Jungian Psychotherapy and the Body.

The Body is subject to a paradox within Jungian psychotherapy. At times, it is described as an isolated system, with its drives, desires, and workings. At others, it is linked to the mind and viewed as part of the psyche. This alleged ambivalence percolated to the post-Jungians, resulting in the body receiving comparatively little interest in analytical psychology until recently. In a psychology that seeks to understand communications from the unconscious, dismissing the body is a missed opportunity. Jung did use the body and bodily expression in his academic and psychotherapeutic work. He did not write on the subject in depth, however. While his attitudes have a reputation for ambiguity, a consistent theory relating to the mind, body, and their heterogeneity can be discerned from his writings. In this review, this theory will be discussed, along with the Jungian and post-Jungian attitude towards the body. A Jungian contribution to the field of body psychotherapy has the potential to offer new insights, given the expansive subject matter in Jung's collected works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]