Odyssey Into the Unconscious According to Carl Jung

By Tiffany Jones, 11/09/09

     Many people are well aware of Sigmund Freud and know at least some basic information about what he did in the field of psychoanalysis.  However, with an almost cult like status, Carl Jung has also been very influential in the field of psychoanalysis.  Even though they were buddies, Jung became Freud’s biggest opponent due to philosophical differences.  In comparison to Jung, Freud barely touched the tip of the iceberg…so to speak.  Jung refined psychoanalysis to a comprehensive art—by making it more tangible.  In addition, he contributed some things that are very relevant to the field of psychology such as the Myers-Briggs personality test.   People who follow Jung understand and love him.  Would you like to know your true self?  So did Jung. 

     An enigmatic book, written by Carl Jung, has been tucked away for nearly a century was just recently published.  The book titled The Red Book – Liber Novus (new book) is a personal tale of Carl Jung’s journey into near madness while trying to unlock the secrets of the unconscious.  For decades, historians have been attempting to get their hands on what might be the most thought provoking, powerful, and disturbing of all of Jung’s works.  However, due to the nature of the work, those in charge of the Jung estate have been more than cautious about its release with good reason.

     Jung began writing the book in 1913.  At the age of 38, Jung felt the grip on his own psyche beginning to slip.  He kept a journal to record all of his dreams.  In his time awake, he would try to access the unconscious by attempting to confront the most inward parts of his mind.  He would hear voices, induce hallucinations, and would find himself almost unable to withstand the experience.  He was so intent of delving into the most inner aspects of himself (light and dark) that he was willing to delegate all his spare moments and almost his sanity to the discovery.  With this in mind, it is easy to understand why the Jung estate has been so protective of the book.

     Convincing the Jung estate to reveal the book took one man fifteen years of full time detective work and meetings with the family.  Why is this book important for psychology students?  Well, there are several reasons.  One reason is that it may be incredibly insightful about the importance of introspection and dreams.  One might wonder how far they might be willing to go in order to achieve true knowledge of the self…and if they would be willing to push it to the limits in order to achieve something other than what Jung himself may have considered mediocrity.  Are you ready to confront your true self?

To gain more knowledge about this book, the publication of the book, or how it was ultimately made accessible, read the excellent account by Sara Corbett (New York Times September 16, 2009)--click on the link below.

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Despair or Depression? Labels Running Amok

 By mark Giles, 12/09/09

     In a recent article in the New York Times, Gordon Ramiro discussed how Kierkegaard would complain about the things we take for granted.  Things such as Twitter, YouTube, and e-mail have changed how we communicate with each other, how we view ourselves, and how we assess our feelings.

     This brings out an interesting point.  When someone complains that they are feeling in despair, it is likely that this person would be seen as depressed, and would be encouraged to seek out clinical help.  This is because, it is widely thought, that only depressed people feel despair.

     If Kierkegaard the therapist was faced with this person, he would probably tell you that the despair is not depression, but that despair is a problem of spirit.  Ramiro defined despair as, “a desire to get rid of the self, an unwillingness to become who you fundamentally are.”  Ramiro went on to say that there are many people who are happy, but still feel despair because of things that may not have been attained, or things not done.  “Happiness is the greatest hiding place for despair.”  Ramiro also wrote, “... depression involves heavy, burdensome feelings, despair is not correlated with any particular set of emotions.”

     People who despair--despair over something.  This implies a fundamental disconnect with whom they are.  Despair seems to be more of a malleable attitude that, with some introspection, employing an older social skill like talking to someone face to face, and writing using a real paper and pen/pencil, can be influenced both acceptance of one’s self, and through feedback from others.

     Thus, a therapist may not always cure your anxiety when its roots are spiritual—long live Kierkegaard !

From: The New York Times 10/28/09 Kierkegaard on the Couch.

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 Not All Scapegoats are Created Equal

    Scapegoating is a phenomenon that can be found in almost every social context: Among families, neighborhoods, schools, small or large organization, and even nations. It is the dynamic of placing or projecting blame onto others which results in negative outcomes. But how are scapegoats chosen and for what reason?

    A theory proposed by Tajfel (1972) stated that any characteristics could create ingroups and outgroups, forming an "us versus them" dichotomy. He named this the social identity theory. Anxiety plays a role for the ingroup as more members bond together to project blame onto the unknown or those in the outgroup. However, not all outgroups become scapegoats, only those who have the potential to be stigmatized because of a negative attribute (Goffman, 1963).

    Vega and I (2009) conducted a study that would use elements from the social identity theory and a classifying paradigm which uses objective (i.e., skin color) and subjective (i.e., religion) markers (Harber, 1998). The data for these analyses would come from the FBI hate crime statistics (on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual- orientation, and disability) between the years of 1995-2008. We predicted that cataclysmic events (i.e., 9/11) would trigger scapegoat targeting because generalized anxiety would create ingroups and outgroups, with subjective categories most likely chosen as scapegoats. The results were very surprising.

    The findings of our study showed that religion and ethnicity hate-crimes increased. Religion was qualified by anti-Islamic hate-crimes (82% trend change). Ethnicity was qualified by anti-Hispanic hate-crimes (56% trend change)—purportedly with Hispanics mistaken for Islamic individuals. No significant trend changes were observed for the categories and subgroups of race, sexual orientation, or disability hate-crimes (objective categories).

    Since discrimination based on objective criteria can easily be identified, the law can offer some protection to the members of these outgroups. Subjective criteria; however, provides less protection.  Did you know that in the United States, the law is against discrimination, but the perception of the crime is not? (Human Rights Campaign, 2008). For instance, there are the cases of aversive racism and sexism, where an ingroup member will give benefits only to fellow ingroup members, which by default discriminate outgroup members without targeting them directly (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986), yet there is no illegality before that law in such cases.

    It may take years until there is a resolution for truly protecting those affected by scapegoating through law. Knowing the causes of scapegoating may yet provide alternative means to achieving justice. 

  Bertrand Russell (1951) best captures our motivation (Vega & Giovanni) for this research:  "I do not think that evils can be cured by blind hatred of their perpetrators. This will only lead us to become like them. Although the effort is not easy, one should attempt....to understand the circumstances that turn men into fiends, and to realise that it is not by blind rage that evils will be prevented." (Retrieved on February 12, 2010, from http://www.scapegoat.demon.co.uk/undoing.htm).

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