Jung's instrumental role in affirming psychology as a science is downplayed by modern researchers. Yet as the author notes, much of what Jung unearthed in his research and clinical work has bled through to modern clinical psychology. The most obvious implication that Jungian psychology has become part of the mainstream social sciences is the Myers-Briggs test.
However, the concept of the archetype is Jung's. So, too, are issues like extraversion and introversion. Jung is renowned for detailed personality typing, a process that is integral to healing. Typing indicates the quest for self-awareness. Like going backwards, the process of being more aware of the self is often akin to diving into a dark pool.
We Jungian therapists might sometimes be called upon to delve into primitive landscapes ourselves, searching for cultural emblems and icons that match a client's budding self-awareness. The Cambridge Companion to Jung, which contains a plethora of useful essays on various aspects of the Jungian tradition, outlines various ways that Jungian theory is put into practice. We read about classically psychanalytical issues like transference and countertransference; we also examine a case study from the various perspectives and learn how Jung would have commented on issues as diverse as sexuality and politics.
Schwartz-Salant's (1982) admirably thorough rendition of narcissism is the quintessential...
Here, the author addresses Narcissism not as a pathology but as a process. Narcissism is also, in a classically Jungian way, personified and symbolized. The archetype of Narcissus, the Greek figure from where the word originates, holds the key to a complete understanding of self-insight, self-awareness, and the occasional bout of self-obsession. Rather than presenting narcissism as Freud did, Jung elevated the concept to one that evokes Eastern religious thought. The Self, the formation of Identity, and the reunion with the Soul are all made possible by a healthy emergence of personal power. Likewise, a proactive dive into the depths of one's soul, into the darkness, or even can also churn up the issues that contribute to personal and collective healing. Few authors describe the Jungian process as well as Gambini (1998), who writes that the psyche's task is "finding a way out of the endless doom of not being all that we potentially are and awakening the dormant soul of a nation" (p. 152).
References
Gambini, R. (1998). The challenge of backwardness. Chapter 9 in Casement, a. (1998). Post-Jungians Today. p. 149-234. Routledge.
Robertson, R. (2005). Jung and the making of modern psychology. Psychological Perspectives, 48, 1.
Schwartz-Salant, N. (1982). Narcissism and character transformation. pages 133-169
Young-Eisendrath, P. & Dawson,…
