Adaptation and Psychotherapy

John R. White, PhD, LPC, is a Jungian psychoanalyst and licensed professional counselor in private practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is coordinator of the C. G. Jung Institute Analyst Training Program of Pittsburgh, a member of the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts, and a board member of the Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center.

In this important, groundbreaking book, philosopher and Jungian psychoanalyst John White makes an original and scholarly contribution to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. This book is an exemplary expression of comparative psychoanalysis at its best, bringing together the seemingly unlikely pairing of Robert Langs and C. G. Jung. Drawing on Langs’s analytic technique and discipline as well as Jung’s idea of psychic reality and symbolic vision, White engages, extracts, and distills his own broader and creative understanding of adaption, extending the view of both perspectives and formulating principles of clinical technique that enrich the art and craft of psychoanalysis. This is an important resource for both Freudian and Jungian analysts, candidates, and analytically oriented therapists who value tradition as well as innovation in psychoanalytic theory and practice.

• Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1 On Psyche and Adaptation Introduction The Notion of “Psyche” in Early Analytic Theory Jung’s “Basic Postulates”: The Reality of the Psyche Understanding the “Unconscious” On Clinical Interaction, or How Max Scheler Was Ahead of His Time Conclusion 2 Adaptation in the Early Analytic Tradition Introduction Sigmund Freud Adaptation in Ego Psychology: Heinz Hartmann Conclusion 3 Robert Langs and Adaptation in Clinical Practice Introduction Original Development of Adaptation and the “Adaptive Context” Central Ideas Derived from Langs’ Understanding of Adaptation Rearticulating the Analytic Relationship The “Reality” of Therapy Includes the Therapeutic Frame The Communicative Fields Unconscious Communication and Analytic Listening Two Types of Derivative Communication Critical Considerations of Langs’ Theory of Unconscious Communication Clinical Illustration Clinical Example Summary Excursus: Final Phase: Adaptation and Death Anxiety Conclusion 4 Adaptation in Carl Jung Introduction The Concept of “Adaptation” in Jung On Psychic Energy Theoretical Assumptions Progression and Regression of Libido Langs and Jung Adaptation in Clinical Practice Returning to Bruce Clarifying Adaptation in Jung Conclusion 5 Adaptation and Clinical Technique Introduction What Is and What Is the Value of Clinical Technique? What Langs and Jung Share How Langs and Jung Might Supplement Each Other Incompatibilities between Langs and Jung Understanding Symbols Individual and Collective Adaptation, Clinical Interaction, and Ethics Conclusion Bibliography Index About the Author