Jung - The Aims of Psychotherapy

The Aims of Psychotherapy

"If we were to exclude [Freud's] opinions as simply wrong and worthless... we should be doing violence to our own empirical material. The wide approval of which greeted Freud's explanation of the neuroses in terms of sexual causation, and his view that the happenings in the psyche turn essentially upon infantile pleasure and its satisfaction, should be instructive to the psychologist. It shows him that this manner of thinking and feeling coincides with a relatively widespread tendency or spiritual current which, quite apart from Freud's theory, has appeared in other places, in other circumstances, in various minds and in different forms. I should call it a manisfestation of the collective psyche." (page 57)

"It is undeniable that a great many people find satisfaction in explaining their troubles in terms of an urge to power arising from a sense of inferiority." (page 57)

"It would be an unpardonable error to overlook the element of truth in both the Freudian and Adlerian viewpoints... Both truths correspond to psychic realities." (page 58) 

"But the psychotherapist learns little or nothing from his successes... While his failures, on the other hand, are priceless experiences in that they not only open up the way to a deeper truth, but force him to change his views and methods." (page 59)

"I insist upon the fact that I have met with failures which I feel could have been avoided had I taken into consideration those empirical data which later forced me into modifications of their views." (page 59) 

As opposed to rejecting that which may contain errors entirely, Jung is trying to highlight the importance of extracting the most common factors between different explanations of the neuroses, as with such commonalities, psychotherapists can get closer to the truth, as is manifested and recognised by the collective psyche.  

"As a rule, the life of a young person is characterised by a general unfolding and a striving toward concrete ends; his neurosis, if he develops one, can be traced to his hesitation or his shrinking back from this necessity. But the life of an older person is marked by a contraction of forces, by the affirmation of what has been achieved, and the curtailment of further growth. His neurosis comes mainly from his clinging to a youthful attitude which is now out of season. Just as the youthful neurotic is afraid of life, so the older one shrinks back from death. What was a normal goal for the younger man, inevitably becomes a neurotic hindrance to the older person." (pages 59-60)

"The age of the patient seems to me, therefore, a most important indicium." (page 60) 

This made me think of my readings of work from Robert M Pirsig. His Metaphysics of Quality suggests that: Dynamic quality can be poetically described as the force of change in the universe; however, when an aspect of Quality becomes repeated, it becomes static. For individuals or a collective to function and sustain themselves in the future, these areas must be in balance. Exemplified within the laws of a society, a group of people that have too much static quality, and hold onto the laws of the past wholeheartedly because they have served them well in the past will undoubtedly be prone to the changes and challenges of the future that necessitate change. If this society does not adopt an element of dynamic quality, it will crumble in its dogmatic stance to uphold tradition. Instead, if there is too much dynamic quality, the foundations of a society cannot be actualised and chaos ensues. 

Concerning psychotherapy, individuals, like societies, must have a set of values to appropriately orientate them, but not in the form of rigid rules that cannot be adapted to any new and novel scenarios that may reveal themselves. Given the influence of age on a healthy orientation in life, it is important to consider each individual within this framework when considering the origin of their neuroses. Becoming fixed in your ways can prevent necessary adaptation to the changing environment. 

"It seems to me that in psychotherapy... it is advisable for the physician not to have too fixed a goal." (pages 61-62) 

"I am convinced that the doctor is not necessarily in a better position to know what is wanted than is the patient's own psychic constitution, which may be quite unconsicous to the patient himself." (page 60)

"I must confess that I have so often been mistaken... I am at pains to avoid all theoretical presuppositions as to the strucutre of the neurosis and as to what the patient can and ought to do. As far as possible, I let pure experience decide the theraputic aims." (page 61)

"The great decisions of human life have as a rule far more to do with the instincts and other mysterious unconsicous factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness." (page 62)

"For better or for worse, the therapist must be guided by the data presented through the patient's unconscious. Here we must follow nature as a guide, and the course the physician then adopts is less a question of treatment than of developing the creative possibilities that lie in the patient himself." (page 62)

These 5 quotes reflect a person-centred approach to therapy. This approach allows the therapist to be dynamic within their discourse with the patient, and follow new avenues that open up. A set of guidelines can be useful but must be moulded to the patient's needs and qualities to best resolve the patient's neuroses. 

