I recently told several of my colleagues that I had almost completed my certification in Jungian Analysis. They laughed. Carl Jung has become a bit of a joke to most modern clinicians. He is like Freud. We respect him as a historic contributor to our work, but actually using his philosophies in modern practice is a rare event.
Modern clinicians are overwhelmingly cognitive behavioral in practice. This is a rational choice as the evidence overwhelmingly supports CBT as the primary treatment modality. Beck and Ellis's research and the bulk of scientific research show that if you want to help someone face anxiety or depression CBT works. Other clinicians lean heavily on Brief Solution Focused methods to attack specific problems and get clients in and out of treatment. I uses both these techniques heavily in my own practice. In graduate school, on of my favorite professors lectured extensively on how utterly ineffective psychoanalytic techniques are and how much research shows them to be no better than placebo in controlled studies.
So why would I turn to a psychoanalyst who practiced a hundred years ago for my inspiration? I believe that Carl Jung was a man confined by his times and ahead of his times and deeper glimpses into his work show insights that only recently have come to light in the modern practice of mental health. For example; Carl Jung specifically discusses meditation and mindfulness in The Red Book and discusses as a path to clarity of the mind. Kabat-Zinn (2003) is given almost exclusive credit for bringing this practice into modern mental health practice. Since it has emerged as a common tool in modern mental health the research has exploded showing the meditation and mindfulness can reduce and eliminate numerous mental health issues including anxiety, depression, trauma, and anger. Meditation practice is associated with lower levels of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, anger and worry (Baer 2003). One study found that employees in a corporate setting showed changes in front brain electrical activity following 8 weeks of Mindfulness Based treatment (MBSR) that were consistent with the experience of positive emotions like joy and content (2003). I could spend all day citing research, but it has been shown that mindfulness and meditation can help most mental health concerns. Jung said this in his Red Book almost 100 years ago and little is said of it. Jung was also the first practitioner to use art therapy. Research has supported the uses of this more modern technique as well (Complimentary Therapies in Medicine, 18, 160-170). Jung addressed the spiritual when most clinicians wanted to focus on penis envy. He was revolutionary and often written off in the world of modern mental health.
In the end, it wasn't these factors that brought me to Jung but issues facing my clients. I see these issues now, but originally it was the voices of those I hope to help that carried me back to the work of Carl Jung. Most of my clients thrive and move on with CBT, BSFT, or with person centered techniques. However, a few of my clients seemed to want and need something deeper. They were facing existential crises that couldn't be addressed by looking at behaviors or faulty cognitions. They wanted to explore the meaning of their life. There was nothing in my regular treatment modalities to address these issues. Jung's perspective did so.
So as I start this blog, it feels like the culmination of a lifetime of work. It isn't just a lifetime of work as a clinician, but also a lifetime of work as a writer, folklorist, and painter. If you have read my other blog, www.ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com or any of my books, which you can find on my website www.jessicapenot.net, you will find that exploring where we fall in mythology, folklore and in the face of life and death have been questions I have been exploring for sometime. I hope to go deeper into these questions on this blog and explore it from a Jungian perspective. I also hope to build my own Red Book, filled with art and thoughts tying all of my work together.
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