Opere. Volume 3: Psicogenesi delle malattie mentali

Jung's Collected Works #3

by C.G. Jung, Lucia Personeni (Translator), Luigi Aurigemma (Translator)

Jung began his career as a psychiatrist in 1900, when he was 25 as an assistant in the cantonal mental hospital & clinic of the University of Zurich. It was only six years later, after he'd become senior staff physician of the Burgholzi Hospital & an associate of Dr Eugene Bleuler, that he wrote his monograph 'On the Psychology of Dementia Praecox'. A.A. Brill has called this work indispensable for every student of psychiatry--'the work which firmly established Jung as a pioneer & scientific contributor to psychiatry'. Ernest Jones described it as 'a book that made history in psychiatry & extended many of Freud's ideas into the realm of the psychosis proper'. An earlier translation by Brill has been out of print for many years. This volume of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung now makes this study in medical psychology again available, in an entirely new translation by R.F.C. Hull. Grouped together with it are nine other papers in psychiatry, the earliest being 'The Content of the Psychoses', written in 1908, when Jung was a leading member of the early psychoanalytical movement. The latest are two papers written in '56 & '58, which embody his conclusions after many years of experience in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia (the term introduced by Bleuler for dementia praecox). These studies reflect the original techniques especially associated with Jung's name.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Psychiatry, Essays

321 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1960

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of the first I read after deciding to obtain and study all the volumes of Jung's Collected Works, a decision made during the second year of college but only seriously exercised after prospective prosecution for draft evasion led me to dropping out of school for a year.

Much of the content of this volume is early, utilizing archaic psychiatric terminology, with words like "dementia praecox" and "hebephrenia" employed to desiginate some of the nosological distinctions made under the "psychosis" rubric. A lot of the language was totally new to me, requiring reference to dictionaries.

What most impressed me was Jung's account of a particular psychotic who had spent much of her life incarcerated as a hopeless case at the hospital in which he worked as a staff psychiatrist. The woman babbled quite a bit, babbled apparent nonsense. Jung, however, researched her background, paid attention to her talk and discerned the sense of it. To me, a neophyte, this was quite impressive, as if no one had ever thought of listening to psychotics before, as if there was hope that by listening the lost might be saved.

[Miceál Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging exploration into the nature of Schizophrenia (split-mind). This edition has been pieced to reflect the historical context of Jung's views of the 'conditional' nature of psychosis. Interestingly, these ideas are becoming more relevant today as we witness the decline of a bio-centric paradigm that reduces confusing mental experiences such as hearing voices, delusions, Janetian secondary fixed idea phenomena, and other neurotic extremes to abberant neuronal firing indicating underlying disease phenomena. Lived experiences, numinous and traumatic, have great influence over the personality and can influence its adaptation in everyday life. Thus, over 100 years since it's writing "The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease" leaves the reader with a wealth of relevant insights as well as a valuable historical perspective.

[Alex Giurgea · Rating 5 out of 5]

O suita de lucrari scrise in peste 50 de ani despre originea psihologica a unor forme de schizofrenie. Prin aceste lucrari se vede clar ca Jung a fost unul dintre pionierii separarii psihologiei de psihiatrie si a sufletului de corpul fizic. El a vazut foarte clar ca una dintre sursele bolilor spiritului (boli psihice) se afla in conflictele sufletesti ale omului.

[Kirk Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suspect Jung could have been a literary superstar if he had turned his efforts to novels, as some of his descriptions of cases are so well turned out - one can see the influence of Goethe - that one could almost wish it were so. But instead we have an always engaging discussion of schizophrenia at the very moment when he was transferring from Freud's influence to startling theories of his own. In one essay, a bit more than halfway through the book, you can almost see his fevered brow dripping on the pages in his excitement at his ideas. Sure, it all gets a bit repetitive at times, but that's the nature of collected works, and one can track from about 1907 to 1959 how his thoughts changed - and did not change - on the subject.

[Gediminas Tumėnas · Rating 4 out of 5]

