Jungian psychology, including shadow work and its implications for recovery from addiction.
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." Carl Jung
Young Jung
The badass and above-average-looking Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875 - 1961) developed one of history's most influential theories on the inner workings of the human mind.
Jung was originally a disciple of sex-pest cokefiend Sigmund Freud, who - for the unacquainted - divided the mind into three components. Freud's id consisted of primal drives, many of which are antisocial, sexual, and violent; the superego, by contrast, consists of internalized societal norms that delineate acceptable behavior. Finally, the ego is a function that balances the two using the so-called reality principle, which is the idea that the wants of the id must be satisfied in socially acceptable ways that the superego approves of.
Freud developed extraordinarily rich explications of human psychology that described mental illness in terms of imbalances between these three components as well as errors in a developmental progression that he outlined.*
*According to Freud, women had penis envy, smokers possessed overdeveloped oral fixations, and male homosexuals, on our part, were stuck in the anal stage of development (never mind that Kinsey would later discover that a significant proportion of male homosexuals do not partake in anal sex and are not particularly aroused by the thought of it). As mentioned above, Freud was an enjoyer of cocaine, which in my opinion might have something to do with his theoretical overemphasis on sex; in one letter to his future wife, Martha Bernays, Freud wrote: "I will kiss you quite red and feed you till you are plump. And if you are forward you shall see who is the stronger, a gentle little girl who doesn't eat enough or a big wild man who has cocaine in his body." Freud's enthusiasm for cocaine was tempered by the suicide of a friend who he introduced to the drug, a physiologist whose morphine addiction Freud believed could be cured by cocaine (unsurprisingly, the friend ended up addicted to both).
Freud devised a system of talk therapy for recalibrating out-of-whack minds that - although almost clinically obsolete in the modern day - has had an immense influence on generations of artists, social scientists, and philosophers.
In the beginning, Jung was a protege of Freud. Eventually, however, the two parted ways; whereas Freud was committed to a sort of scientific reduction of the mind into component parts that could be analyzed and understood, Jung's approach was much more intuitive and nonlinear (sometimes even spiritual).
Jung eventually divorced himself from Freud's psychoanalytic school entirely, founding his own school of analytic psychology (they don't make it easy for us with these names, I know).
Jung's Theories
Like Freud, Jung drew his inspiration from anthropology and mythology, the latter of which he saw as a sort of anthropomorphic projection of the contents of our psyches. He envisioned psychodynamics as a dialectic process, a constant battle between opposites.
These opposites could be conceptualized using archetypes, which are universal models that help explain human experience, including historical patterns that repeat themselves across time and space. Examples of archetypes are the hero / self, the mother, the wise old man, the trickster, the devourer, the great flood - elements of a universal mythology shared by every human culture.
Whereas Freud acknowledged the existence of an individual or personal unconscious, Jung posited the existence of a collective unconscious, a shared repository of human experience that all human beings have access to, from which the archetypes and other universal psychological features and experiences emanate. (To my knowledge, he never pinned down the exact nature of the collective unconscious, which has been described as biological / instinctual / physiologic on some occasions but as based in storytelling / culture on others and as having spiritual or metaphysical aspects on still other occasions).
Partly because of his belief in the collective unconscious, Jung's psychology is wildly, gorgeously intuitive, sometimes even mystical. Jung believed in the possibility of shared dreaming, in which two or more individuals navigate the same dreamscape. He also posited an "acausal connecting principle" that he termed synchronicity, which refers to the improbable recurrence of certain elements or themes with immense personal significance (although said significance might not be initially clear to the person experiencing synchronicity).
Intriguingly, Jung believed that quantum mechanics - specifically, quantum uncertainty - might underly synchronicity, an idea that influenced pioneering physicist Wolfgang Pauli of the Pauli Exclusion Principle and that seems even more plausible given what we are discovering about quantum entanglement and other nonlocal phenomena today.
Jung on Spirituality and Addiction
Jung was unapologetic in his connection of psychology and spirituality. He studied the religious and mystical traditions of almost every major society in human history, and from this comparative analysis he attempted to discern what was universal and therefore true.
As I mentioned above, Jung's theories allow for the existence of metaphysical phenomena such as shared dreaming and synchronicity, which - although not necessarily paranormal - defy the laws of science as we understand them and as they commonly operate in the macroscopic world.
Intriguingly, Jung is credited as having an influence on the development of 12-Step programs. He once told a supposedly unreformable alcoholic who he was treating that his only hope of recovery was through a profound spiritual experience, a "genuine conversion" event.
The aforementioned alcoholic, Rhode Island politician Rowland Hazard III, introduced this idea to the participants in the Oxford Group and the Emmanuel Movement, two spiritually oriented healing movements, as well as to Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Thus, the fundamental feature of 12-Step programs - i.e. the recognition that individual agency has failed us and that intervention of a Higher Power is necessary for healing - is essentially a Jungian construct.
The Shadow
One of Jung's most powerful ideas is that of the shadow, an unconscious component of the human psyche that consists of the parts of ourselves that we reject - our weaknesses, our fears, desires that we believe to be wrong or shameful. Like Freud's id, the shadow exists in opposition to social indoctrination, through which certain traits and urges are rejected as negative or inappropriate.
Jung believed that in order to individuate - the ultimate goal of analytic psychology, which today we would probably refer to as self-actualization* - we need to acknowledge and embrace our shadow, a process that he termed integration.
