How Your Mind Works

Every once in a while I thought I would throw out some Jungian psychology.
I was trained in a variety of analytical schools of theory, but in the end I went with the Jungians. This is not only to introduce people to Jungian psychology but to keep me in touch with my training.
Carl Gustav Jung (for those who don’t know of him) was a Swiss doctor who trained under Freud. He was considered Freud’s ‘heir apparent’. Their fallout has been the stuff of countless papers and books. To summarize their differences; Jung was an introvert. He saw more to man than the sexual instinct. He also developed a theory about a unconscious beyond the Personal Unconscious, called the Collective. (more on the Collective some other time). Freud and Jung went separate ways: Jung founded his own school of psychology.

It was Jung, not Freud who was really into ‘complexes’; a Complex is a complicated mixture of instincts, personal conscious and unconscious material, with a bit of the mentioned Collective Unconscious.

The human mind (goes the theory) works a bit like this; the Ego is the CEO of a board meeting. Around the table sit all the complexes that make your psyche. In a well mind, the complexes all have their say but it is the Ego that makes the executive decisions. in Pathology, a Complex or Two tries to take over and become the CEO. It decides it will be the Ego. If the Ego is strong enough it will rebuke -
Example: Joan in Mommie Dearest at the Pepsi Meeting “Don’t F*k with me fellas!!”
However, it is common for a Complex to 'get in the driver's seat' and try to run the whole show.

The word ‘shrink’ derives from the analytical process to deflate swollen complexes back into perspective. The Ego can not exorcise them; only shrink them to their appropriate size and space. And overall one doesn’t want the complexes to sit mum. Makes for a dull mechanical life; an adventureless tale.

There are a lot of complexes, and I will write about some of the more pertinent ones in other ‘lectures’.