C. G. Jung’s Archetype Concept

ChristianRoesler is a professor of Clinical Psychology at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Freiburg, Germany, and Lecturer of Analytical Psychology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He is also a Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice in Freiburg and a member of the faculty of the C. G. Jung-Institutes in Stuttgart and Zurich.

• 1. Introduction2. The Classic Definition and Theory of Jung’s Concept of Archetypes2.1 Definition2.2 Archetypes in the Life of the Individual2.3 Manifestations of Archetypes2.4 The Collective Unconscious2.5 The Individuation Process2.5.1 The Two Halves of Life and the Mid-life Crisis 2.5.2 The Persona2.5.3 The Shadow2.5.4 The Image of the Soul: Anima and Animus2.5.5 Digression: Criticism of the Anima/Animus concept and contemporary conceptions2.5.6 The Old Sage and The Great Mother (the Mana-Personalities)2.5.7 The Self2.5.8 The Individuation process2.6 Classical works on the core archetypes2.7 Further classical investigations of archetypes from Jung’s successors2.8 On The History of the Term2.9 Parallel concepts in general psychoanalysis2.10 Parallels to the collective unconscious in other schools of psychotherapy3. Criticism of the classic concept of the archetype and expansions3.1 Problems and Contradictions in the Jungian concept of archetypes3.1.1 Biological Definition3.1.2 Empirical Statistical Definition3.1.3 Transcendental Definition3.1.4 Cultural Psychological Behaviour3.2 Expansions of the archetype concept from Jung’s direct pupils3.2.1 Michael Fordham’s theory of the process of Deintegration and Reintegration as an extension of Jung’s theory of the Self3.2.2 Erich Neumann’s ‘History and origins of consciousness’3.2.3 The Archetypal Psychology of James Hillman4. Research on the Archetype concept and resulting further developments of the theory4.1 Scientifically Verifiable Elements of Jung’s Term ‘Archetype’ Empirical Evidence for Archetypes 4.2.1 Association studies: Corresponding inter-individual core complexes4.2.2 Proof for inherent mental structures4.2.3 Anthropological Research4.2.2 Research on altered states of consciousness4.2.5 Experimental Studies on archetypal memory4.2.6 Research with the archetype concept4.2.7 Discussion of the empirical evidence4.3 Explanatory approaches for the emergence and the transference of archetypes4.3.1 State-of-the-art in Human genetics and Epigenetics 4.3.2 Endophenotypes4.3.3. Concepts and Research Results from Gestalt Psychology, cognitive science, and Neuroscience 4.3.4. Archetypes as Emerging Structures 4.3.5 Mirror Neurons and the ‘inter-subjective shared space’4.3.6 A Reformulation of the Archetype Concept4.4. Research on the collective unconscious, in the sense of an unconscious, interpersonal connection5. Applications of Archetype Theory5.1 The Amplification Method5.2 Clinical Application5.2.1 Character – Identity – Biography5.2.2. The role of archetypes in the psychotherapeutic process5.2.3 Case Study of therapeutic work with archetypal dream elements5.2.4 Archetypal Transference5.2.5 The Archetype of the Wounded Healer as an orientation for a psychotherapeutic approach5.2.6 Using the archetype concept to explain the dynamic in couple relationships and its use in couple therapy5.2.7 The use of the archetype concept in therapeutic/encounter groups: an example from the men’s movement 5.3. Applications in Cultural Studies5.3.1 Cultural psychology: analysis of mythological narratives5.3.2 Archetypes in political psychology6. What is the state of archetype theory? – a tentative conclusionIndex