a hindrance to treatment, depending on whether it leads to a better relationship between doctor and patient, something that Jung felt was indispensable to successful psychotherapy.
Because Jungian psychotherapy has many minor goals and a variety of tech- niques, no universal description of a person who has successfully completed analyt- ical treatment is possible. For the mature person, the goal may be to find meaning in life and strive toward achieving balance and wholeness. The self-realized person is able to assimilate much of the unconscious self into consciousness but, at the same time, remains fully aware of the potential dangers hidden in the far recess of the un- conscious psyche. Jung once warned against digging too deeply in land not properly surveyed, comparing this practice to a person digging for an artesian well and run- ning the risk of activating a volcano.
Related Research
Jung’s approach to personality was very influential in the early development of per- sonality psychology. In recent times, however, its influence has waned, even though there are still a few institutions around the world dedicated to analytical psychology.
Today, most research related to Jung focuses on his descriptions of personality types.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers, 1962) is the most frequently used measure of Jung’s personality types and is often used by school counselors to direct students toward rewarding avenues of study. For example, research has found that people high on the intuition and feeling dimensions are likely to find teaching re- warding (Willing, Guest, & Morford, 2001). More recently, researchers have extended work on the usefulness of Jungian personality types by exploring the role of types in how people manage their personal finances and the kinds of careers they pursue.