Mark Winborn's Blog, page 6

Patricia Skar - Weaving Analytic Therapy and Music Therapy

"D. W. Winnicott (1971) pioneered the idea in psychoanalysis that play is important in the emotional development of the person, and that the psychotherapy process can also be seen as a playground in which to experience, in the present, that which was lost or missed out in the past. For this patient, and for others who have used the instruments in this way, the improvisations opened out the dimension of play in the analytic space in a real, physical way. Playing the instruments, like active imagination in general, could also be seen as a ‘waking dream’. The music produces the emotional dynamic stimulus that helps to unfold the situation which the unconscious wishes to reveal to the conscious mind. This frees the energy formerly bound up in the unconscious symbols and makes it available for conscious use. The process begins with the inner realization of the symbol and then is given the musical expression. After the feelings and physical sensations have been experienced through the music, words are often more readily accessible. I have found the instruments also quite useful in acting out situations from a dream, especially when the patient is split off from the emotional content, or from parts of the psyche inherent in the dream characters. Because emotions can be expressed directly through music without words, the analysand is freed from the guilt often associated with the use of words in, for example, expressing anger.
In looking at the difference between communicating in words and through music, we see that one of the main distinctions is that when we talk, we must take turns speaking. In music, there can be a more fluid, overlapping connection; we can hold or contain each other in the greater sound matrix. Words can conceal feelings and may also feel too explicit, pinning down an emotion into a narrow band of meaning. In music it is safe to let one's real feelings out; no specific content need be assigned to sound, and no one will be injured by the expression of an intense emotion. Finally, there is silence, before and after shared music, that is unlike the silence that surrounds a verbal interchange. The initial silence contains unconsciousintuitions of the music to come and also holds the risk that both people feel of letting themselves go into spontaneous sound expression. When the musical dialogue is over, both again arrive at the silence of the beginning, but this time they have shared the ‘third thing’ - the archetypal dimension of the music. This shared bond is fruitful ground which gives much food for the work, and in my experience has also led to a deepening of trust between analyst and analysand.
An important point to mention here is that the analyst should have no goal or aim in the improvisational experience with a patient. This, of course, is crucial to the analytic process which Jung advocated:
Any interference on the part of the analyst, with the object of forcing the analysis to follow a systematic course, is a gross mistake in technique. (Jung 1916/1985, para. 625)
If I did not already know it from playing music myself, these experiences with my analysands have taught me the power of music to access the unconscious and put into accessible form, deep life experiences. (For more case examples, see Skar 1997.) The question remains whether the technique of using music within analysis is something which could be incorporated into analytic trainings, much like the use of sandplayand spontaneous drawing is currently taught in some courses. Would it be necessary for trainee analysts to have a musical background to consider adding this component to their analytic practice? My own feeling is that a musical background would be helpful, but not absolutely necessary, just as a background in art is not usually considered a requirement before using spontaneous drawing in one's work. The important thing in training would be the opportunity to experience the improvisational work oneself over a period of time with a trained music therapist, to evaluate whether one feels suited to the work or not. Here I would like to emphasize that the use of music within the analytic situation should never be seen as competing with a full music therapy experience, just as spontaneous drawing within analysis cannot be compared with art therapy. Each of these separate expressive therapies has its own parameters and is potentially just as facilitating - on its own - of the individuation process.
There is much need for discussion of this issue, and because of the power of music and sound, there will be controversy about the release of this dimension within the analytic container, just as there is controversy about the use of expressive therapy at all within the analytic experience. Ultimately, this controversy centres around the question: Should analysis remain exclusively a ‘talking cure’? This is one of the issues that has separated Jungian analysis from the psychoanalytic tradition, and is an ongoing problem in defining what it means to be Jungian. My opinion is that expressive therapy does have a place within analysis, but requires the analyst to have a firm grounding in adequate training and the sensitive application of its use. Expressive therapy, including improvisation with simple instruments as I have described, is definitely not for all patients and needs always to be understood within the ongoing and symbolicrelationship (i.e., the transference and countertransference) between analyst and analysand. But when it is used appropriately, it can be a powerful form of communication, deepening the relationship between analyst and analysand and opening new pathways for the process of individuationwithin the analytic container." (pp. 635-636)   Patricia Skar (2002). The Goal as Process: Music and the Search for the Self. Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 47:629-638.     

Pamela Power - Negative Coniunctio, Envy, and Sadomasochism in Analysis

Jung wrote, "The coniunctio is an a priori image that occupies a prominent place in the history of man’s mental development." The coniunctio image is derived from alchemy, Christianity and pagan sources. It is used in analytical psychology to describe a process whereby two unlike substances are joined together; a related term is the complexio oppositorum, where many opposites are embodied in a single image. The coniunctio is the birth of something new; it is positive in the sense of growth, development, or individuation.