"'I am stuck... What do you advise? What shall I do?', I do not know any better than he. I know only one thing: that when to my conscious outlook there is no possible way of going ahead, and I am therefore 'stuck', my unconscious will react to the unbearable standstill." (page 63)  

"We might put it in this way: 'getting stuck' is a typical event which, in the course of time, has evoked typical reactions and compensations. We may therefore expect with a certain degree of probability that something similar will appear in the reactions of the unconscious, as, for example, in dreams." (page 63) 

Jung points to what should be done when the therapeutic processes do not result in positive change and progress is halted. Turning to the contents of dreams can help us understand the unconscious and the origin of neuroses.  

"I do not know where else to go for help, and so I try to find it in dreams; these at least present us with images pointing to something or other, and that is at any rate better than nothing." (page 63) 

"I know that if we meditate on a dream sufficiently long and thoroughly - if we take it about with us and turn it over and over - something almost always comes of it." (pages 63-64) 

The dream often does not hand us the "answer" on a silver platter, but is:  

"a practical and important hint which shows the patient in what direction the unconscious is leading him." (page 64) 

"I may allow myself only one criterion for the validity of my interpretation of the dream - and this is that it works." (page 64) 

"Looked at from the side of theory, this dream-image can mean anything or nothing. For that matter, does a thing or a fact ever mean anything in and of itself? We can only be sure that it is always the human being who interprets, that is, gives meaning to a fact." (pages 65-66) 

Dream analysis has previously been in that interpretations of dreams can be suggested by the therapist to the patient, that the interpretation is not that of the patient but given to the patient by the therapist. Jung refutes the idea that suggestion is a criticism of the validity of dream interpretation:

"I not only give the patient an opportunity to see what occurs to him in connection with his dream, but allow myself to do the same. I give him the benefit of my guesses and opinions. If, in doing this I should open the door to the so-called 'suggestion', I see no occasion for regret; it is well known that we are sesceptible only to those suggestions with which we are already secretly in accord." (page 66) 

Dream analysis benefits greatly from the broad, multidisciplinary understanding of many fields, as the unconscious content within dreams can be ambiguous and must be viewed from multiple perspectives to best understand its meaning. 

"Know as much as possible about primative psychology, mythology, archaeology and comparative religion... Working together, we are then able to find the apparently irrelevant full of meaning and vastly increase the effectiveness of the dream." (pages 66-67) 

That which may seem insignificant to you, but holds great importance to the patients themselves is of the utmost importance in understanding the meaning of the dream.  

"For it all depends on how we look at things, and not on how they are in themselves. The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it." (page 67) 

"In handling a dream or a fantasy I make it a rule never to go beyond the meaning which has an effect upon the patient; I merely strive in each case to make this meaning as conscious to him as possible, so that he can also become aware of its supra-personal connections. This is important, for when something quite universal happens to a man and he supposes it to be an experience peculiar to himself, the his attitude is obviously wrong, that is, too personal, and it tends to exlude him from human society." (page 68) 

"As long as I help the patient to discover the effective elements in his dream and as long as I try to show him the general meaning of his symbols, he is still, psychologicaly speaking, in a state of childhood. For the time being he depends on his dreams and is always asking himself whether the subsequent dream will give him new light or not. Moreover, he is dependent on my having ideas about his dreams and on my ability to increase his insight through my knowledge. This he is still in a undesirably passive condition in which everything is uncertain and questionable; neither he nor I know the journey's end." (pages 68-69) 

The above quote speaks to the varying stages within therapy using dream analysis that the patient may take. It is not as simple as finding meaning in a dream for the patient, as the patient must eventually become active in this process of self-discovery, enabling him to be conscious of what was previously unconscious and work to tackle what is revealed. Jung speaks of the process he takes with patients: 

"Why do I encourage patients to express themselves at a certain stage of development by means of brush, pencil or pen? My purpose is the same here as in my handling of dreams: I wish the patient remains in a passive state; but now he begins to play an active part... He not only talks about it, but he is actually doing something about it. Psychologically speaking, it is one thing for a person to have an interesting conversation with his doctor twice a week - the results of which hang somewhere or other in mid-air - and quite another thing to struggle for hours at a time with refractory brush and colours, and to produce in the end something which, at its face value, is perfectly senseless. Were his fantasy really senseless to him, the effort to paint it would be so irksome that he could scarcely be brought to perform this exercise a second time. But since his fantasy does not seem to him entirely senseless, his buying himself with it increases its effects upon him. Moreover, the effort to give visible form to the image enforces a study of it in all its parts, so that in this way its effects can be completely experienced." (pages 70-71) 

