Carl Jung Research Paper

Carl Jung was born on July 26, 1875 in Kesswil, Switzerland. Psychology was not Jung’s first profession, it was archeology; however, he was interested in philology, history, and the natural sciences. He did not study archeology because the university he attended, Basel University, did not have an archeology professor. Thus, Jung chose to study the field of natural science because he dreamed of making a discovery in that field. Jung continued to narrow down his field of study to medicine. Finally, he narrowed down his choice of profession to psychiatry because it dealt with subjective phenomena. He became interested in subjective phenomena because of family séances he attended and later wrote a medical dissertation on the occult phenomenon.

I chose Carl Jung because he incorporates the Humanistic and Psychodynamic approach in his theories. He sees his patients as an individual who can only solve their issue through self-realization and guidance from their inner self. However, Carl Jung also wanted to tap into the conscious and unconscious mind of his patients and understand the human mind. He believed that individuals have two separate personalities. The one that dominates the individual is the conscious mind and the other personality that is suppressed is the unconscious mind, which sometimes may surface. His ideas of using a humanistic approach by wanting the patient to find his or her self through therapy, and then implementing the psychodynamic approach by making the patient able to recognize the past and tap into the unconscious is what I am interested in doing. Carl Jung’s book, The Undiscovered Self (1957), talks about his beliefs and ideas of humanity and society as whole and describes how his theories fits well with what was going on in society during that time. Jung describes how society strips people of their individuality. Jung strived on self-realization and individuality; however, Jung believed that society made this impossible as everyone thinks in masses when in a society rather than individually. His beliefs, theories, and view of the world are explained well in his

Although, written in 1957, the most of the information written in his book may be relevant in today’s society. For example, individuals who are trying to find themselves are faced with the conflict of having to follow the norms of society instead. Although, neurotic disturbances is not a mental disorder popularly diagnosed today, a conflict between one’s conscious mind and unconscious mind can lead to other mental disorders that can be easily resolved with therapy. The book is still relevant and applies to many concepts of today’s mass