Fundamental Premise

The basis of analytical psychology is ‘experience.’ It is not the result of logical thinking, made up, or a confession of faith that claims to be an immutable truth, nor is it the result of experimental, statistical, or scientific consideration. Jung says that he takes a phenomenological position. The phenomenological stance is to work with facts, things that have happened now, things that have been experienced. The role of psychology, as judged by Jung, is to reveal whether the ideas of myths, dreams, and religious historical works exist in human psychology. Carl G. Jung, who took this position in psychology, calls it ‘analytical psychology’ and examines what and how it works in the human mind, and based on the facts obtained there, finds out the direction of each individual’s will and motivation. In this respect, analytical psychology is a practical and realistic ‘applied psychology.’ We study the human mind, but only through the mind of the person doing the research. I can’t say that I understand other people’s hearts by putting my own thoughts aside.
Therefore, countless psychologies and countless philosophies are possible in this world. Human science can change according to culture and the spirit of the times due to ‘subjectivity’. Another characteristic of analytical psychology is that it views psychological things as ‘psychology itself’ rather than as a product of brain or physical functions.¹

From psychoanalysis to analytical psychology

C. G. Jung admired Freud’s early empiricist attitude. As a pioneer who discovered the ‘unconscious,’ Freud acknowledged and cherished the existence of the unconscious, which is the same foundation as Jung’s analytical psychology. However, when Freud got to know Jung, he opposed Jung’s interest in and research on mythology and psychic phenomena (especially his strong opposition to ‘philosophy’), and Jung criticized Freud in the following points. He could not understand religious experience. Jung thought Freud‘s theory was insufficient. Jung expanded the object of psychology to all products of the mind, including mythology, religion, philosophy, and psychic phenomena, because he attempted to understand the human mind as a totality(Die Ganzheit) rather than as a single part.

Analytical psychology’s main premise

The Psyche’s Strucuture

• The Ego: representing the conscious mind.
• The Personal Unconscious: containing memories and ideas that are not currently inpsyconscious awareness, including those that have been suppressed.
• The Collective Unconscious: a deeper level of the unconscious shared among all humans, containing archetypes and universal symbols.

Archetypes

Central to Jung’s theory is the concept of archetypes, which are innate, universal, and hereditary forms or symbols found in the collective unconscious. These include the Persona (the social face one presents to the world), the Shadow (the unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself), the Anima and Animus (the feminine and masculine aspects of a person’s psyche), and the Self (the unification of consciousness and unconsciousness in a person, representing wholeness).

Individuation

This is the process of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche, leading to the development of a unique individual self. Individuation is seen as a central goal of personal development in Jung’s theory.

The Role of Symbols and Dreams

Jung believed that symbols and dreams were key to understanding the unconscious mind. He argued that dreams could provide important insights into areas of the unconscious that were not fully integrated into consciousness.

Synchronicity

Jung introduced the concept of synchronicity, which refers to meaningful coincidences that are not causally related but have significant personal meaning. He saw these coincidences as manifestations of the collective unconscious.

Myth and Religion

Jung’s theory places a strong emphasis on the psychological significance of religious and mythological symbols and narratives. He believed these were expressions of the collective unconscious and could be used to understand psychological processes.

The Therapeutic Process

In analytical psychology, therapy is focused on helping the individual explore and integrate the various aspects of the psyche. Techniques such as dream analysis, active imagination, and exploration of personal and cultural symbolism are commonly used.

1. 이부영Booyoung Lee is a pioneer who first introduced Jungian analytical psychology and psychotherapy to Korea, and is a person who pioneered the establishment of ‘cultural psychiatry’ in the medical field by digging into the interrelationship between culture and mental health. In 1966, he graduated from the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, obtained qualifications as a Jungian analyst, and became a regular member of the International Association of Analytical Psychology. He trained and worked in psychiatric hospitals in Germany and Switzerland, and began teaching at Seoul National University in 1969. He served as a visiting researcher for the ‘Culture and Mental Health Research Project’ at the East-West Center in Hawaii, and as a Distinguished professor for the ‘Psychiatry and Religion Course’ at Union Theological Seminary in New York. After retiring from office in 1997, he established the ‘Korea Jung Institute’, a specialized training institute in analytical psychology, and is actively engaged in its activities to this day. In recognition of his contribution to the field of psychiatry in 1995, he received the ‘Wunsch Prize for Medicine’ awarded by the Korean Medical Association, as well as awards from the American Society of Expressive Psychopathology and the American Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association, and in 2009 , he received awards from the International Society for Art Therapy in Expressive Psychopathy (SIPE). He received the first Robert Volmat Prize from Professor Lee Boo-young gathered cultural psychiatrists from Asia and founded the East-Asian Academy of Cultural Psychiatry (EAACP) in 1987, and to this day, the three East Asian countries (Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) discuss special topics every two years. We have been holding an international symposium where experts from Japan and Taiwan have intensive discussions, and we are steadily carrying out the work of rediscovering the hidden values ​​​​of Korea’s traditional culture and traditional ideas through analytical psychological interpretation and incorporating them into mental health care.^*, 『분석심리학』, 일조각, 2011, pp.40-2., Ref. ↩︎