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- Title
העברה, העברה נגדית ו"המטפל הפצוע" פרספקטיבה יונגיאנית אנליטית על יחסי מטפל–מטופל.
- Authors
משה אלון
- Abstract
This article discusses the concepts of transference, countertransference and the archetype of “The wounded healer,” as they were conceived of by Jungian and post-Jungian theoreticians. The development of the connection among these 3 domains is an elaboration of Carl Gustav Jung’s (1875-1961) writing about transference which was based on Sigmund Freud’s (1856-1939) original conceptualizations. Originally, of course, it was Freud who recognized the phenomenon of transference and its therapeutic value, and later on, if without much discussion, added the importance of countertransference and the erotic transference. Following Freud, Jung further elaborated these concepts and their understanding, relying on mythology and conceptions used in alchemy. He was inspired to notice parallels between 10 of the 20 woodcuts of the Rosarium Philosophorum, a 16th century alchemical treatise, and the human psychological individuation process.11 In his theory, individuation is the process through which one develops and differentiates to become one’s self, and a psychic whole. Among the Rosarium’s pictures, Jung felt that such psychic wholeness was described through the union of the king and queen in the temenos, from which the “third” emerges, as a spiritual newborn representing novel development. Jung saw the symbolism of the transference and countertransference in the union between the king and the queen, and thus as representative of the dual, counterpuntal movement within the therapeutic relationship, in which analyst and analysand are at some point merged in the temenos, mutually influenced and eventually productively transformed. Jung believed that for the analyst to be able to delve deep into the unconscious with his analysand, he needs first to enter into his depth. Therefore, it is only to the extent to which the analyst heals his own psychic “wounds” that he may help his analysand to be healed. Jung considered the Greek image of the wounded centaur Chiron as symbolic of this idea. Jungian writers of later years deepened the perception of the processes when they suggested the term “The wounded healer” to describe the unconscious and deep meaning of the mutual therapeutic relationship. Moreover, they elaborated on the possible shadowed aspects of this concept, such as the possibility of the analyst’s projecting his own “wounded self” paradigm into the analysand. I review the development of these important conceptual terms in Jungian writings up to current days. Beginning with Michael S. M. Fordham (1905- 1995) who warned against reactivation of the analyst’s old unhealed wounds to the Berlin group that pointed to the possibility of synchronicity between the analyst’s and the analysand’s associations, to Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig (1923- 2008) who coined the term “wounded healer.” Guggenbuhl-Craig referred to the ‘shadowed’ aspects in the analyst’s psyche as his unconscious wounds and suggested that alongside the positive image as a healer, awaits the shadowed image of him as a “charlatan,” a false prophet or quack. Following him, Mario Jacobi and Nathan Schwarz-Salant theorized that the analysand has a role in the analyst’s life, to the point of “sharing” dreams. Jacobi’s well-known sentence, “he gets under my skin,” describes how deeply into the analyst’s psyche the analysand reaches. The “youngest” generation of theoreticians include Andrew Samuels (1949- ) and David Sedgwick (1950- ) who claimed that at times the processes of transference-countertransference begin in anticipation, even before therapy starts and prior to the first meeting, manifesting in dreams, fantasies, and various synchronicity events. Given that the processes of transference and countertransference almost always occur in therapy, it is the analyst’s responsibility to track, identify, and properly use them for the benefit of the analysis and the patient. Based on this assumption, the “wounded healer” school of thought considers it crucial that the analyst recognize and identify the conjunction between his wounds and his patient’s wounds. According to the various writers of the “wounded healer” school, it is only when the analyst works through and heals his wound, separated from his patient’s wound, that there is a chance for the patient to experience development and healing. At the center of this article stands Jung’s approach, according to which the patient and the therapy progresses and develops in direct relation to the development of the analyst himself. Therefore, if the analyst does not develop in the process of analysis of his patient it might be that he or she is not willing to sustain the agony of recognizing and dealing with wounds, and this endangers the therapy and the patient’s individuation process. When the analyst is willing to let himself be touched by the therapy, let his wounds be opened and at times bleed, he becomes a true “wounded healer.” The article demonstrates its argument through one case study. In this case, the therapeutic relationship called for both therapist and patient to work on their counter-sexual psychic aspect. For the female patient, it was her animus, the masculine principle in a woman’s psyche, and for the male therapist, it was his anima, the feminine aspect of man’s psyche. The process was called forth by the patient’s dreams about the analyst, in which he appeared as a representation of her animus. By accepting the dream as an indication of his wounded healer role, the therapist recognized that in order to help the patient heal her conflicted animus figure he would need to work with his wounded anima figure.
- Publication
Ma'arag: Israeli Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2019, Vol 9, p237
- ISSN
2413-290X
- Publication type
Article