Understanding Jung's Role in

Abstract

With the publication of C.G. Jung’s “The Red Book” (2009), art therapists learned of

Jung’s immense dedication to the image through the material he gathered from the unconscious.

The knowledge from this and other publications make it reasonable to suggest that Jung was the father of art therapy (Jung, 2009; Hoerni, Fischer, & Kaufmann, 2018; Swan-Foster, 2018). We now know that his art-making was a life-long affair with the use of materials that included pencil, pens, paints, wood, and stone (Hoerni et al., 2018).

In 1906 Jung joined Freud’s mission to advance , but by 1913 he risked and sacrificed his prestigious professional career with a mid-life decision that led instead to the advancement of his own individuation—a return to his soul’s purpose (Jung, 2009). This led to a period of deep reflection and reclaiming what he had set aside, which included his creative work.

Just prior to this 1913 decision, Jung was invited for a second time as the heir of psychoanalysis to the United States where he lectured at prestigious institutions on his research from the

Burghölzli. The trip showcased Jung’s word association experiments and complex theory—a concept that has the image at its core. Jung’s work had gained international respect, influencing such areas as the early conceptualization of the DSM, the treatment of mental illness and early formulations of post-traumatic stress and trauma. On this visit, Beatrice Hinkle, (Jungian analyst of Margaret Naumburg and Florence Cane), introduced Jung to the Greenwich crowd, and eventually in 1916 translated into English Jung’s pivotal work, Symbols of Transformation

(Sherry, 2015).

When we are familiar with Jung’s theoretical model, we see his pioneering ideas,

(influenced by Hinkle), integrated into the work of Naumburg and Cane and subsequently becoming key elements of art therapy in the United States (Edwards, 1987; Swan-Foster, 2018).

While the rupture between Freud and Jung in 1913 was a complicated unfolding of events both professionally and emotionally (Edwards, 1984; Sherry 2015) a Jungian approach to art therapy focuses on the spontaneous images that emerge from the unconscious and their role in regulating and facilitating the necessary process of individuation. This view is easily integrated into managed care, insurance driven treatment plans, and other issues related to modern mental health care, but a Jungian model also has the capacity to honor the role of the unconscious and the drive to create.

With a brief background on Jung’s life and clinical work, his innovative concepts and methods, and how these ideas have become integrated into specific areas of basic art therapy and trauma theory will be considered. Further more, art therapists will leave with an understanding of what it means to work with a complex verses an archetype from a Jungian perspective, and how transforming the creative drive evolved to be clinical preferred over repression (Berk, 2012).

Finally, clinical implications of psychic energy and the inherent healing found within the psyche are essential aspects of trauma recovery and individuation (Swan-Foster, 2018). With this introduction, art therapists can take an interest in Jung’s work and recognize that analytical remains a powerful and relevant building block and resource for contemporary theoretical and clinical formulations in art therapy. Finally, this presentation gives a nod to

Jung’s innovative explorations that have opened doors in various fields beyond art therapy such as religious studies, gender studies, anthropology, and the social sciences.

References

Berk, van den, T. (2012). Jung on art: The autonomy of the creative drive. New York, NY:

Routledge. Edwards, M. (1987). Jungian analytic art therapy. In J. Rubin (Ed.), Approaches to art therapy:

Theory and technique (1st ed.) (pp. 92-113). New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.

Hoerni, U., Fischer, T, & Kaufmann, B. (Eds.). (2018). The Art of C.G. Jung. New York, NY:

W.W. Norton.

Jung, C.G. (1912/1916/1967). Symbols of transformation. Collected Works 5. Princeton, NY:

Princeton University Press.

Jung, C.G. (2009). The Red Book: Liber Novus, S. Shamdasani (Ed.) (Trans.M. Kyburz, J. Peck,

& S. Shamdasani). New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

Sherry, J. (2015). , Beatrice Hinkle, and Charlotte Teller, the New York times reporter.

In M.E. Mattson et al. (Eds.), Jung in the academy and beyond: The Fordham lectures

100 years later (pp.65-73). New York, NY: The Spring Press.

Swan-Foster, N. (2018). Jungian art therapy: A guide to , images, and analytical

psychology. New York, NY: Routledge.