XIX-XX amžių sandūroje ėmė gausėti svarbių neurofiziologinių atradimų, kurie parodydavo ryšį tarp įvairių smegenų žievės sričių ir žmogaus motorinių, sensorinių ar kognityvinių funkcijų. To meto psichiatrija plojo katučiu, matydama tokią mokslo pažangą ir ambicingai siekė išspręsti psichinių sutrikimų problematiką, visus psichopatologinius fenomenus redukuodama į neurofiziologinę smegenų veiklą.
Tuo metu, kai Froidas jau buvo pamišęs dėl sekso, o Adleris dar tebuvo medikas, žymus šveicarų psichiatras, vienas iš trijų psichoterapijos banginių, C. G. Jung jau protestavo prieš materialistinę psichiatriją. Šiame raštų rinkinyje atsispindi Jungo bandymai psichiatriją psichologizuoti, t. y. matyti ne tik fiziologinę, bet ir psichologinę psichinių sutrikimų kilmę, bei humanizuoti, t. y. už simptomų rinkinio matyti žmogų su jo biografija, sunkia patirtimi, su siekiais ateičiai, tikslais gyvenimui.
Paties autoriaus žodžiais: "Mes, sveikieji, stovintys abejomis kojomis realybėje, tematome pacientų psichikos griuvėsius šiame pasaulyje, tačiau nematome turtingosios psichikos dalies, kuri nuo mūsų nusigręžia." Jungas ne tik siekia, bet ir mato už kliedesio, haliucinacijos, gyvą paciento patirtį, kuri jo nepaleidžia ir dirba - dar kartelį - ne su simptomu, o su žmogumi.

Psichologijos studijose esu girdėjęs replikų apie tai, jog tokia literatūra yra seniena, atgyvena, pasenusios žinios ir terminai, o va XXI a. per mėnesį iškeptas straipsnis yra kažkas tokio - nauja, tikra, teisinga, objektyvu. Klausimas - kodėl šiame pažangiame XXI a. vis dar netyla diskusijos apie psichiatrijos humanizavimą, apie gydymą psichoterapija, reabilitacija, integracija į visuomenę, bendruomenės psichiariją, o ne vaistais ar kitokiu poveikiu smegenims? Kodėl pasauliniuose psichiatrijos kongresuose vis dar keliami tie patys klausimai, kurie prieš daugiau nei šimtą metų buvo aiškiai suformuluoti?

[Castles · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In insanity we do not discover anything new and unknown; we are looking at the foundations of our own being, the matrix of those vital problems on which we are all engaged".

Fascinating read. I’ve found this passage interesting in particular:

"I had a patient in my ward who had lain in bed for five years without uttering a word, completely buried in himself. For years I visited him twice daily, and as I reached his bedside I could always see at once that there was no change. One day I was on the point of leaving the room when a voice I did not recognize called out “Who are you? What do you want?” I saw with amazement that it was our dumb patient who had suddenly recovered his voice, and obviously his senses as well. I told him I was his doctor, whereupon he asked angrily why he was kept a prisoner here, and why no one ever spoke to him? He said this in an injured voice just like a normal person whom one had not greeted for a couple of days. I informed him that he had lain in bed quite speechless for five years and had responded to nothing, whereat he looked at me fixedly and without understanding. Naturally I tried to discover what had gone on in him all these years, but could learn nothing. Another patient with a similar symptom, when asked why he had remained silent for years, declared, “Because I wanted to spare the German language.” These examples show that it is often quite impossible to lift the veil, because the patients themselves have neither the desire nor the interest to explain their strange experiences; as a rule they do not even find them strange".

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

ESSAYS (INCLUDING HIS ‘DEMENTIA PRAECOX’ ESSAY) ON MENTAL CONDITIONS

The Editorial Note to this 1960 collection explains, “The importance of this volume of scientific papers for understanding Jung’s researches as a whole can scarcely be overrated, even though most of them are now mainly of historical interest or represent the reflections of his later years on a subject that never ceased to engage his active psychotherapeutic endeavors. ‘The Psychology of Dementia Praecox’ was the culmination of Jung’s early researches at the Burghölzli Hospital into the nature of the psychoses. It was the publication which established him once and for all as a psychiatric investigator of the first rank. It was the volume which engaged Freud’s interest and led to their meeting. It was the research which contained the seeds of his theoretical divergence from psychoanalysis.”

In the extended essay on Dementia Praecox, he states, “So far as I know, no real refutation of Freud’s views has yet been made. Hence I shall confine myself to asserting that dreams, which in any case have numerous analogies with the associative disturbances in dementia praecox, also show the special speech-condensations consisting of the contamination of whole sentences and situations.” (Pg. 26)

He observes, “Here we have an instance of displacement: the complex must under all circumstances assert itself. Since, for many people, the sexual complex cannot be acted out in a natural way, it makes use of by-ways. During puberty it takes the form of more or less abnormal sexual fantasies, frequently alternating with phases of religious enthusiasm (displacements). In men, sexuality, if not acted out directly, is frequently converted into a feverish professional activity or a passion for dangerous sports, etc., or into some learned hobby, such as a collecting mania. Women take up some kind of philanthropic work, which is usually determined by the special form of the complex. They devote themselves to nursing in hospitals … or they develop strange eccentricities… Artistic natures in particular are wont to benefit by such displacements.” (Pg. 49-50)

