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Brief Psychotherapy: A Jungian Approach

Dennis L. Merritt, Ph.D.

Jungian analysis is generally a long-term process, but the

realities of modern health care makes a brief therapy model
necessary. In this article I will discuss how I, as a Jungian
psychoanalyst, conceptualize and use a Jungian analytic approach in
brief therapy. Ten to twenty sessions is often the limit covered by
insurance, with many managed care organizations and HMO’s
reducing the number to six to ten sessions. To understand my brief
therapy approach an overview of Jungian concepts is necessary.

Most important in Jung’s system is the idea of the collective

unconscious. This postulates that all humans are basically alike with
some fundamental differences between the sexes. We have brains
that are basically alike, a sexual dichotomy of physiological and
morphological differences, have the same basic intra-psychic
structure and activity, the same basic needs, go through the same
stages of life, and have basic ways of perceiving and responding to
the world emotionally and behaviorally. Charles Darwin was the first
to recognize universal emotional expressions in human faces
throughout the world. The collective unconscious is composed of
archetypes, operating like inherited psychic organs. Archetypes are
discovered by looking at basic themes and imagery in religions,
fairytales, classic stories and art across time and around the world and
by looking at the basic aspects of human development and behavior.
Each person has the potential to manifest the full complement of
archetypes with genetic differences and life experiences determining
the potential strength of the various archetypes and their
combinations. More testosterone for example is likely to produce
more aggressive, Ares-type behavior. (See “The He Hormone” by
Andrew Sullivan in The New York Times Magazine, April 2, 2000,
Section 6, pp. 46-89) Some factors causing the constellation
(classical theory) or emergence (complexity theory) of archetypes
associated with masculine or feminine energy are (1) what it feels
like to be in a male or female body in terms of shoulder versus hip
development, etc., (2) the different hormones flowing through one’s
system and (3) the feel and experience of the genitalia.

The interaction of operative archetypes is succinctly portrayed

by the psychological dimensions of astrology irrespective of a
possible synchronistic link to the stars. Having a sense of the
archetype active within us and/or in our culture links us to all of
humanity in a mythic manner.

It is particularly important that the archetype of the good

mother emerges in a child. This is necessary for a basic sense of
well-being for a child as well as an adult. A child comes into the
world with a potential for the archetype of the good mother to
emerge. It perceives and can respond behaviorally and emotionally to
what D. W. Winnicott called “good enough” mothering from the
environment. The myth-making potential of the psyche turns the
“good enough” mothering experience into the Virgin Mary in a
Christian context, a fairy godmother in fairytales, or as a tree with a
gift-giving white bird as in the Grimm’s version of “Cinderella.” The
image and particular aspects of the personal mother, such as red hair
or a certain height or body build, becomes imprinted as the personal
image of the archetype of the good mother. This relationship of the
personal to the timeless collective is often confused or unrecognized
by many psychologies, resulting in a loss of a sense of the mythic in
one’s life.

An easily recognizable archetype in cultures throughout the

world and across time is the archetype of the hero. Luke Skywalker
and Batman are recent incarnations of the hero archetype in American
movie culture. The archetype of the divine child was seen in semi-
mythic form as Fiona in the movie The Secret of Roan Inish and more
commonly as the younger daughter Penny in Ulee’s Gold. The
archetype of the trickster as expressed by the Greek god Hermes and
the archetype of the puer aeternis (eternal youth) was well
represented as Ferris Buhler in Ferris Buhler’s Day Off. Other
archetypes in the movies are the witch (Glen Close’s character in
Fatal Attraction), the magician (in Batman and Morpheus in Matrix),
the Wise Old Man (Ben Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars) and the Wise
Old Woman (the mother in A Passage to India).
Four archetypes particularly important for understanding
personality structure are the persona, shadow, soul image (anima and
animus) and the Self. The persona is the archetype of adaptation, the
mask the individual wears that is molded by social mores, values and
expectations for individual and professional behavior. It is the
archetype of the interface between the ego and the outer world. It
helps tune one into the expectations of the world that, if not met, will
generate considerable friction between oneself and the world. A
classic presentation of defiance of cultural expectations and the
consequences was Paul Newman’s Luke in Cool Hand Luke. The
personas of doctors, teachers, bankers and rock stars are distinct.
Total identity with the persona leads to a one-dimensional person.
Difficulties in the transition out of the culturally determined personas
of the 1950’s was portrayed in the movie Pleasantville.