The central image of the coniunctio is a sacred marriage or sexual intercourse between two human figures. In the strictest sense, the coniunctio indicates the joining of two aspects within the unconscious. However, coniunctio is commonly used in other ways including the psychological process between conscious and unconscious, between analyst and analysand, between conscious standpoint of analyst and unconscious of analysand and the converse.

The coniunctio as a constellated archetype between two people becomes a highly charged energy field. This is where danger, as well as new possibilities, arises. When the coniunctio becomes enacted between analyst and analysand, technically it is ‘acting out.’ However, there are situations where this enactment, along with the danger it brings, is a necessary stage for any significant psychological development. Any negative coniunctio that becomes constellated between analyst and analysand is already occurring within the psyche of the analysand and to some extent within the analyst. When it becomes a dominant theme in the analysis between analyst and analysand, this indicates that analysis has become a necessary agent to modify the destructiveness and resistance that it indicates. This is no easy matter!

There are several forms of enactment that I designate as the ‘negative coniunctio’; among them are ‘envious pairing’ and sadomasochism. They are negative because the coniunctio does not produce positive development, and because it is a defense against growth and change. The negative coniunctio might as well be called anti-coniunctio; however, if the analysis can undergo a transformation, then negative can change to positive. The key to this shift is not altogether straightforward or easily understood. Diligent skill and consciousness on the part of the analyst as well as nearly surgical skill and intervention are essential. In alchemical terms, incubation, ‘marination’, and distillation, as autonomous activities of the psyche, also play a part. Certainly there is no ‘waiting around for the psyche to naturally unfold,’ no ‘making the unconscious conscious.’ Helpful here also are the words of Donald Meltzer who described some cases where the analysis is "a rescue operation and cannot be undertaken in safety."

The term coniunctio applies to these difficult cases because the powerful archetypal field that is constellated may have a numinous quality. Analyst and analysand get drawn into a primitive mystical connection (identity) with each other, something that Jung (drawing from the anthropologist Lévy-Bruhl) called participation mystique. It is a state in which the subject cannot distinguish himself from the object. This is to be differentiated from projective identification, a more actively defensive and communicative process, although there may be overlap between the two. The participation mystique that occurs in these cases, a mystical identity, is due to the activation of vital, primitive aspects of the psyche. The identity appears as an a priori condition, an initial identification that must undergo differentiation--as if for the first time. (pp. 34-35)

Passage from Pamela Power (2014). Negative Coniunctio: Envy and Sadomasochism in Analysis, in Mark Winborn (Ed.), Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond, Fisher King Press.



Order from Amazon or Fisher King Press

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond - edited by Mark Winborn - Now Available

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond is now available on Amazon.com and Fisher King Press. Mark Winborn, Editor, brings together Jungian analysts and psychoanalysts from across the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Carl Jung's concept of participation mystique is used as a starting point for an in depth exploration of 'shared realities' in the analytic setting and beyond. The clinical, narrative, and theoretical discussions move through such related areas as: projective identification, negative coniunctio, reverie, intersubjectivity, the interactive field, phenomenology, neuroscience, the transferential chimera, shamanism, shared reality of place, borderland consciousness, and mystical participation. This unique collection of essays bridges theoretical orientations and includes some of the most original analytic writers of our time. An essential read for psychoanalysts, Jungian analysts, psychotherapists, and analytic candidates. Published by Fisher King Press. Order


CONTENTS
-    Introduction: An Overview of Participation Mystique - Mark Winborn             Section I Clinical Applications
1   Negative Coniunctio: Envy and Sadomasochism in Analysis - Pamela Power
2   Trauma, Participation Mystique, Projective Identification and Analytic Attitude - Marcus West
3   Watching Clouds Together: Analytic Reverie and Participation Mystique - Mark Winborn
4   Modern Kleinian Therapy, Jung's Participation Mystique, and the Projective Identification Process - Robert Waska
            Section II Experiential Narratives
5   Songs Never Heard Before: Listening and Living Differently In Shared Realities -Dianne Braden
6   Variants of Mystical Participation - Michael Eigen
7   Participation Mystique in Peruvian Shamanism - Deborah Bryon
            Section III Theoretical Discussions
8   Healing Our Split: Participation Mystique and C. G. Jung - Jerome Bernstein
9   The Transferential Chimera and Neuroscience - François Martin-Vallas
10 Toward a Phenomenology of Participation Mystique and a Reformulation of
     Jungian Philosophical Anthropology - John White