He explains, ‘We use the term ‘symbolical’ in contradistinction to ‘allegorical.’ Allegory, for us, is the intentional interpretation of a thought, reinforced by images, whereas symbols are only indistinct, subsidiary associations to a thought, which obscure it rather than clarify it.” (Pg. 65)

He summarizes, “In dementia praecox… we find one or more complexes which have become permanently fixed and could not, therefore, be overcome. But whereas in persons predisposed to hysteria there is an unmistakable causal connection between the complex and the illness, in dementia praecox it is not at all clear whether the complex caused or precipitated the illness in persons so predisposed, or whether at the moment of the outbreak, of the disease a definite complex was present which then determined the symptoms.” (Pg. 97)

In his later essay, ‘The Content of the Psychoses’ (1914), he explains, “45% of the patients [at the Burghölzli Mental Hospital] suffer from the authentic and common disease known as dementia praecox. The name is a very unhappy one, for the disease is not always precocious, nor in all cases is there dementia. Unfortunately this disease is too often incurable; even in the best cases, in recoveries where the layman would notice no abnormality, one always finds some defect in the patient’s emotional life.” (Pg. 161)

He admits, “Psychological analysis is far from being able to explain in a clear and illuminating fashion all cases of the disease with which we are concerned. On the contrary, the majority remain exceedingly obscure and difficult to understand, not least because only a fraction of the patients recover.” (Pg. 170-171)

He concludes the essay, “Though we are still far from being able to explain all the relationships in that obscure world, we can maintain with complete assurance that in dementia praecox there is no symptom which could be described as psychologically groundless and meaningless. Even the most absurd things are nothing other than symbols for thoughts which are not only understandable in human terms but dwell in every human breast. In insanity we do not discover anything new and unknown; we are looking at the foundations of our own being, the matrix of those vital problems on which we are all engaged.” (Pg. 178)

In another essay, he explains, “When we speak of a thing being ‘unconscious,’ we must not forget that from the standpoint of the functioning of the brain it may be unconscious to us in two ways---physiologically and psychologically. I shall discuss the subject only from the latter point of view. For our purpose we may define the unconscious as the sum of all those psychic events which are so apperceived, and so are unconscious.” (Pg. 203)

He observes, “we find it eminently characteristic of abnormal people that they refuse to recognize the compensating influence which comes from the unconscious and even continue to emphasize their one-sidedness in accordance with the well-known psychological fact that the worst enemy of the wolf is the wolf-hound… and the convert the greatest fanatic; for I become a fanatic when I attack outwardly a thing which inwardly I am obliged to concede is right.” (Pg. 207-208)

He states, ‘Since it is evident that the psychological factor plays a decisive role in the course of the dementia praecox, it is not unlikely that the first attack would be due to a psychological cause. It is known that many cases originate in a psychologically critical period or following a shock or violent moral conflict. The psychiatrist is inclined to regard such conditions rather as precipitating causes or auxiliary factors which bring a latent organic disease to the surface. He thinks that if psychic experiences were really efficient causes they should exercise a pathological effect in everybody. As this is obviously not the case, the psychic causes therefore have the significance only of auxiliary factors.” (Pg. 218)

In his essay on schizophrenia, he notes: “The question is: Is the sole and absolute cause of schizophrenia a psychological one or not? Over the whole field of medicine such a question is, as you know, more than embarrassing. Only in a few cases can it be answered positively. The usual aetiology consists in a competition between various conditions. It has therefore been urged that the word ‘causality’ or ‘cause’ should be expunged from the medical vocabulary and replaced by the word ‘conditionalism.’ I am absolutely in favor of such a measure, since it is well-nigh impossible to prove, even approximately, that schizophrenia is an organic disease to begin with. It is equally impossible to make its exclusively psychological origin evident.” (Pg. 245)

He notes, “Two facts have impressed themselves on me during my career as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. One is the enormous change that the average mental hospital has undergone in my lifetime. That whole desperate crowd of utterly degenerate catatonics has practically disappeared, simply because they have been given something to do. The other fact that impressed me is the discovery I made when I began my psychotherapeutic practice: I was amazed at the number of schizophrenics whom we almost never see in psychiatric hospitals. These cases are partially camouflaged as obsessional neuroses, compulsions, phobias, and hysterias, and they are very careful never to go near an asylum. These patients insist upon treatment, and I found myself… trying my hand on cases we never would have dreamed of touching if we had had them in the clinic… I felt hopelessly unscientific in treating them at all---and after the treatment I was told that they never could have been schizophrenic in the first place.” (Pg. 247)

