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This paper will explore the use of identification with aspects of a lost object as a defensive strategy to cope with traumatic loss, and will show how in the depth of the analytic work this identification can be accessed and made conscious. Descriptions of work with a three-year-old boy illustrate how the sudden loss of his mother's breasts had made weaning un-accessible to him, and how, in the absence of a good experience of separation, the process of mourning had not been able to take place. Instead, identification with aspects of the lost breast was used as a defence against pain, and this state of affairs was proving a hindrance to individuation. In the discussion of the case material, the use of identification as a defence will be highlighted, and a differentiation made between abandonment and separation as this illuminates the link between mourning and individuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper 1 , written in draft form in 1991 and now posthumously published, the late Louis Zinkin 2 presents a constructivist view of the self. He considers some of the paradoxes in Jungian definitions of the self and compares these to Winnicott's ‘forbidden question’ regarding the transitional object: ‘Did you find it or did you make it?’. He argues that, for the purposes of a coherent scientific theory, these apparent paradoxes need to be formulated in an internally consistent way. Bemused by the many contradictions in Jung's thinking, he proposes making a fresh start by thinking in terms of people in social interaction with each other rather than as solitary subjects, as Jung did. This leads him to the view that the self comes into existence through continuing interaction with other people. Drawing on the work of Harré and Vygotsky, he suggests that the public self is prior to the private self and that one becomes real through recognition by other people in and through language and culture. The paper was discussed at a meeting held at the Society of Analytical Psychology in November 1991 and an edited version of the taped discussion follows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at some of the processes that are at work in finding oneself in analysis. It explores Jung's unique contribution to our thinking about the self and its dynamic of individuation. The author attempts to show how the Self, in its quest for consciousness, requires the surrendering of ego inflation—the narcissistic delusion that the ego is the self. A case is made for seeing analysis as an individuation process which offers the opportunity for experiences of a more authentic sense of oneself. Jung stated that individuation requires the ego to enter into service of the Self. For this to happen, the author argues that both patient and analyst must be prepared to make sacrifices and take risks. Using clinical examples, he illustrates that, although purposive, the Self can be experienced as violent and destructive if the ego is unable to facilitate its expression. This may result in an individuation crisis for both analyst and patient. The paper demonstrates how impasse in analysis can evoke the transcendent function, which also requires sacrifices to be made and risks to be taken for analysis to proceed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myers-Briggs typology is widely seen as equivalent to and representative of Jungian theory by the users of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and similar questionnaires. However, the omission of the transcendent function from the theory, and the use of typological functions as its foundation, has resulted in an inadvertent reframing of the process of individuation. This is despite some attempts to integrate individuation and typology, and reintroduce the transcendent function into Myers-Briggs theory. This paper examines the differing views of individuation in Myers-Briggs and Jungian theory, and some of the challenges of reconciling those differences, particularly in the context of normality. It proposes eight principles, drawn mainly from Jungian and classical post-Jungian work, that show how individuation as a process can be integrated with contemporary Myers-Briggs typology. These principles show individuation as being a natural process that can be encouraged outside of the analytic process. They make use of a wide range of opposites as well as typological functions, whilst being centred on the transcendent function. Central to the process is the alchemical image of the caduceus and a practical interpretation of the axiom of Maria, both of which Jung used to illustrate the process of individuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the story of Oedipus, however understood, conveys psychic truth of no greater or more central importance to human development than do the stories of many other myths. A distinction is made between sophisticated theories developed out of Freud's original concept of the Oedipus complex, and the adherence by some clinicians to his original sexual theory. The meaning of Sophocles' play Oedipus the King is found to lie in the clash between Oedipus' omnipotent narcissism ( hubris) and the power of the unconscious psyche, rather than in cross-generational sex. Emphasis is placed on the clinical usefulness of understanding all myths symbolically. The Oresteia by Aeschylus is offered as a story about pre-Oedipal (in the Freudian sense) psychic states. This trilogy shows symbolically the developing of an ego, the establishment of moral judgement and the integration of our shadow (the Furies). It also shows the parallel development of structures of law in society to replace instinctive blood feuds. It is suggested that had Freud chosen Orestes instead of Oedipus, the course of both psychoanalysis and of Western society would have had a different emphasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers what implications Bion's famous anecdote about ‘some patients getting better and others going on to become psycho-analysts’ might have in clinical practice. It explores key stages in the post-qualification analyses of three practitioners whose training analyses had left them qualified but restless and dissatisfied with their ongoing work. It suggests that a significant common factor in these unsatisfactory outcomes was the weakness of these analysands' egos, understood as their inability to enjoy coniunctios, and their profound fear of accessing the source of the problem. This had led to an unwitting investment in spurious super-ego driven alternatives such as professional qualification rather than face the initially bleak realization (of ‘nameless dread’) that could initiate analysis and individuation. Because of the containment and reward implicit in the training environment it is argued that training analysts—despite their experience and expertise—remain vulnerable to being recruited into an ameliorative fantasy that blocks the transference and inhibits development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The film American Beauty is used as a vehicle to explore difficulties in the individuation process, to look at a particular aspect of couple relationships in which mourning is avoided, and to make a general comment about the relationship between film and psychological experience. The thesis of the paper is that the individuation process is both an intra-psychic experience and an inter-psychic one which relies on relationships with external figures to enable development. The adult couple relationship is taken as one of the key areas of emotional life for the individuation process and as an area that can best show up false starts, successes, or even retreats in psychological development. Using the poetry of William Blake and the work of Michael Fordham, I show a process of anti-individuation going on in the relationship between the characters of Lester and Carolyn Burnham in the film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jungians who are trained in the so-called 'Developmental School' straddle the two worlds of psychoanalysis and classical Jungian thinking. This is not always an easy position in which to be, but if the tensions can be held it is potentially a rich and creative way of working. In this paper I attempt to explore this position using the poem, 'To Paint the Portrait of a Bird' by Jacques Prévert as a metaphor for the analytic endeavour. From this perspective I hope to illustrate the importance of being able on the one hand to hold and maintain a clear frame for the careful and detailed exploration of the transference within which the more malign aspects of the psyche might be expressed, and, on the other, to allow the alchemical process of mutual transformation that lies outside the conscious understanding of the analytic couple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]