Individuation Essay

The process on individuation is central to Jungian analytical psychology, as Jung believed that individuation is the driving force behind humans’ “yearning for completeness within the human experience, and the search for wholeness” (Russell, & Ryback, 1996, p.2) in their life-long conquest to achieve a distinctive but coherent and balanced personality. Besides the genetics and the psychosocial environment, Jung believed that a third force influences the dynamic formation of human individuality and that is the ‘collective memory’ of previous civilizations, memory stored and available to humans, in the ‘collective unconscious’ (Munteanu, 2012; Douglas, 2011). While hard to prove scientifically, quantum physics does not refute this concept
I would need to maintain myself on an perpetual self-development and self-reflection ‘carousel’, in order to ensure that I continuously upgrade my skills to the levels required to provide that balance of challenge and support, to all of my clients; within my practice, I would use a variety of methods, such as instructional interventions, questioning, clarifying, hypothesising, silences if/as required (to allow the process of assimilation and internalisation), dream interpretation or sequential drawings, journaling, art and sand therapies (especially for clients who have difficulties verbalising feelings), mandalas, mask making, etc. I could see how my teaching experience will serve me well in Jungian counselling, since I already use many of these methods, to provide personalised learning, to my students. I have always thought of myself as ‘work in progress’, and therefore I learn something new every day from my students; hence, learning from and alongside my clients I see it as a continuation of my own holistic individuation (Dehing, 1992; Russell, & Ryback,