Monday, March 18, 2013

Thomas Kirsh - Jungians and Technique

"Jung eschewed the word "technique," but there was a general way in which he worked. He used dream analysis, active imagination, and amplification in face-to-face, relatively infrequent sessions, and fostered an active dialectic between himself and his patient. Today there is wide variation in the use of these basic analytic methods. The more developmentally oriented Jungians use a couch, require more frequent sessions, interpret the transference, and focus less on dreams, amplification and active imagination. I do not wish to imply that all Jungians who use the couch or frequent sessions are developmentally oriented. Many Jungian analysts, especially in the United States, use the couch experimentally to help induce unconscious fantasy and facilitate a state of reverie in an otherwise Jungian way. Opposite to them are analysts who adhere strictly to Jung’s own method, as they understand it. Most work somewhere in between. In my experience, almost all Jungians, in addition to amplifying and interpreting dreams, recognize the primarily symbolic nature of the unconscious, the importance of working with the transference/countertransference relationship, and the necessity for maintaining strict professional boundaries." (pp. 247-248)

Thomas Kirsh (2000) The Jungians: A comparative and historical perspective. Routledge: London.

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