The shadow is an archetype of the same sex as the individual

that has positive or negative traits that are suppressed and unlived for
individual, family, religious and/or cultural reasons. The shadow is
often seen as the darker side of two brothers, as illustrated by Richie
Valens’ brother in La Bomba and Brad Pitt’s character in A River
Runs Through It. The deadly consequences of not recognizing and
bringing a homosexual shadow into consciousness was represented
by the retired Marine general in American Beauty.

The anima is the archetype of the feminine traits and qualities

in a male, personified as his inner woman in ideal or problematic
form. These traits are more deeply unconscious than the shadow and
therefore more likely to get projected onto a woman. Leonard
Cohen’s song Suzanne is an excellent illustration of the anima in
popular music. The animus is the inner masculine side of a woman.
The anima and animus in dreams are personifications of the deeper
unconscious levels, putting a face on the unconscious, and a
counterpoint to the persona as the face between the ego and the outer
world. How one relates to the anima and animus therefore is an
important indicator of the quality of the relationship with the
unconscious. Movies present a full range of anima and animus
figures in the male and female characters, since most characters in the
movies are idealized in some way.

The inner nucleus of the psyche is the Self, archetype of

wholeness and a centering force. It has a numinous (inner light),
sacred sense, the experience of which is of utmost importance to the
individual. Jung made an important contribution to psychology with
his recognition of the many forms the Self can manifest in dreams: a
circle; particular animals like an elephant, horse or bear; the number
four or groups of four; a tree (the Tree of Life in many cultures and
the Sundance tree in Lakota Sioux culture); a crystal (symbolic of
order and spirit in nature); a diamond; etc. At the cultural level the
Self is expressed as God, Yahweh, Jesus, the Tao, Buddha,
Mohammed, Wakantanka, etc. Of great significance is that the contra-
sexual archetype, the anima and animus, at their deeper levels are a
function of the Self. Union with the opposite sex, including sexual
union, is one of the most common images of the union of opposites,
symbolic of wholeness and therefore of the Self. Its archetypal
dimensions are recognized by marriage endings in many fairytales
and movies. The longing for union and wholeness is the archetypal
core of many love songs.

Recognition of the god image in the form of numinous

animals in dreams can be used by the therapist to help connect a
person in a sacred way to the animal world and all of nature. Animals
can appear in our dreams in no less a sacred way than in indigenous
peoples. It’s how these images are worked with and consciously
recognized that makes all the difference. The analyst can also work
with numinous landscapes in dreams to help the analysand develop a
sacred sense about the environment. See the “meadow dream” in the
introduction to the “Spirit in the Land” section and other
ecopsychology articles on my website. Therapists can and should
play a vital role in helping clients develop a deep, even sacred,
connection to the land and in developing a sense of place.

How the four personality structure archetypes operate in an

individual’s psyche tells the analyst and analysand a great deal about
the person. They can show where a person is stuck, trapped, projects
their psychological content onto others, and why they have
difficulties with particular people and situations. Incorporated into
these four archetypes is Jung’s psychological type system—introvert,
extravert, thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. There is an
innate tendency towards becoming one of the sixteen combinations of
psychological types, for example, an introverted intuitive type with
thinking as an auxiliary function. Knowing one’s type helps to
understand how one perceives and responds to the world, what things
come easily and what one has to struggle with, and which people,
typologically speaking, one has difficulty with. Three Jungian
typological tests help evaluate these functions. The psychological
type test has become popular in the business community to help place
psychological types in jobs most suited to them. An intuitive type, for
example, would suffer in an accounting job that requires close
attention to details: a sensation type would be more “natural” for
such a job.