"When a patient has seen once or twice how he is freed from a wretched state of mind by working at a symbolical picture, he will thenceforthward turn to this means of release whenever things go badly with him. In this way something invaluable is won, namely a growth of independence, a step toards psychological maturity. The patient can make himself creatively independent by this mehtod - if I may call it such. He is no longer dependent on his dreams or on his doctor's knowledge, but can give form to his own inner experience by painting it." (page 71) 

This describes the process by which a patient may develop maturity in their approach to dream analysis, not merely being receptive to the therapist's suggestions but being their own dream interpreter. It is unlikely that drawing or painting is the only method by which this can be done. Still, the patient and the therapist can view the creation process of such activities and the artistic outcome. This outcome reflects the process taken and portrays the unconscious content in a way that can be reflected upon by both the patient and the therapist. 

"It is highly important for a young person who is still unadapted and has yet achieved nothing, to shape the conscious ego as effectively as possible - that is, to educate the will. Unless he is positively a genius he even may not believe in anything active within himself that is not identifcal with his will. He must feel himself a man of will, and he may safely depreciate everything else within himself or suppose it subject to his will - for without this illusion he can scarcely bring about a social adaptation." (page 72) 

"It is otherwise with the patient in the second half of life who no longer needs to educate his conscious will, but who, to understand the meaning of his individual life, must learn to experience his own inner being. Social usefulness is no longer an aim for him,  although he does not question its desirability. Fully aware as he is of the social unimportance of his creative activity, he looks upon it as a way of working out his own development and thus benefitting himself. This activity likewise frees him progressively from a morbid dependence, and he thus wins an inner firmness and a new trust in himself. These last achievements in turn serve to further the patient in his social existence. For an inwardly sound and self-confident person will be more adequate to his social tasks than one who is not on good terms and with his unconsicous." (page 72) 

Here, Jung talks of the differences in orientation that can occur at different ages in life. When one is young, one must learn to be aware of the conscious outlook, but not be blinded by a sort of "ego-centrism" in which one cannot be aware of all aspects, conscious, and unconscious. This understanding of the self in the first half of life can help the individual know their social usefulness and appropriately integrate into society. Whereas in the final half of life, an individual is best served by understanding their meaning in life, a process that can be facilitated through the development of creative activity. This activity seeks to further the expression and understanding of the unconscious, leading to improved self-confidence and the development of a sound mind. 

Speaking of the creative outputs of patients: 

"A feature common to all these pictures is a primative symbolism which is conspicuous both in the drawing and in the colouring. The colours are usually quite barbaric in their intensity; often, too, an archaic quality is present. These peculairities point to the nature of the creative forces which have produced the pictures. They are non-rational, symbolic currents in the evolution of man, and are so archaic that is is easy to draw parallels between them and similar manifestations in the fields of archaeology and comparative religion. We may therefore readily assume that these pictures originate chiefly in that realm of psychic life which I have called the collective unconscious... An unconscious psychic activity present in all human beings which not only gives rise to symbolical pictures today, but was the source of all similar products of the past." (pages 72-73) 

"It is necessary besides to have an intellectual and emotional understanding of [the pictures]; they must be consciously integreated, made intelligble, and morally assimilated. We must subject them to a process of interpretation." (page 73) 

Finally, Jung speaks to understanding the psyche, the totality of what it means to be a human. It is not just what we are vividly aware of, that which is conscious, it also involves that which is unconscious and the collective unconscious.

"To recognise the psyche, even, he must learn to see how it differs from consciousness. It is highly probable that what we call illusion is actual for the psyche: for which reason we cannot take psychic activity to be commensurable with conscious activity." (page 74) 

"In psychic life, as everywhere in our experience, all things that act are actual, regardless of the names man chooses to bestow on them. To understand that these happendings have actuality - that is what is imporant to us; and not the attempt to give them one name instead of another. To the psyche the spirit is no less the spirit even though it be called sexuality." (page 74) 

These last two quotes imply the importance of phenomenology. Experience, is real, whether it reflects the objective world or not. It may be called anxiety, intrusive thoughts, or psychotic voices, but that does not make the experience, the phenomena, any less real to those experiencing them. Given this, therapists must ensure to attempt to place themselves in the shoes of their patients as frequently as possible, in an attempt to discover the most appropriate method of discourse and treatment for subsequent healthy development.