Foreword
“…it is probably no exaggeration to say that almost all cases requiring lengthy treatment gravitate around the phenomenon of transference, and that the success or failure of the treatment appears to be bound up with it in a very fundamental way…” — CW 16, para. 358
It seems that transference happens whether we want it or not during lengthy treatment. If it is such a common occurrence, that means that is an expression of some fundamental tendency within our psyche, and as such occurs even without the treatment. It is an expression of a common tendency of human beings to come together and influence each other and Jung gives a name to this tendency. Kinship libido.
Jung warns us that to understand his essay on transference it is necessary for a reader to be aware of what he wrote before and mentions that unprepared reader will perhaps be astonished at the amount of historical material he brings to the investigation. He also tells us that this is necessary for it is not possible to come to the right understanding and appreciation of a contemporary psychological problem if we do not reach a point outside our own time from which to observe it.
You see, when we try to understand men we live with, we are caught up in the same prejudices as those we are trying to understand. In the case of archaic man or a man that lived 1000 years ago, we have a certain perspective as we have some distance from him. Our mind, since it is a lot more differentiated, can more easily understand his world and the meaning the world held for him. This historical man is no more logical than we are, only his assumptions are different and that is where we are different from him. And if we manage to understand the life of historical man and assumptions which are the basis of his psychological life, then we can recognize certain patterns in our lives also, which we would not be able to do if we didn’t research historical man. This seems to be the reason why Jung researched Alchemy, fairy tales, ethnology etc. And what he discovered are archetypes, which are active even in transference situations. And what is better for a modern, western man to research archetypes than alchemy.
Jung’s essay used the text Rosarium Philosophorum together with accompanying pictures to draw parallel with the process of transference. The pictures represent stages in the processes of Coniunctio which sometimes leads to the main goal of the opus. Psychologically it means that it also represents the goal of the individuation. On the chemical side, it represents the affinity of the chemical substances to come together, like two metals in an alloy, which explains how easily unconscious processes connected with transference could be projected into chemical processes used in alchemy.
Introduction
“The idea of coniunctio served on the one hand to shed light on the mystery of chemical combination, while on the other became the symbol of the unio mystica, since, as mythologeme, it expresses the archetype of the union of the opposites.” — CW 16, para. 354
Can you see how is this paragraph connected with transference? The main ideas are the opposites, so what are the opposites in transference, what do you think?
“…the alchemical image of coniunctio, whose practical importance was proved at a later stage of development, is equally valuable from the psychological point of view; that is to say, it plays the same role in the exploration of the darkness of the psyche as it played in the investigation of the riddle of matter. Indeed, it could have never worked so effectively in the material world had it not possessed the power to fascinate and thus ix the attention of the investigator along these lines.” — CW 16, para. 355
What can fascinate us or the patient in therapy? What fascinates us in general? I see it as a projection. Man feels attraction toward a woman, a car, a sport and all your attention is directed into it. Later you maybe find out that that what attracted you was a projection of an anima, or process of individuation. Consumerism has at its basis a projection of certain unconscious content that is essential for our individuation, and it is of utmost importance to get it. Although we miss the point if we actually buy it, and stop at it. In therapy whenever we get fascinated by a client, or we experience string emotions, or when a client experiences strong transference reaction, we can be sure that something essential is unconscious and projected.
“Many projections can ultimately be integrated back into the individual once he has recognized their subjective origin; others resist integration, and although they thereupon transfer themselves to the doctor. Among these contents the relation to the parent of opposite sex plays a particularly important part, i.e., the relationship of son to a mother, daughter to a father, and also that of a brother to sister… projection persists with all its original intensity… thus creating a bond that corresponds in every aspect to the initial infantile relationship, with a tendency to recapitulate all the experience of childhood on the doctor.” — CW 16, para. 357
So there are projections that can’t be integrated and eventually are transferred to the doctor. How are we to deal with this situation? Any ideas? The idea is that contents of the collective unconscious is always projected, since it can never be made completely conscious, but you see, mankind has always had a system into which these contents can be projected. Do you have the idea which systems are these? Religions. A religious man can project the father archetype into God, or certain aspects of his anima into Mary, Self into Christ etc. And if one believes, it works. I am not much of a believer, but in times of stress I do ask God what he thinks, and in active imagination, he answers, and I try to listen and it gets better. In this way, theoretically a person can deal with these projections.
