Analytical psychology

From ArticleWorld

Analytical psychology was developed by Carl Jung whose aim was to reveal the motivations underlying human behaviour. In a break from Freudian psychology which assumed that the unconscious was made up of repressed sexual instincts, Jung’s approach, while keeping the premise that the unconscious was probably the most important part of the human psyche, was more general making no assumptions about the make up of it.

Also vital to analytical psychology is the importance of the use of dreams in analysis. Jung agreed with Freud in that dreams were indicative of ideas and feelings which were not necessarily conscious, and an analysis of them could reveal hidden motivations for otherwise inexplicable behaviour.

Self-realization

For Jung, each individual has an innate need for self-realization, which is the process needed in order to become a psychologically-healthy, separate being. If this process is inhibited, then neurosis may occur, leading to symptoms such as phobias, fetishism and depression. Jung considered even supposedly meaningless symptoms to be full of hidden significance in the search for what the unconscious contains.

In analysis, Jung attempted to access meanings of behaviour, symptoms and events by analyzing dreams and expression in various creative activities such as art and poetry.

Two temperaments

Jung divided human temperaments into two groups –

• extrovert where the libido is directed outward towards an object;
• introvert where the libido is directed inwards towards the subject.

He maintained that type of mental illness depended on which temperament the individual had – if extrovert, then they were more likely to suffer from manic depression and if introvert, then mental illness was more likely to be manifested in catatonic-type schizophrenia.