Evoking the embodied image: Jung in the age of the brain

In this chapter I examine Jung's theory of the complex—both its formation and its healing —in the context of attachment theory, brain research and the effects of trauma. I illustrate some of my insights with the case history of a client with whom I used the bilateral stimulation method of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing protocol (EMDR). When an adult comes to therapy part of the work is to help the patient analyze negative aspects of his or her complex, thus enabling the energy formerly held in the unconscious to become available for the individual's transformation and growth. My thesis is that the healing of painful symptoms and dysfunctional behavioural patterns comes about when the client is able to integrate, on a deeply experiential level, the images, thoughts, affects, feelings and sensations that constitute aspects of the complex. I describe this process as evoking the embodied image. Incorporating the EMDR protocol into a Jungian-based practice may greatly enhance this work. Developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1980's, EMDR has become the most extensively researched treatment for patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Book Section

English

Honor Griffith

Griffith, H. (2008). Evoking the embodied image: Jung in the age of the brain. In L. Huskinson (Ed), Dreaming the Myth Onwards: New Directions in Jungian Therapy and Thought (pp. 191-205). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group