Carl Jung

Jung’s Psychology

Theories of personality
February 13, 2012

Jung’s Psychology
"My life is the story of the discovery of my own unconscious." (Carl Jung). Carl Gustav Jung is one of the most important, complex and controverted psychology theorists. Jungian psychology focuses on the establishment and development of relations between the conscious and unconscious processes. Jung’sanalysis of human nature includes investigations of Eastern and Western religions, alchemy, parapsychology and mythology. A very interesting aspect is how Jungian theory maintains an important relationship between personal experience of the author and his conception, his relationship with Freud and the introduction of new concepts.
Psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and individual psychology areconsidered by many to be the three sources of depth psychology.
Carl Gustav Jung was born in Switzerland on July 26, 1875. His first nine years were spent as a somewhat isolated child, characterized by solitary games and a large inner world. His father was pastor of the Reformed Church in Switzerland and an expert in Oriental languages. Since his early years Jung was interested inspiritual and religious issues. According to Frager and Fadiman (2001) in his autobiography he recounts two visions that seemed to have marked his childhood by being rich in content but in an unconceivable way because they challenge the traditions of the church, which he deeply respected by being a divine institution. However, following stronger vision, Jung enjoyed a huge release and a sense of grace,which was interpreted to mean that God's desire that he act against the traditions of the Church.
Partly as a result of his inner experiences, he felt alienated from other people, there were times he felt utterly alone. The school did not offer her any new or motivation and spent all his free time reading any printed matter that came to his hands. Since childhood, Jung realized that insidethere were two personalities. The first was the local pastor's insecure and shy son,. The other was that of a wise old man, skeptical, suspicious and removed from the world of men.
For Jung, the interaction of these two personalities is presented in everybody, with the difference that very few realize the second personality, which in turn acquired a decisive importance.
* Jung decided to studymedicine, because it allowed him to meet his scientific and humanistic interests, both at the same time. He was drawn particularly to psychiatry and found that it contained both scientific and humanistic perspectives. He was also attracted to psychic phenomena, so he began to investigate the messages received his cousin, a local medium.
In 1900, Jung was named internist in BurghölzliHospital in Zurich, one of the most progressive psychiatric centers in Europe. Four years later, he founded an experimental laboratory in the psychiatric clinic, where he developed the verbal association test for the purpose of psychiatric diagnosis. There, he also acquired the skill to interpret the psychological meaning of the associations produced by the subjects. In 1905, at age 30, he wasappointed professor of psychiatry at the University of Zurich, and chief physician of the psychiatric clinic. By then he had discovered the texts of Sigmund Freud, who, since then, occupied a crucial place in his life as a teacher and mentor.
Jung sent Freud copies of his articles and a copy of his first book to which he got in response an invitation to Vienna. They liked so much that they beganto write each other weekly, and Freud saw him as his logical successor. Despite the close friendship that remained, there were essential disagreements between the two. According to Evans (1946) Jung never accepted Freud's insistence that the causes of repression could not be other than the trauma of sexual nature. Freud in turn, reluctantly accepted his friend's interest in the mythological,...