The Practice of Psychotherapy and Alchemical Studies   [Archived Catalog]
2019-2020 Academic Catalog and Student Handbook
   

PSY 8826 - The Practice of Psychotherapy and Alchemical Studies


In this course we examine the development of Jung's theory on psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. The four stages of the psychotherapy are defined and discussed along with the unique nature of projection and transference. We see how reciprocal transformation occurs both in the patient/ analysand and the analyst/ psychotherapist. The essay entitled, "The Psychology of the Transference," is an authoritative statement on the analytic opus. In this work Jung draws a close parallel between the modern psychotherapeutic process and the symbolical pictures in the 16th century alchemical text, the Rosarium philosophorum, which he uses to illustrate and interpret the transference phenomenon. Alchemy is viewed as a metaphor to understand the nature of projection and transformation as they occur in the analytic container. The bond between the analyst and patient is shown to be analogous to the kinship libido between the alchemist-adept and his 'mystic sister', a link also found in the complicated kinship marriages of certain nativist societies. 3.0 credit(s)