Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Art of Psychotherapy

Carl G Jung

Source: The Wisdom of Carl Jung

A person entrusted with the care of souls ought to have 
a certain wisdom of life which does not consist of words only, 
but chiefly of experience.

The greatest mistake an analyst can make is to assume that
his patient has a psychology similar to his own.

We cannot demand of our patients a faith which
they do reject because 
they do not understand it, 
or which does not suit them 
even though we may hold it ourselves.

First of all, one has to accept and to take seriously into account
the existence of the shadow.

Anybody whose calling it is to guide souls 
should have his own soul guided first,
so that he knows what it means to deal with the human soul.

It is of course, 
essential for the psychotherapist to have 
a fair knowledge of himself,
for anyone who does not understand himself 
cannot understand others and
can never be psychotherapeutically effective unless 
he has first treated himself with the same medicine.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for

dealing with the darkness of the other people.

For psychotherapy to be effective, 
a close rapport is needed,
so close that the doctor cannot shut his eyes
to the heights and 
depths of human suffering.

When I am treating a man,
I must be exceedingly careful not to knock
him down with my views or my personality,
because he has to fight his lonely fight through life and
he must be able to trust in his very incomplete armor and
in his own perhaps very imperfect aim.


No comments:

Post a Comment