February 20, 2021

9:30 am—12:45 pm

3 CEUs included with price

With Hallie Durchslag PhD

MEDICAL MODELS OF SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS AND JUNG’S LEGACY

The mainstream label, severe of mental illness, is problematic within depth psychological and Jungian models of diagnosis and treatment. The medical model is a disease model in a classical sense: symptoms must be rooted out and made to disappear, mostly through the chemical manipulation of brain states through medication. Depth psychology, on the other hand, finds value in the nature of the symptoms as sources of individual meaning and growth. How can the fissure between these models be reconciled?

In this workshop, we will explore how, rather than being at odds, medical models of severe mental illnesses such as bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia actually amplify and deepen Jung’s work. Jung’s transformational notion of the collective unconscious is rooted in the unique character of these disorders, and scientific advances that have occurred since Jung’s death offer bridges to classical Jungian constructs, including individuation, and later formulations of a psychoid archetype, synchronicity, and an objective psyche. Conceptualizing similarities rather than differences allows clinicians greater freedom in offering clients support and healing. This class is appropriate for novices to Jungian theory as well as those with expertise within the field.