BARBARA OCELLO
Jungian Psychotherapist   analytical psychologist  counselling psychologist

Battersea - Camden Town - online therapy

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About Jungian Therapy

 

Until you make the unconscious conscious,

it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

(C.G.Jung)

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Therapy is something that’s done to you. It is a joint effort by two people focused on trying to understand your inner world.

As a rough rule of thumb psychotherapy is once weekly; full analysis usually entails more frequent sessions.

Jungian analysis involves a depth exploration of the unconscious. It is the hero's or heroine's journey into the underworld. The aim is to recognise and resolve whatever issues are blocking the 'individution process'. This process involves developing a closer relationship with the Self... your true identity at depth. As with the entrance to underworld of Greek mythology which warns “abandon hope all ye who enter here” the depths of your psyche is a domain in which your conscious waking self holds no sway... and indeed it may undergo a symbolic death in order to facilitate a new conscious perspective. Analysis can feel scary – but the threat is imagined rather than real. It can always feels difficult to let go of what we are familiar with, even though what is familiar might involve an internal imprisonment.

Behind your individual personal psychology are general patterns of thought and behaviour that have been experienced and expressed since the beginning of mankind. An understanding of these patterns, found the world over in myths, fairy tales and religions, manifestations of what Jung called the archetypes, gives one a perspective on mundane reality. A knowledge of archetypes and archetypal patterns is a kind of blueprint which can be overlaid on an individual situation. It is an indispensable tool, and an overtone that fundamentally distinguishes Jungian analysis from any other form of therapy.

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Working with dreams is central to the approach, although you do not have to have dreams to go into analysis! Analysis works with deep unconscious processes which can be teased out in sessions. Working through issues with an analyst may lead to greater integration of aspects which have been difficult to acknowledge, or releasing one from long-held negative patterns of thought/ behaviour, and gaining ways of going forward in life. This might be experienced as expansion and is sometimes felt as an enhancement of the personality and ability to cope with and enjoy life.

Analysis can be concerned with identifying or following the soul’s journey. This might mean discriminating your own unique path from the cultural/societal or familial injunctions which may be leading you down a path which does not feel authentic or satisfying. It can help you disentangle from stuck patterns and to get on to your right track whether in relationship, or work/ vocation, spiritual explorations or artistic creation; in whichever way feels important and significant to you.

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