What is it? Where does it come from?
Carl Jung’s theories were a bit different but still carried similarities to Freud’s theories about personalities. For example, Jung theorized our psyche is a composite of a consciously aware ego, a personal unconscious, and collective unconscious (Friedman & Schustack, 2016, p. 77). Similar to Freud, the ego represents our conscious sense of self. Distinctly different from Freud, however, Jung believed our personal unconscious is composed of thoughts, feelings, experiences, and memories collected throughout our lives. He also believed our collective unconscious consists of thoughts, feelings, experiences, and memories collected over many lifetimes and passed down to each of us genetically in much the same way as biological instincts are passed down (Friedman & Schustack, 2016).
What is its purpose?
Jung explained that representations of the collective unconscious are expressed through archetypes universal to all persons and cultures such as hero and demon. Jung said, “There is good reason for supposing that the archetypes are the unconscious images of the instincts themselves, in other words, that they are patterns of instinctual behavior (Jung, 1936, p.100).” As can be demonstrated in examples such as good versus evil or hero versus demon, archetypes are paired. As such, they are tasked with balancing the psyche between opposing forces, motivations, and behaviors. To function as a balance, archetypes often take various forms: imagery, dreams or fantasy necessary to travel from unconsciousness to conscious awareness (Adamski, 2011).
Usefulness in therapeutic settings
Since the archetypes are universally accessible, they provide a useful therapeutic bridge when working with clients in clinical settings for analysis and discussions. Theoretically, the psyche experiences roadblocks identified as complexes that are unable to be surpassed by traditional, conscious exploration; however, the overarching generality and universality of archetypes provide useful building blocks with which to begin conversation toward understanding the root of the complexes. This technique commonly explains that people are cognitively aware of the concept that dreams are not typically representative of literal events but are symbolic by nature. It posits that our lives are full of visual imagery and symbols, therefore, it is a matter of accessing the unconscious thoughts represented by archetypes and using them to find and solve difficult situations a person faces in their lifetime.
References:
Adamski, A. G. (2011). Archetypes and Collective Unconscious Compared to Development Quantum Psychology. NeuroQuantology, 9(3).
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2016). Personality: Classic theories and modern research. Pearson.
Jung, C. G. (1936). The concept of the collective unconscious. Collected works,9(1), 99-104. Retrieved from http://www.bahaistudies.net/asma/The-Concept-of-the-Collective-Unconscious.pdf
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