Carl Gustav Jung Essay Research Paper Carl

Carl Gustav Jung Essay, Research Paper

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and

founder of the school of analytical psychology. He

proposed and developed the concepts of the

extroverted and introverted personality,

archetypes, and the collective unconscious. The

issues that he dealt with arose from his personal

experiences. For many years Jung felt as if he had

two separate personalities. One introverted while

the other was extroverted. This interplay results in

his study of integration and wholeness. His work

has been influential not only in psychology, but in

religion and literature as well. Jung was born on

July 26, 1875 in Kesswil, Switzerland, the only

son of a Protestant clergyman. At the age of four

his family moved to Basel. His childhood was a

lonely one. Jung observed his parents and teachers

and tried to understand their behavior, especially

that of his father. The elder Jung had a failing belief

in religion. Jung could never understand why.

There were numerous relatives on either side of his

family that were clergymen. It was expected of

Jung to continue in the family tradition. Jung did

not decide to follow, instead choosing to attend

the University of Basel from 1895-1900. Before

deciding on medicine Jung studied biology,

zoology, paleontology, and archaeology. His

explorations did not stop with that, he looked at

philosophy, mythology, early Christian literature as

well as religion. His interest in religion could be

attributed to his heritage and watching the demise

of his father. After leaving Basel, Jung became an

assistant physician at Burgholzli Psychiatric clinic

under Eugen Bleuler. In 1902 he obtained his

M.D. from the University of Zurich. His

dissertation was entitled "On the Psychology and

Pathology of So -Called Occult Phenomena".

Through this work one of his basic concepts is

outlined, the underlying wholeness of the psyche.

Jung’s first research was conducted in 1904. He

studied word association in patients. He found

groups of repressed psychic content for which he

invented the now famous word "complex." This

study brought him close to the work of Sigmund

Freud. Jung’s work confirmed many of Freud’s

ideas. Between 1907 and 1912 he and Freud

worked very close. Many believed that Jung

would continue Freud’s psychoanalysis, but this

did not occur. For temperamental and differences

over the significance of sexuality in human life the

two split. Jung contested Freud’s analytic

principles, which he claimed were one-sided,

overly-concrete, and personalistic. When Jung

published "Psychology and the Unconscious"

which went against some of Freud’s ideas the

relationship was finished forever. In 1912

"Symbols and Transformations of the Libido" was

published. Jung wanted to understand the

symbolic meaning of the contents of the

unconscious. In order to distinguish between

individual psychology and psychoanalysis Jung

gave his discipline the name "analytical

psychology." After a break with the start of WWI,

Jung wrote the book "Psychological Types". It set

the differences between his position and that of

Freud. Jung became more interested in the study

of mythological and religious symbolism. His

studies took him across the globe observing many

different cultures. He was interested in tracing the

analogies between the contents of the unconscious

in Western man and the myths, cults, and rituals of

primitive peoples. Jungian therapy deals with

dreams and fantasies. A discussion is set up

between the conscious and the contents of the