Online courses and modules

This module explores the historical, philosophical, cultural, and religious background of analytical psychology. It includes a core of seminars in which special attention is paid to Jung's collaborative relationship with Freud and to their divergence. In the other seminars, issues more specific to Jung's own thinking and to their development in analytical psychology are explored. This structure allows the development of a comparative as well as a contextual view of analytical psychology.

Aims:
To provide historical, philosophical, and cultural background that will enrich understanding of the origin and nature of analytical psychology;
To foster a critical approach to the history and theory of analytical psychology and, more particularly, to the nature and validity of evidence and interpretation; and
To explore the value of contextual understanding for the comparative study of analytical psychology and psychoanalysis.

Objectives:
By the end of the module, you should be able to:
Show how analytical psychology emerged out of, differentiated itself from, and continues to develop in relationship to specific but complex socio-cultural conditions (both immediate and long-term), and use this ability to illuminate similarities and differences between the two main schools of depth psychology, psychoanalysis and analytical psychology;
Discuss analytical psychology with awareness that it is diverse and complex, has a past and disputed histories of that past, and changes continually;
Demonstrate how analytical psychology 'bites its own tail', i.e., provides critical theoretical perspectives both on the events and circumstances of its own past and on the disciplines (e.g., biography, history, philosophy) by which we might try to establish and evaluate its past;
Deploy various critical and academic skills (e.g., how to evaluate historical sources, philosophical arguments, or cultural artefacts) in the investigation of the theories and texts of analytical psychology; and
Understand the process and limits of interpretation as a form of enquiry.

The themes may change from year to year, but the outline below gives an idea of the kinds of topics:

A. Analytical Psychology and Society
1. Politics and depth psychology: history and critique of the relationship between the two. Possibilities, problems, contemporary examples. Political and social roles of analysts and psychotherapists.
2. Economic theory, economic policy and models of human nature. Depth psychologist's assessment of 'alternative economics' (e.g. local exchange and trading schemes, social and emotional audit, Third World debt reduction, taxation of consumption, greening of production, sustainability).
3. Environment and depth psychology: contributions from Jungian and post-Jungian psychology to ecological discourse. Prospects for 'ecopsychology'. Critical discussion of 'ecofeminism' and 'ecomasculinism'.
4. Home, homecoming and the refugee experience. Dilemmas engendered in the refugee condition. The dependency syndrome and its political ramifications.


B. Analytical Psychology, Knowledge and Violence
1. Gnosticism old and new. The epistemology of gnosticism in modern society; political, religious and therapeutic dimensions.
2. From human destructiveness to atrocities. Violence and the psychologisation of evil.

C. Analytical Psychology, Gender and Sexuality
1. Masculinity: and femininity: constructing a multi-disciplinary approach. Prospects for change in male and female psychological role and performance. Relations between men and women, and parents and children. Aggression and violence.
2. Sexual orientation: history of depth psychological approaches to homosexuality. Homophobia and heterosexism. Discussion of viability of clinical approaches to homosexuality.

D. Analytical Psychology and Professionalisation
1. Organisational dimensions of analytical training and practice: ethical and therapeutic implications. The subversive and marginalised positions of psychotherapy in the context of the societal discourse of the expert. The mercenary model of psychotherapy.
2. The dialectics of pathologizing, and the care industry. De-pathologizing the political, and de-psychologizing human suffering.

This module is designed to appraise the applicability of Jungian and post-Jungian modes of enquiry in diverse social and cultural fields with special reference to selected pressing problems in contemporary Western societies. Current controversies and debates will be presented for evaluation from the perspective of Jungian and post-Jungian psychology. The relevance of the epistemological, ethical and clinical positions developed within the Jungian and post-Jungian traditions for those working in other fields will be elucidated. The wide diversity of topics covered in this course is deliberate; it is intended to explore the broad applicability of these theories whilst at the same time to illustrate the methodology of how general principles are applied to social and cultural issues.