-    Conclusion - Mark Winborn
 Praise for Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond  Jung's use of the concept participation mystique has always struck me as among his most original ideas and I could vaguely intuit its relevance to many contemporary developments in psychoanalysis, from projective identification to intersubjectivity to the mysteries of transitional space.  Now, thanks to the extraordinary essays in this book, one no longer has to "intuit" this relevance.  It is spelled out in beautiful detail by writers with expertise in many facets of our field.  The breadth of these essays is truly extraordinary.  Reading them has enriched both my personal and professional life.  I highly recommend this book.  Donald Kalsched, Ph.D. author of  The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit(Routledge, 1996) and Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption(Routledge, 2013).  The concept of “participation mystique” is one that is often considered a somewhat arcane notion disparagingly equated with an unconscious, undifferentiated or “primitive” dynamic.   This collection of outstanding articles from Jungian analysts of different theoretical perspectives and analysts from different schools of depth psychology redeems this concept and locates it as central to depth work, regardless of one’s theoretical orientation.   What may seem like an ethereal notion becomes grounded when explored from the perspective of the clinical, the experiential and the theoretical.   Linking participation mystique to the more clinical concepts of projective identification, unitary reality, empathy, the intersubjective field and the neurosciences and locating this dynamic in the field of the transference and counter-transference, brings this concept to life in a refreshingly clear and related manner.   In addition, each author does so in a very personal manner.  This book provides the reader with a wonderful example of amplification of participation mystique, linking many diverse threads and fibers to form an image, which, while it reveals its depth and usefulness, nevertheless maintains its sense of mystery.  This book is a true delight for anyone intrigued by those “moments of meeting”, moments of awe, when the ineffable becomes manifest, when we feel the shiver down our spine, be it in our work or in a moment of grace as we sit quietly in nature. Shared Realities offers nourishment for the clinician, for the intellect and, most importantly, for the soul.  I highly recommend it!   Tom Kelly, President – International Association for Analytical Psychology and Past-President – Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts
  

Ruggiero - Working with Borderline Patients

"Borderline patients force the analyst into a continuous work of auto-analysis, through which he can – in fact through the process of mirroring – encounter the other, the unknown, the disturbing element inside the self, in an inexhaustible process of re-attributing meaning in apr s-coup to elements which are not yet conscious, whose existence the analyst intuits sometimes only vaguely. The inevitable experiences of symmetry must not in any way allow a loss of sight, even for a moment, of the necessary asymmetry of the analytic relationship, and the fact that both self-analysis and the analysis of the countertransference need to be carried out in terms of the patient and in terms of the understanding of his internal world (Bollas, 1987). Only on this basis can the recognition of the contribution which the analyst brings to the analysis – with his strange subjectivity – foster a better understanding of the patient’s intrapsychic region and the connections between what emerges in the here and now of the session and the patient’s personal history, as he is rebuilding it in the course of the analysis, in a process of continual rewriting, transformation and integration between reality that is both internal and external, both intrapsychic and interpsychic." (p. 604)

Irene Ruggiero (2012) The Unreachable Object? Difficulties and Paradoxes in the Analytical Relationship with Borderline Patients, International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 93, pp. 585–606








 




 

Erel Shalit - The Hero Myth and Jungian Psychoanalysis

“Where id was, there ego shall be,” proclaims Freud. By interpretation, the unconscious is made conscious. Interpretation is the sword of psychoanalysis, splitting the enigmas of the unconscious into intelligible slices of consciousness. A symbol’s multitude of meanings becomes the unitary signs and banners of consciousness. The ego, which in Jungian thought stands at the center of consciousness and conscious identity, may be stiffly bound to the totem of collective consciousness, to norms and conventions. Alternatively, the ego may bravely turn around to face what lies in the unconscious.

For this purpose, the ego needs the hero. The notion of the hero in Jung’s analytical psychology represents that particular aspect of the ego that ventures into the darkness of the shadow, searches for “the treasure, the princess, the ring, the golden egg, elixir of life, etc.,” which, as Daryl Sharp says, all are “metaphors for one’s true feelings and unique potential.” By means of its hero-function, the ego turns toward the Self and a vital and dynamic relationship between them is made possible. As Joseph Campbell succinctly says, “The effect of the successful adventure of the hero is the unlocking and release again of the flow of life into the body of the world.”
….The central, nuclear myth of Jungian psychoanalysis is the Hero-myth, because the psychological essence of the hero is to abandon the kingdom of the ego, to challenge the norms and obsessions of collective consciousness and the persona—the face of social adaptation—and to search for meaning. The absence of meaning is the essence of neurosis, which, Jung says, “must be understood, ultimately, as the suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning.” When Sartre says that man is “the incontestable author” who, condemned to freedom, “is responsible for the world and for himself as a way of being,” he speaks of heroic man. (pp. 17-18)
 Erel Shalit (2008). Enemy, Cripple & Beggar: Shadows in the Hero’s Path, Fisher King Press.

