The following text was originally written in the context of discussions concerning the education of future Jungian analysts. It is presented here in a minimally edited form in order to preserve the original direction of thought and the context in which it emerged.
A Few Notes on Education of Future Analysts
Education of future analysts should not follow the same footsteps as university education. One of the reasons lies in the level of maturity of the student, who in the case of university education has usually just finished high school, while in the case of an analyst should already be a person with much life experience. In this text I will try to make a few arguments and offer a suggestion for the program of education of future Jungian analysts.
The thing about analytical psychology is experience, the experience of the collective unconscious. And just like in human history so far, the main goal of the future “healing professional” is to survive the experience. And by survive, I mean the ability of consciousness not to be overwhelmed by the unconscious and to enter into meaningful relationship with it. This is sufficient to develop personality which can act as catalyst for development of another personality.
Both research (studying) and experience are equally important in achieving this. Alchemists were conscious of this when they spoke about Theoria and Praxis. They are in a way opposites, which means that they are secretly related, especially when they go to extremes. Insisting on knowledge alone is compensation for lack of experience, and insisting on experience alone is often compensation for laziness. Both are important, especially now when we do not need to rely on experience only, like “healing professionals” of ancient times. But going fully intellectual robs us of experience and Jungian concepts correspond to specific experiences. When education focuses primarily on reason, knowledge and learning specific techniques, it often does so because of lack of experience. This should be avoided, especially in education of Jungian analysts. Knowledge by learning should follow knowledge by experience and vice versa.
“Theoria” is more or less subjective. It is conceptualization of experience one has gone through and it enables one not to become lost when confronted with another experience. It helps us get a grip on reality and it is never absolute. In Jungian analysis this reality is the unconscious. “Theoria” consists of conceptualizations that enable us to understand, more or less, nature of the unconscious. It also means that there are more and less useful conceptualizations. We can all agree that the way Jung conceptualized psyche is remarkably good. He was of the right character, in the right historical moment, and with enough intellectual capacity and work ethic to create it.
While we experience psyche and try to conceptualize it, we use Jung’s conceptualizations because they seem to fit our own experience and explain much in psyche. But our conceptualizations are not the same as Jung’s. We do not mean exactly the same thing as Jung when he spoke about anima, archetypes and similar concepts. Through merging our own experience with Jung’s conceptualizations, we arrive at something new, and this “new” we later use in our work with clients, just as Jung used his own “new” in his work with clients and at the same time tried to describe it through his writings, seminars and interactions.
I don’t see point of forcing students to “learn” specific techniques or ideas from specific authors if they do not help them consciously experience “their own” unconscious. Conceptualizations of one’s own experiences help student survive confrontation with unconscious and gradually create one’s own “technique” of dealing with it. These same concepts are later used in practical work with analysands.
We all share love for Jung’s thought. Our clients also. Most people who search for Jungian analysis want it because of what Jung wrote. And mostly they come because the way he spoke about experience of the unconscious is compatible with their own way of thinking or offers meaningful way to approach their problems. Jungian analyst should be able to offer that to them and should not use Jung merely as advertising material. So even though we have our own conceptualizations of the unconscious, we should still use Jung’s concepts and be familiar with them, not only theoretically but through specific experience of the unconscious.
With this introduction in mind, my humble opinion is that Jungian analyst should be, first of all, deeply familiar with Jung’s thought, while post-Jungian studies should mostly be left for later research, after main body of Jung’s psychology has been digested. With that in mind, my coarse suggestion for education of future Jungian analysts is similar to my own educational experience. Few changes are present and few topics are added to the education I have completed, mostly because through work on myself and with clients I gradually realized how important some of these areas are for work with the unconscious. I mean especially alchemy and active imagination as specific subjects during education.
First part of the studies (minimum 4 semesters)
• At least 300 hours of lectures by IAAP analysts
• At least 150 hours of analysis with IAAP analysts
• First symbol paper
• Written examination paper and passed examination in the subjects of:
— Comparative theory of neurosis
— Developmental psychology
— Ethnology and fundamentals of analytical psychology
— Psychology of dreams
— Psychology of myths and fairy tales
— Psychology of religion
— Psychopathology and basics of psychiatry
• Four weeks of clinical internship
After all prerequisites of first part of education are fulfilled, student can begin second part of studies and clinical work with clients.
Second part of studies (minimum 4 semesters)
• At least 600 hours of lectures by IAAP analysts
• At least 300 hours of analysis with IAAP analysts
• At least 300 hours of work with clients (minimum 20 hours per client) and case report for each client
• At least 80 hours of individual supervision by IAAP analysts
• At least 80 hours of group supervision by IAAP analysts
• Second symbol paper
• Written examination paper and passed examination in subjects of:
— Clinical psychiatry, diagnosis and therapy
— Practice of analysis and psychotherapy
— Psychological interpretation of pictures
— Psychology and interpretation of myths and fairy tales
— Psychology and interpretation of dreams
— The association experiment and theory of complexes
— Active imagination, alchemy and individuation process
• Eight weeks of clinical internship
• Final thesis (minimum 80 pages)
Each of exams covers vast area of knowledge. It cannot be expected that area of knowledge of student and examiner completely overlap, so they should agree on topic of examination paper beforehand (except in Psychopathology and Psychiatry).
One’s ability to choose examiner is extremely important. We do not speak exactly same psychological language and if future analyst has had experience of unconscious, survived it, and developed conceptualizations that enable continual exposure to it, examiner should be able to recognize that. If examiner has different conceptualizations of collective unconscious and is unable to recognize development student has achieved, student may fail not because of lack of development, but because of lack of understanding on side of examiner. And while future analyst should continue in spite of that, it can create unnecessary complications in development. By being able to choose one’s examiner, and provided this choice is not made primarily out of complex motivations, examination can better serve its purpose.
In my opinion this would be meaningful way of studying Jung. I am aware that there are specific details in such program that would need to be filled in. I also know that because of different regulations, structuring education in such way may pose challenge. And here one can compromise in case of university education for future psychotherapists, however compromise should remain minimal in case of education of future analysts.