*This isn't quite right, as individuation had a spiritual dimension, as well; according to Jung, as we recognize the true self, we approach the true divine.
Without integrating the shadow, Jung thought that people would become shallow and overly worried about others' opinions of themselves. Moreover, they would tend to project onto others the parts of themselves that they rejected.
Thus, Jung conceptualized the shadow as not merely something to be controlled or denied. He viewed it as an essential balancing factor; the "where there is light, there must also be shadow" principle held that the light of consciousness must be balanced by the subterranean workings of the shadow.
The shadow gives power, passion, and purpose, without which we are fragile, easily manipulated shells.
Although I'm not sure that Jung connected shadow dysfunction with addiction specifically, his theories made it clear that psychological illnesses often involved dysregulation of the shadow.
It's easy to see how an inability to accept our darker selves - our flaws and petty or not-so-petty monstrosities - could lead us to an anxious state in which we seek and come to depend upon chemical refuge.
What's more, most of what we consider traumatic - moments of shame, betrayal, failure, and exceptional hurt - falls within the domain of the shadow, as well.
Lately, as part of what I'm referring to as my Negativity Renaissance, I've been playing around with what's known as shadow work, a series of techniques meant to help connect with, understand, and integrate the shadow.
Shadow work often involves listening to a series of questions or statements and waiting for one or more items that provoke a strong emotional response.
For example, read through the following list. Don't stop and think about your full answer to each question; rather, simply take note of which questions stand out to you.
(1) What do you wish your parents had said to you more or less often when you were young?
(2) What is your biggest regret?
(3) What situations make you feel less than or not good enough?
(4) If you heard someone who didn't know that you were listening talking about you, what would be the worst thing that they could say about you?
(5) Is there a particular dream that has disturbed you?
(6) What is something that you are afraid is true about yourself that you've never admitted to anyone else?
(7) When have you felt most ashamed?
(8) Which Jungian archetype do you most identify with and why?
(9) What is one way in which you feel like a failure?
(10) What makes you feel not manly (or womanly) enough?
(11) When have you felt betrayed? If you could speak to someone who broke your trust, what would you say to them?
(12) What's the biggest promise that you've ever broken?
(13) If you could speak to someone who has passed away, what would you say to them?
(14) What is your greatest fear (aside from death)?
(15) Who is one person you've never forgiven?
(16) What is something that you feel bad or guilty about enjoying?
(17) If you could speak to your child-self now, what would you say?
(18) What are two traits that most bother you in others?
(19) What makes you feel envious?
(20) What's one lie that you often tell yourself?
Question (4) was interesting for me.
When I returned to it to consider my reaction in more detail, I realized that the traits that I was concerned about other people assigning to me were either qualities that I used to have (e.g., being very judgmental), which I have worked on and changed; qualities that I might sometimes seem to have (e.g., arrogance), which I don't believe I actually have; and qualities that I really have (e.g., inconsistency) that I still need to work on.
These are powerful, triggering questions, and coming to grips with what they teach us about ourselves can play a role in healing.
When I first heard about shadow work, I found the concept interesting as a therapeutic novelty, but I wasn't quite sure about how shadow work would actually facilitate healing in a practical way.
The more that I learned about it, however, the more I came to realize that shadow work provides a powerful means for quickly assessing the vulnerabilities and trigger points of the psyche, using which we can begin to understand and address unresolved trauma, including from key relationships early on in life; weaknesses and insecurities; and areas where we lack self-understanding and self-compassion.
Jung's Madness
The Red Book is Jung's record of his own psychological journey, which he drew and illustrated between 1914 and 1930. During this time, which has been alternately framed as a psychotic breakdown, a creative illness, and a period of deep introspection, Jung worked intensely with Freud to articulate and apply their psychodynamic theories.
In that it represented Jung's grappling with his own madness, it was intensely personal and probably wasn't intended for publication; in fact, it wasn't published until many years after his death.
The Red Book is a magnificent work that is as visually rich as a medieval illuminated manuscript (it has been compared to the Book of Kells and to the poetry and illustrations of William Blake).
It is equally rich symbolically, as it represents a sort of spiritual quest, a series of visions or imaginings. Interestingly, Jung connected his inner journey with what was going on with world history during and after World War I, as well, which he viewed as another great iteration of man's tumultuous history.
I've included three pages from the book below, which feature figures and scenes reminiscent of dreams or myths. There are translated and annotated versions of the Red Book available in various languages from two publishers, but I think that Jung himself would've appreciated an intuitive approach - studying the various scenes and symbols depicted to see what jumps out at you, then stopping to consider why.
Further Reading
Like Freud, Jung was a brilliant, prolific, and versatile scholar whose theories influenced disciplines from art and anthropology to history, philosophy, and theology. You could spend your entire life studying Jung and never exhaust the source material, let alone the rich intellectual traditions that have been woven outward from it.
If you're interested in Jung's theories, which can be dense and laden with his own terminology, his autobiography Memories, Dreams, and Reflections is one place to start.
The Society of Analytic Psychology (SAP) offers an introduction to Jung that links to more in-depth resources devoted to specific concepts and texts.
Positivepsychology.com put together a guide to Jung, which includes a biographical introduction, a guide to Jungian talk therapy, and a bibliography of seminal works, which you may find helpful, as well.
If anyone who is in recovery has undertaken treatment with a Jungian therapist and / or engaged in shadow work, please share your experiences via DM or below!
Comments