Jung's Self Psychology: A Constructivist Perspective

by Polly Young-Eisendrath, James A. Hall

Jung was fascinated by the problem of unity in the personality. If the personality is made up of multiple voices or affective-imaginal states, as he believed it was, then how does an individual achieve a core self? Jung concluded that a coherent and continuous self is the hard won achievement of consciousness, the product of a mature personality in the second half of life. His theory of the integration of multiple subjectivities into an individuating self' anticipates current trends in constructivism and developmental psychology. Jung did not systematize his own work, nor attempt to make accessible many of his most complex ideas about the self. This volume explores his self psychology, its meaning and its application within the context of other contemporary theories of subjectivity.

To describe Jung's self psychology more fully in the light of contemporary theories, the authors introduce twelve other self theories in a comparative analysis of the clinical case of a midlife man in psychotherapy. From Kohut and Piaget to Lichtenberg and Loevinger, the authors compare Jung's theories with other clinical and developmental approaches. The book's final chapter offers cogent suggestions for future use of Jung's self psychology.

Unique in its treatment and understanding of Jung's theories, this volume illuminates and simplifies many of his central ideas about the self. For Jungians, it provides a contemporary context in which to read and systematize his work. For professionals in the larger therapeutic and educational communities, it offers an up-to-date introduction to a provocative and imaginative body of work that is a central chapter of modern theories of subjectivity.

188 pages, Hardcover

First published May 3, 1991

About the author

Polly Young-Eisendrath, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst, psychologist, and psychotherapist in private practice. She is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont and the founder and director of the Institute for Dialogue Therapy. She is past president of the Vermont Association for Psychoanalytic Studies and a founding member of the Vermont Institute for the Psychotherapies. Polly is also the chairperson of Enlightening Conversations, a series of conversational conferences which bring together participants from the front lines of Buddhism and psychoanalysis. Polly has published sixteen books, as well as many chapters and articles, that have been translated into more than twenty languages, including The Self-Esteem Trap: Raising Confident and Compassionate Kids in an Age of Self-Importance> and Love Between Equals: Relationship as a Spiritual Path>.