Search

C. G. Jung wrote very little about psychedelic drugs and he took a sceptical view of them. However, he was sufficiently impressed by Aldous Huxley's 1954 account of taking mescaline, The Doors of Perception, to invite Huxley to visit him in Switzerland. Huxley declined Jung's invitation but Huxley's collaborator Humphry Osmond met Jung instead. This paper documents Jung's contact with the British pioneers of psychedelics research and presents the scant material illuminating his views about these drugs. It also determines the efforts of British psychiatrist Ronald Sandison, who was the first to develop an "explicitly Jungian approach" to psychedelic‐assisted psychotherapy (Hill, 2013), and it highlights a connection between Sandison's initiative and the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) through the involvement of two SAP members: Margot Cutner, Sandison's colleague, and Michael Fordham, who supervised a trainee working with one of Sandison's former patients. Despite Jung's objections to the use of psychedelics, Sandison and Cutner developed ground‐breaking protocols during the 1950s and they were among the first to document the phenomenon of "spiritual rebirth symbolized in the birth experience known to many LSD therapists" (Sandison, 2001). In two companion papers, I consider Jung's treatment of the rebirth motif in his commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which later became a central text in the psychedelic movement, and I chart the evolution in psychedelics research from an association with schizophrenia during the 1950s to the mystical paradigms of the 1960s and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Analytical Psychology's latest issue features a variety of papers with academic and clinical relevance, as well as an interview with Warren Colman, a previous editor and regular contributor to the Journal. The papers cover topics such as the personal and transpersonal psyche, anima projection, embodied metaphors, and power dynamics in Jungian theory and practice. Additionally, the issue includes reviews of books and journal articles, as well as an announcement of the winner of the Michael Fordham Prize. The Journal also invites submissions from authors and plans to hold workshops on different topics. [Extracted from the article]

The February 2024 issue of the Journal of Analytical Psychology features a range of stimulating papers. Silvia Presciuttini's paper explores the impact of mask usage in the treatment setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wes Wallace examines Jung's paper on the psychology of transference and proposes a new translation to clarify Jung's meaning. Ginny Hill discusses the clinical application of Jung's Black Books and The Red Book in therapy for a patient experiencing feelings of being the "living dead." Gunnar Reefschläger investigates synchronicity in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, focusing on relational and transferential aspects. Benjamin Swogger pays tribute to Anthony Stevens and his contributions to the archetype debate. Joe Cambray interviews Ann Casement, discussing her journey in depth psychology and her various roles in the field. The Clinical Commentaries section presents a vignette on unconscious-to-unconscious linkage and the challenges it poses for the analyst. The issue also includes book reviews on a variety of topics. [Extracted from the article]

Synchronicity describes a meaningful coincidence of events, which is familiar to us from treatments of our patients, but unfortunately has not yet been empirically substantiated. Adding to previous findings that point out beneficial aspects of synchronicity (Marlo, 2022; Lagutina, 2021; Connolly, 2015), in this paper I will show through a series of five synchronistic moments which happened in the context of therapy and analysis and which have been documented empirically, how synchronicities occur and can be used therapeutically. In my research I found several situational factors that can be considered structural aspects of synchronistic moments. Furthermore, I will show that synchronistic phenomena can have a positive influence if certain relational and transference‐countertransference referential aspects are considered by the therapist and analyst. The concept of synchronicity brings the possibility of a further therapeutical instrument for the patient‐analyst‐dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Analytical Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)