Mark Winborn - Participation Mystique: An Overview

Conclusion of the Introduction: An Overview of Participation Mystique

"As we can see, as a concept, participation mystique has a rich background. A review of the participation mystique literature allows us to recognize that the projective and identificatory tendencies, which are at the heart of participation mystique, can sometimes be acknowledged, recognized, or reduced. However, these processes are always a part of our intersubjective interaction and communication in all facets of our lives, and particularly in analysis. Participation mystique does not function like a light switch – to be turned off or on depending upon the situation – regardless of whether one has been cautioned about its potential dangers. The degree of influence from participation mystique is distributed as a continuum of experience and is ever present in our interactions with others and our environments. These influences will likely never be eliminated, nor would it be desirable to do so if we could. In fact, to blindly attempt to restrict participation mystique experience is to reduce the depth to which we are able to connect with others and our surroundings, or to reduce the available ‘field knowledge’ in the analytic setting. At this point, given our current relationship to psyche, we might wonder about the motivation behind a desire to limit such connection rather than develop a relationship to such experiences.

The intent of this book is to provide a new look at participation mystique - coming at it from various points of view: from personal narratives, theory, clinical experience, cross-cultural exploration, and archetypal dynamics. Ultimately, my hope is that these chapters paint a picture of participation mystique as a broader umbrella term for a wide variety of intersubjective phenomena. In its traditional usage, the clinical utility of the term is limited because the term often hasn’t been used in a differentiated manner. Hubback finds it, “regrettable that the anthropologist Lévy-Bruhl should have had his phrase over-used and distorted, when the perhaps rival psychological concepts of projection, introjection, identification and the transcendent function really serve us better. Identifying with those structures in the analyst which have developed as a result of her working on instinctual ‘animal nature’ in herself, can and does happen within the therapeutic relationship; projections and introjections can be discerned and described. I think they are marvelous, but not mystical.”107 The term becomes useful when used to describe a class of interactive experiences. When the various component constituents for the class are seen as being related, i.e. having a similar underlying process, then participation mystique acquires usefulness – somewhat like how the term ‘particle physics’ defines and delineates a particular area of inquiry within physics. 
Participation mystique evolves, just as psyche evolves, and we are now at a point of greater receptivity to what participation mystique offers than we were a century ago when depth psychology was in its infancy. We are at a significant juncture in the development of psychoanalysis in general and analytical psychology specifically; a time of convergence and crossfertilization in which we have the opportunity to re-examine established or accepted theories and concepts based on cumulative clinical experience, developments in others fields, and shifts in our culture - all of which ultimately impact how we practice as analysts and analytic therapists. Just such an exploration is undertaken in the chapters that follow." (pp. 24-25) Mark Winborn (Ed.). Shared Realties: Participation Mystique and Beyond. Fisher King Press, 2014.

Early Praise for Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond

Shared Realities: Participation Mystique and Beyond, edited by Mark Winborn and published by Fisher King Press, brings together Jungian analysts and psychoanalysts from across the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Jung’s concept of participation mystique is used as a starting point for an in depth exploration of ‘shared realities’ in the analytic setting and beyond. The clinical, narrative, and theoretical discussions move through such related areas as: projective identification, negative coniunctio, reverie, intersubjectivity, the interactive field, phenomenology, neuroscience, the transferential chimera, shamanism, shared reality of place, borderland consciousness, and mystical participation. This unique collection of essays bridges theoretical orientations and includes some of the most original analytic writers of our time (approximately 270 pages). Available June 1st.

"Jung's use of the concept participation mystique has always struck me as among his most original ideas and I could vaguely intuit its relevance to many contemporary developments in psychoanalysis, from projective identification to intersubjectivity to the mysteries of transitional space.  Now, thanks to the extraordinary essays in this book, one no longer has to "intuit" this relevance.  It is spelled out in beautiful detail by writers with expertise in many facets of our field.  The breadth of these essays is truly extraordinary.  Reading them has enriched both my personal and professional life.  I highly recommend this book."

