Student Semester Program
Autumn 2023

** This course has been postponed until Spring Semester 2024. **

Synergies between Jungian psychology, systems dynamics, Gaia theory, dual-aspect monism and deep ecology can prepare us to face the existential threat of the Anthropocene. The resulting transition from development to individuation in our personal psychology translates into an urgently needed metanoia away from our collective ecocidal anthropocentrism and denial through nostalgia, inertia and hubris. The resulting consilience lays the foundations of a radically different worldview with which to address global heating, the sixth mass extinction, and other unprecedented challenges of our time.

The ‘as-if’ person faces a conundrum to hide or expose the truth of who they are. Feelings of loss, curtailment, and alienation are prevalent yet concealed with glitzy ego, persona/imposter images. Intimacy and emotional presence are difficult. Those living ‘as-if’ are estranged from their true selves, hiding the shadow at the cost of their desires. There is a haunting sense of a lack of authenticity. Existence is singular. Very possibly we know these struggles as they are part of us.

How do we see the other if we do not see ourself? The myth of Narcissus reveals the inner conflict and psychological distress of narcissists. The complexity beyond the ego/persona reveals lack of self-love seen in dreams and misattunements in relationships influenced from early parental absence. Subjects include aging, the influence of social media, and perfect body image. The unconscious incorporates the dissociated personality parts in the self, reflecting the multiplicity of the psyche.

The concept of the Anima is occasionally criticized today as an old-fashioned term which should no longer be used. In The Red Book the unfolding relationship with the Anima demonstrates the importance and ’pragmatic help’ of this ’dimension’ to grow into a real, healing and loving connection with the Soul and life. Contemporary case material will illustrate the relevance of the concept today.

For 3,000 years, Scylla and Charybdis have symbolized a polarity of dangers to safe navigation and served as a metaphoric warning for humankind. The voracious six-headed monster ashore contrasts with an abysmal whirlpool of annihilation. How can we witness these twin archetypes of destruction which threaten individuals and species alike even now?
Does safe passage between certain death of some, or extinction of all, even exist in current environmental and existential crises, political and social chaos? Or, is living with death essential for psychological initiation and maturation now, as it always has been?

What is the basic attitude and understanding when interpreting pictures through the lens of a Jungian analyst? We will look at individual pictures as well as series to see what they may reveal. How is drawing pictures incorporated into the analytical setting?

Get to know the ISAPZURICH Picture Collection. The purpose of the Picture Collection is the creation of an anonymized picture collection and database of material from clients who have been in analysis with a therapist or analyst trained in the tradition of C.G. Jung’s analytical psychology. The aim, in addition to securing the artistic creations in both material and electronic form, is to make such valuable material available to ISAPZURICH analysts and students for learning, teaching and research purposes.

The Eranos Conferences, now celebrating their 90th year (1933–2023), contributed to the development of C.G. Jung’s thought and the spread of Analytical Psychology. The visionary art of Eranos founder, Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, derived in part from the practice of active imagination and increasingly the subject of interest by the international art world, admirably documents the close connection between her individuation process and her cultural work, the Eranos.
This event is off-site at Foyer St. Anton, Zürich. Details about the "Eranos" Live event can be found here.

** This course has been cancelled. **

Through looking at the Greek myth of silent Philomela and her transformation, this lecture explores the connection with the dark feminine and using one’s own voice in the redemption of trauma.

An investigation into the history, symptoms and resulting cascade of physical effects set in motion by sustained deep suffering and resulting archaic defenses. Prerequisite for my trauma seminar in the next semester.
J.L. Herman: Trauma and Recovery, 2015; B. van der Kolk: The Body Keeps the Score.

We seem to be moving from crisis to crisis and looming over all is the climate crisis, threatening extinction on many levels. Through hope we enter a new dimension of time. Despair tells us that nothing will change; one can only expect more of the same. Hope can help us transcend those moments of suffering and restore the temporal dimensions of our human existence.