Course handout for PSYC632 Advanced Theories: Jungian
School of Applied Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy
Antioch University Seattle
Ann B. Blake, Ph.D.
June 15, 2010
Be
curious rather than judgmental. Approach your work with clients with an
open mind and attitude, bringing no previous assumptions and ideas.
Take an initial stance that you do not know.
Take a non-hierarchical relational stance. You and your clients are on a mutual journey.
Hold
a wider lens about the range of human nature (e.g., typology, themes,
images, symbols, inner characters, archetypal characters).
Monitor
recurrent bodily responses, affective responses, images, and
words/phrases. After reflecting about your connection with these
responses, (1) offer a hypothesis and (2) wonder whether and the degree
to which clients resonate with these responses.
Focus
on clients’ goals rather than your own. What do clients want from the
therapeutic experience; what do clients want for their lives?
Hold
clients’ wholeness as your approach to relationship. Assume that
clients simultaneously present the totality of themselves as well as
specific parts of themselves.
Focus on strengths; focus
on moving toward wholeness. Listen for movement toward wholeness. Bring
clients’ attention to their strengths and to their movement toward
wholeness.
Listen for ambivalence and for tension
between opposites: on the one hand, ________, and on the other hand,
_________. Inquire about the degree to which clients can
accept/integrate both/all sides of situations and of their
personalities.
Look for areas of one-sidedness; listen
for self-criticism and/or self-blame and/or self-rejection. Offer
clients the idea about the possibility of incorporating the other
side(s) of situations and/or of their personalities.
Be
aware of your typology as well as the strengths and challenges
associated with your typology. Make educated guesses about clients’
typology. Brainstorm/consider ways you can genuinely interact from your
typology AND include an awareness of clients’ typology in your
interactions. Offer ideas about ways clients can expand and integrate
other aspects of their typology, for example, moving closer to the
center of the continua so that clients can more flexibly respond to the
world from a realistic/relevant perspective.
Dreams:
facilitate clients’ dream exploration. Explore the context; use
associations and active imagination (moving the dream story forward).
Only after clients have thoroughly explored the dream images, you can
offer furthering questions and associations. Inquire about the degree to
which the dream offers compensatory ideas: offering the other side of a
one-sided perspective; offering the opposite perspective; widening the
viewpoint; offering alternative actions. Be cautious about
interpretations.
Active imagination: suggest that
clients continue associating to images, dreams, and narratives so that
clients can deepen their exploration and understanding of their inner
lives.
Perceive countertransference as a gift: after
exploring your portion of the response, your human response offers a
glimpse into clients’ inner experience and informs your interactions
with clients.
Blake, A. B. (2010, Spring Quarter).
Practical MA applications of Jung's Analytical Psychology: Skills,
interventions, and ideas. Class handout for Advanced Theories: Jungian.
Antioch University Seattle.