Cognitive psychology research has determined that 90 to 95%

of our responses to the world are unconsciously determined. The
Jungian approach is to work with unconscious material, realizing that
dreams provide the best, unvarnished access to the unconscious.
Dreams succinctly reveal one’s complexes (“hang-ups”) and show
how the unconscious is wrestling with the difficulties to move the
individual beyond the problem. The complexes are the dark spots in
a person’s psyche, areas loaded with affect, and indicative of
maladaptation. Dreams provide images for these otherwise nebulous
feelings and affects, making it easier to recognize the complexes and
keep them in conscious view. It's when they are unseen and
unrecognized that they attack us from behind and trip us up. The
people and situations in our dreams literally personify the energies,
problems and anxieties we live with. Working with dreams allows us
to consciously enter the dramatic play created by the more complete
psyche, the Self. Every person has a master playwright and visual
artist within that molds experiences and impressions of the
individual’s personal life into an archetypal framework of compelling
intensity. Dreams provide a focus for the analytic work, with life
history, especially early family life, giving one a sense of how the
complex developed and why a particular archetype was constellated
or emerged.

The power of dream images can reveal how one feels at a

deep level and often shocks the individual with their stark
presentations. A very intelligent, educated woman functioning as a
subservient housewife and mother dreamt she was going around the
house picking up feces from her husband and children. I reminded
her of this dream many times during our work to lead her to full
consciousness of how her own deeper Self viewed her subservient
position.
At the core of every complex is an archetype, so complexes
are one access to the mythopoetic realm of the psyche. The modus
operandi of the mythopoetic level appears strange and irrational to
the Western scientifically conditioned mind. A feel for myths and
fairy tales is essential for working in a Jungian manner with this
realm. Archetypes are the most basic level of the neurosis, psychosis
or complex, far below the symptom level. Work at this level has the
farthest reaching consequences in the individual’s life, ramifying
outwardly like ripples from a stone dropped in the water. To discover
one’s myth or fairy tale and take a courageous attitude in dealing with
the demons and dragons therein is what the Jungian process is all
about. As an analyst one has to understand the basic stages and
process of transformation that occurs deep within the psyche. Jung
realized that the alchemists provided westerners with the best
imaginal approach to this level of work. The more enlightened
alchemists realized they were symbolically working on turning their
psychological lead into gold. Understanding the symbolic aspect of
alchemy is a sort of roadmap of the soul for a Jungian. (See The
Dairy Farmer's Guide to the Universe, volume 1, Appendix D: The
Alchemy of Psychoanalysis)

The stages and processes of alchemy can be seen in fairy

tales. “Cinderella” is the most universal fairytale theme, with over
700 versions world-wide. The story of abandonment, loss of love and
recognition is therefore a most basic human issue. This theme has
been recognized by the now dominant psychological theories of
object relations and self psychology and studies on mother-child
bonding. It has moved psychoanalysis past the classical Freudian
hang-up with the Oedipal complex.

It is absolutely necessary for the analyst to have undergone a

thorough personal analysis. Only by doing this can the analyst be
aware of his or her own complexes, and therefore be less likely to
project them onto the analysand (counter transference) which
interferes with the analytic process. The analyst’s analysis gives the
analyst a feel for the unconscious and an appreciation for the
symbolic realm.

Sex is recognized by Jungians as only one aspect of being

human. It is especially important to recognize the symbolic
dimension of sex as mentioned before in discussing the anima,
animus, and the Self. Jungians don’t shrink dreams to a sexual
interpretation. Sexual and father-mother-sibling issues are explored
psychodynamically while attempting to see these issues as aspects of
basic, archetypal human experiences.

Images are amplified, “fattened out,” by referencing

whatever myth, fairytale, legend, poem, great literature, painting, etc.
they may relate to. The analysand is encouraged to work with the
dream images to further connect with and understand them through a
process called active imagination. It may include an imaginary
dialogue with images, journaling, painting, writing a poem, dancing,
creating a sandtray (see Menu), etc.

The analysand may have to research an animal in a dream to

learn its natural history as well as its occurrence in myths and fairy
tales. Everyone has their totem animal symbolic of an aspect of the
Self or representing the totality of the Self.

This kind of work extends the dream and furthers a relationship

with the unconscious. The Chinese ideogram for the sage, “the ear
listening to the inner King,” represents the goal and process of the
Jungian approach. A dialogue between the ego and the Self, with the
Self and not the ego at center stage, is what one seeks to establish in
therapy and in one’s life.