He explains, “It was this frequent reversion to archaic forms of association found in schizophrenia that first gave me the idea of an unconscious not consisting only of originally conscious contents that have got lost, but having a deeper layer of the same universal character as the mythological motifs which typify human fantasy in general. These motifs are not INVENTED so much as DISCOVERED; they are typical forms that appear spontaneously all over the world, independently of tradition, in myths, fairy-tales, fantasies, dreams, visions, and the delusional systems of the insane. On closer inspection they prove to be typical attitudes, models of action, thought-processes and impulses which must be regarded as constituting the instinctive behavior typical of the human species. The term in chose for this, ‘archetype,’ therefore coincides with the biological concept of the ‘pattern of behavior.’” (Pg. 261)

This book will be of great interest to those studying Jung’s work as a psychotherapist, and with various types of patients.

[Martin Hassman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pěkný popis animy, anima a bytostného Já. V druhé části pak velmi obtížně čtivé, byť zajímavé, pojednání o alchymii.

[Adrian Fanaca · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book about schizophrenia or dementia praecox how it was called. About the theoretical views of those times, the feeling-tone complex, which I didn't understand exactly what it means, about hysteria, disturbances of the emotions, abnormalities of character, intellectual disturbances, stereotypy, analysis of a case of paranoid dementia. Final part of the book is about a criticism of Bleuler's theory of schizophrenic negativism, on the importance of the unconscious psychopathology, on the problem of psychogenesis in mental disease, about mental disease and the psyche. Also, on the psychogenesis of schizophrenia. The only thing I learned maybe from this book is what the word psychogenesis means, that is something that is produced by the brain. Very boring book, and I did not remember reading here anything to be remembered, which is my measurement of giving stars. Unfortunately, very disappointing.

[Shaun Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume three is the culmination of experience and research, bringing together the threads identified by Jung in volume one, labeled in volume two, and ultimately verified and tied here. I was surprised, as I read, to see Jung make sudden leaps in maturity as he spoke on his research, and then I saw this book collects Jung's periodic speeches on the topic, so here is a collection of Jung's understanding of Schizophrenia across the span of fifty years.

[Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. And as dry as Collected Works #2 was, I'm glad I read it before this one... While not necessary, it provided some good insight into how Jung came to the conclusions he did in this book.

[Eduarda · Rating 5 out of 5]

muito à frente do seu tempo

[Alexey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Тут показано развитие идея Юнга о бессознательном, которое он получил во многом благодаря изучению психозов как практикующий врач. Материал расположен хронологически, и наибольшее отторжение вызывают те части, где он пытается вывести главенство сексуальных комплексов по заветам Фрейда, но они, к счастью, быстро проходят.

Лингвистические теории Юнга касательно шизофреников часто смешны, но главная идея становится понятна: психоанализ и теория архетипов - ответ на физикалистскую модель мозга и психики; было бы совсем интересно, если бы Юнг жил на полстолетия позже и экспериментировал с мескалином побольше (он упоминает его, но вскользь, сдавая завоеванные в 10-х годах позиции).

Юнг достаточно много говорит о Фаусте и проблеме проникновения врача во внутренний мир пациента (родственно проникновению читателя в мир автора) - и этим наносит решающий удар по узкому пониманию психоанализа, в котором все действия человека выражают его стремление поебаться. Архетипы в той статье, где обсуждается Фауст, еще не называются, но уже маячат где-то на горизонте сознания.

Самый интересный пример - лечение пациентки, которая послушала тантрические тексты Профессора и начала сходить с ума; Профессор немедленно запретил ей посещение своих лекций и предписал читать Шопенгауэра, "Мир как воля и представление".

Чего и вам желаю.

[Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of writings and lectures throughout the entirety of Jung’s career which primarily dealt with schizophrenia (aka dementia praecox), it’s symptoms and origins. Through case studies where he applied word associations and used free association techniques, he was able to demonstrate schizophrenics have an underlying coherence based on complexes that have overpowered the ego.

His view was persistently ambivalent whether schizophrenia was caused by a toxin/virus/injury/physical cause versus having a psychological cause. In the end, we still don’t know what causes schizophrenia.

He also discusses whether a person already had latent schizophrenia and when symptoms appear it is just finally manifesting or whether the disease begins when symptoms appear. Again, we still don’t know today.

Treatment is also very limited. It is incurable. Some people live normal lives, have an attack for a period of weeks or months, and then go back to normal. Others live with it all their lives. He mentions a patient he had who heard voices coming from all parts of her body. After eight years of analysis he was able to clear the left side of her body of voices. This incremental increase in a patient’s quality of life appears to be the best one can do.