Carl Jung's Approach to Dream Analysis

Carl Jung's approach to dream analysis is becoming increasingly popular in modern culture. Jung believed that dreams held the key to personal wholeness, and could be interpreted not only from the patient's personal experience, but from a mythological perspective as well. Denounced by critics who considered his logic fuzzy and his theories mystical, Jung was subsequently overshadowed by his former mentor, Sigmund Freud. Today, even academics have begun to lend more credence to Jung and his unique blend of psychology and spirituality.

Born in 1875 in Switzerland, Jung experienced striking mythological dreams and visions even as a youth. Fascinated by death, nature, and philosophy, Jung was a solitary youth, who invented imaginary playmates. Although an avid reader, Jung found school boring and, as an adolescent, developed fainting spells, which kept him out of school for six months. Jung enjoyed his respite from school until he overheard his father's lament about the devastating effect the "incurable" spells were having on the family's financial status, which prompted an "instanteous" cure: "He resumed going to school and studied more diligently than he had ever thought possible. Jung says he really learned what a neurosis was from this experience" (Hall and Nordby 18). Jung's parents were a dysfunctional couple, and the youth reported terrifying dreamlike phenomena related to his mother, who suffered from emotional disorders and depression. Jung reported dreams in w

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ngly about the existence of spiritual reality and a Higher Self. Based on his belief in a transcendental element in nature, Jung developed his theory of the personal and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious consists of all the individual's mental experiences, both latent and repressed: "The contents of the personal unconscious are ordinarily readily accessible to consciousness when the need for them arises" (Hall and Nordby 35). The collective unconscious is a storehouse of all latent images in common to all individuals, symbolic images that form the basis of myths and religions of all cultures. These symbolic images manifest themselves as archetypes. Typical archetypes are the Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Maiden, and the Eternal Youth. Some archetypes represent the hidden feminine aspect of the male personality or the hidden masculine aspect of the feminine personality. These aspects are referred to as the animus (male) and the anima (female). Not only did Jung analyze tens of thousands of his patient's dreams, he regularly analyzed his own dreams. From this vast experience, Jung developed his theories, which he imparted to disciples at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Jungian anal

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