Another experience Jungians pay attention to is

synchronicity. This concept, foreign to most Westerners, is that the
environment can mirror a psychic state, that there are meaningful
coincidences. For example, one can formulate a question about a life
difficulty, toss coins to generate the number of a hexagram
(combination of six solid [yang] or broken [yin] lines), and get a
meaningful answer from the I Ching, a Chinese book of wisdom.
The experience of this process gives one a sense of deep relatedness
to others and to the environment. (See "Use of the I Ching in the
Analytic Setting" in the Menu).

Timely use of the I Ching in conjunction with dream work can

have a profound effect on the analysand and bring about major shifts
in their life. A man in his early 30’s was getting very stoned on
marijuana every two or three weeks. He brought a dream into his
fourth or fifth analytical session that a doctor and nurse his age had
just delivered a baby on the top floor of a many-storied hospital
building. The baby was born dead. The doctor tells the nurse that he
suspects the reason for the still birth is that he was stoned during the
delivery of the baby.

Babies can symbolize a new birth, a new beginning in the

psyche. A birth dream is often seen at the beginning of the analytic
process or when the therapy begins to move or takes a significant
new direction. Smoking marijuana is often described as getting high,
represented in the dream by the top floor of the multi-storied hospital
building. The meaning was clear to the analysand but it was difficult
to think of giving up something he enjoyed so much.

This is an example of a point in therapy where I suggest using

the I Ching. He asked about smoking marijuana and got hexagram
12. Standstill / Stagnation with no moving lines, meaning the
situation was not changing. The hexagram consists of three yang
(solid) lines atop three yin (broken) lines. Yang lines are associated
with light and spirit and move upward, with three yang lines together
being associated with heaven. Yin lines are heavy and move
downward, with three yin lines together being associated with the
earth. Commentary on the hexagram says heaven and earth are out of
relation to each other, which leads to standstill and stagnation.

Connections between dream imagery and hexagram answers

can almost always be seen and it was obvious to this analysand.
People often get stoned to escape, to fly above, depressive feelings.
This is contrary to the alchemical process of facing the lead in one’s
life as the first step of a transmutation to gold. The combined impact
was great enough for the analysand to give up smoking for four
months, after which the habit was broken.

The analyst functions as a psychic mid-wife, helping the

analysand to understand what their unconscious is saying and what
suggestions it has for a new direction. Analysts work imaginally and
symbolically with dreams and life material to help the individual see
their life as a story and a personal myth. The sense the analysand
gets from the unconscious is of being led by some force much deeper
and wiser than the conscious ego. We are of the Self which extends
beyond the boundaries of time and space as synchronistic experiences
demonstrate. Following its lead can give one a sense of fate and
destiny, a sense of meaning in one’s life—a process Jung called
individuation.

All indigenous cultures had ways of forcing people into the

deeper levels of the unconscious using initiations, visions quests,
intense rituals or deep meditative and imaginative processes. Today
most people don’t undertake the journey into the unconscious and
wholeness unless compelled to do so. Loss of a job, a divorce, death
of a friend or family member, a life threatening illness or just plain
emptiness and boredom may compel a person to seek a new approach
to life. Jung said we don’t become enlightened by imagining figures
of light, but by bringing the light of consciousness into the
unconscious.

The Jungian approaches described here cannot be used with

every analysand in brief therapy. There may be tremendous
resistance to looking at unconscious material: it may seem too
overwhelming and frightening to be approached in this manner or in a
limited number of sessions. But for many people this approach can
be the most direct, powerful and transformative experience possible
within ten to twenty sessions. Dream work, active imagination, the I
Ching and the psychological type test can quickly give analyst and
analysand images and feelings for the motivating forces and
complexes that affect the analysand, plus an understanding of their
personal psychic structure. The neurosis, one’s cross to bear,
becomes a stepping stone to a greater sense of wholeness and depth
in one’s life. Within twenty sessions, one may be fortunate enough to
get one’s personal image of the Self, an experience so profound that it
can establish a foundation in the individual that gives them courage to
face whatever challenges, inner and outer, that life presents to them.

e-mail: [email protected]

Telephone: Madison: (608) 255-9330 ext. 5

Milwaukee: (414) 332-7400

Fax: (608) 255-7810

Website: www.EcoJung.com