Donald Kalsched, Ph.D. author of  The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit (Routledge, 1996) and Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption (Routledge, 2013).
"The concept of 'participation mystique' is one that is often considered a somewhat arcane notion disparagingly equated with an unconscious, undifferentiated or 'primitive' dynamic.   This collection of outstanding articles from Jungian analysts of different theoretical perspectives and analysts from different schools of depth psychology redeems this concept and locates it as central to depth work, regardless of one’s theoretical orientation.   What may seem like an ethereal notion becomes grounded when explored from the perspective of the clinical, the experiential and the theoretical.   Linking participation mystique to the more clinical concepts of projective identification, unitary reality, empathy, the intersubjective field and the neurosciences and locating this dynamic in the field of the transference and counter-transference, brings this concept to life in a refreshingly clear and related manner.   In addition, each author does so in a very personal manner.
This book provides the reader with a wonderful example of amplification of participation mystique, linking many diverse threads and fibers to form an image, which, while it reveals its depth and usefulness, nevertheless maintains its sense of mystery.  This book is a true delight for anyone intrigued by those “moments of meeting”, moments of awe, when the ineffable becomes manifest, when we feel the shiver down our spine, be it in our work or in a moment of grace as we sit quietly in nature. Shared Realities offers nourishment for the clinician, for the intellect and, most importantly, for the soul.  I highly recommend it!" 

Tom Kelly - President, International Association for Analytical Psychology and Past-President, Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts

Nicky Glover - Resonances between Wilfred Bion and C.G. Jung

"When asked whether his notion of a "primorial mind" was related to Jung's archetypes, Bion replied 'I think he [Jung] was probably talking about the same thing. There exists some fundamental mind, something that seems to remain unaltered in us all' (Bion, 1978, p. 4)"

Glover, Nicky (2009). Psychoanalytic Aesthetics, London: Karnac (p. xxv).

Brent Potter - Elements of Self-Destruction

Why are humans, who are motivated by self-preservation, motivated to engage in behaviors that threaten and even extinguish their existence? The themes included in this book are: (1) the emerging understanding of self-destructiveness in culture, religion, philosophy and , (2) Bion’s investigation into the self-destructive capacity of the mind, (3) Heidegger’s ontology of Being and the Enframing of technology, (4) identifying and delineating the "who" who most experiences the impact of human-to-human destructiveness in out contemporary culture.

Brent Potter, Ph.D. (2013) Elements of Self-Destruction, Karnac.

The Jung - Neumann Letters

The Jung - Neumann Letters A Book Launch and International Conference24-26 April 2015, Kibbutz Shefayim, Israel 

The long awaited publication of the Correspondence between C.G. Jung and Erich Neumann promises to be a landmark event in the history of analytical psychology. The Jung-Neumann Letters, edited by Martin Liebscher, is due to be published by Princeton University Press early spring 2015. To mark this important event, an international conference is being planned, to be jointly sponsored by The Foundation for the Works of C.G. Jung, the Neumann family, The Philemon Foundation, The International Association of Analytical Psychology, and The Israel Institute of Jungian Psychology.

This collection of more than one hundred letters between the two men spans nearly three decades, from 1934 on the eve of Neumann’s arrival in Tel Aviv until his premature death in 1960. The letters reveal an intense and intimate encounter between two brilliant minds. Respectfully, yet in a most straightforward way, Jung - the founder, pioneer and wise elder - and Neumann - the courageous and bold younger thinker – reflect upon a broad spectrum of theoretical, clinical and cultural issues, including Jewish and Biblical themes, as well as anti-Semitism and Nazism.

The invited speakers for this conference will present recent discoveries and new perspectives pertaining to the correspondence, the relationship between Jung and Neumann, and the broad range issues they discussed.

In addition, this will be a celebration of Neumann’s unique and precious contribution to analytical psychology and cultural studies. Scholars and clinicians will present the latest views on many aspects of Neumann’s work, pertaining to psychological theory and clinical issues as well as to the arts and culture.

Greetings and lectures will include presentations by the President of the IAAP, Tom Kelly; the President of The Philemon Foundation, Judith Harris; by the Executive Director of The Foundation for the Works of C.G. Jung, Dr. Thomas Fischer; by Prof. Micha Neumann, the son of Erich Neumann; by Dr. Martin Liebscher, the Editor of the Correspondence; by Dr. Murray Stein, former President of the IAAP and ISAPZurich, and other internationally renowned scholars and analysts.

The conference will appeal to clinicians and analysts, to scholars and academicians in the humanities from around the world, and to the general public with an interest in Jungian studies. It will take place in the pleasant country setting at the hotel and conference center of Kibbutz Shefayim, 20 minutes north of Tel Aviv, the home of Erich Neumann.

Further details will soon be announced
Reposted from the original source - http://www.erelshalit.com/