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'Psychotic contents, especially in paranoid cases, show close analogies with the type of dream that the primitive aptly calls a 'big dream'. Unlike ordinary dreams, such a dream is highly impressive, numinous, and its imagery frequently makes use of motifs analagous to or even identical with those of mythology. I call these structures archetypes because they function in a way similar to instinctual patterns of behaviour.'
The importance of this volume of Jung's writings on psychosis can scarcely be overrated both in historical terms and for the understanding of Jung's psychology. It begins with his famous work, 'The Psychology of Dementia Praecox'. It was this work that established his reputation as a psychiatric investigator of the first rank and it was this work also that engaged Freud's interest and led to their eventual famous meeting. The research in this work contains the seed of his theoretica divergence form psychoanalysis.
Following on from this are a further nine papers on psychopathology and schizophrenia revealing Jung's original thinking in this area and providing valuable insight into the development of his later concepts such as the archetypes and the collective unconscious.
List of contents
1. The Psychology of Dementia Praecox (translated for Uber die Psychologie der Dementia praecox: Ein Versuch 2. The Content of Psychoses 4. On Psychological Understanding 5. A Criticism of Bleuler's Theory of Schizophrenic Negativism 6. On the Importance of the Unconscious in Psychopathology 7. On the Problem of Psychogenesis in Mental Disease 8. Mental Disease and the Psyche 9. On the Psychogenesis of Schizophrenia 10. Recent Thoughts on Schizophrenia 11. Schizophrenia
About the author
Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. He was a prolific author, illustrator, and correspondent.
Summary
An invaluable collection of Jung's writings on psychosis which together contain the seeds of his theoretical divergence from psychoanalysis and provide insights into the development of his later concepts such as the collective unconscious.