“The bond (that is created by such projections) is often of such intensity that we could almost speak of “combination”. When two chemical substances combine, both are altered. This is precisely what happens in transference… it gives a mixtum compositium of the doctor’s mental health and the patient’s maladjustment. In Freudian technique the doctor tries to ward off the transference as much as possible… though it may considerably impair the therapeutic effect. It is inevitable that the doctor should be influenced to a certain extent and even that his nervous health should suffer. He literally “takes over” the sufferings of his patient and shares them with him. For this reason, he runs a risk.” — CW 16, para. 357
“…I know of a cases where, in dealing with borderline schizophrenics, short psychotic intervals were actually “taken over” and during these periods it happened that the patients were feeling more than ordinary well. I have met a case of induced paranoia in a doctor who was analyzing a woman patient in the early stages of latent persecution mania. That is not so astonishing since certain psychic disturbances can be extremely infectious if the doctor himself has a latent predisposition in that direction.”— CW 16, footnote 17.
I often experience a certain dynamic that occurs when I work with anxious patients. If I do not recognize their anxiety, in my private life I become anxious and when I recognize it I can use it as a tool to understand where and when my clients become anxious and often discover the way to deal with it. For example, I can ask myself am I a good enough analyst, do I perform to the utmost of my abilities, and it takes some time that I remember that it is often not my skill that determines the outcome of the therapy and all I can do is do my best and often it is enough. And when I manage to do that, the clients get better and also I can tell them how to approach their own anxieties.
When I was studying in Zurich, at the time when I wondered how will I do this work, I had a dream that went something like this:
“I am in a train and I manage to pick up emotions of men and women I am surrounded with. It was kind of fun, because I manage to experience their happiness, sadness etc. But at one point a person suffering from psychosis comes by and I get their illness. At that moment I am psychotic and I have to heal myself from it not to go completely insane.”
This dream was so true to me because I can expect trouble with every new client I get. And I do and when I manage to recognize it and deal with it, the therapy goes well. If I don’t it usually ends.
There are more archaic examples of this kind of healing dynamics, where person takes over the suffering of a patient and himself becomes ill, and when he heals himself, the client becomes better also. Shamanic healing is one of it. Shaman has the ability to separate his soul from his body and enter the spirit world. He is often in dangers of losing himself in this world, but it is necessary for him to confront the demon of the disease of his patients in an effort to deal with their negative influence on their health. The procedure is very similar to psychotherapy in a sense that the analyst is also in danger of the client’s complexes and emotions that can affect his psychic health and make him “Lose” himself. He has to deal with this complex in his own life and become better. By this he changes so his reactions are more appropriate to the client’s “sickness” and as a consequence, client gets better.
This kind of reasoning is closely related to a story Jung often repeated to his students. It goes something like this.
“Richard Wilhelm was a well-known sinologist who spent more than twenty-five years in China. One of the stories he recounted took place in a poor village that had been struck by a severe drought. After some time, the village elders decided to invite a wise man from a distant village who was known for dealing with such situations.
When the wise man arrived, he asked for a small hut where he could remain alone, and after three days a great storm with snow and rain appeared. Wilhelm, being a Westerner, was naturally impressed by the possibility that one person could influence the weather, and he asked the wise man how he had achieved this.
The wise man replied that he had done nothing, but that when he arrived in the village he noticed that the situation was not in accordance with the Tao. After some time, he too felt that he was no longer in accordance with the Tao, and therefore he asked for a place where he could be alone. Once he was alone, he attempted to return himself to the Tao, and when he succeeded, naturally, the rain came as well.”
You see, one can’t make one’s surroundings more in Tao directly, one can only work to get oneself in Tao, and by doing so, world gets in Tao through synchronicity (even when part of this world is our client). Seems simple, but making oneself in Tao is the hardest thing in the world to do. So it is not so simple after all.
Other parts of the seminar can be found here: