What is PhotoTherapy all about?

I am an Art Therapist. Since an early age, I have loved photography. I actually graduated Fine Arts School with a Black and white photography project! (i'll tell you all about it on a different post). And as funny as it may seem, I only discovered PhotoTherapy a while ago, and just recently started to use it not just as an extension of Art Therapy, but as discipline itself and the results were amazing. 
For anyone practicing Therapy or getting one, this is a must read! 

Below there is a collage of info on the subject, from different pages that explain and present PhotoTherapy's techniques. 
PLEASE NOTE! I am not the original writer of any of this info, rather I literally copy-pasted the info i founded more helpful on the topic, and at the end of the page are the links to the original pages. Enjoy!

What is PhotoTherapy? [1]

 According to Kelly Gauthier ( "Picture Yourself Well") "Photo therapy is a powerful therapeutic process that uses photographs to unlock repressed emotions and break down personal barriers.  It provides an understanding of the choices we have made and an awareness for the impact they have had on our lives. 
Using photographs in therapy presents an opportunity for you to look at your past experiences and see how they have shaped your present conditions.  Whether it is a personal photograph or one that has been provided for, both allow you to see how memories and the emotions you attach to them can interfere with reality. 
Photo therapy helps you recognize the parts of yourself that are missing and the areas of your life that are in need of attention.  Because photographs have a unique ability to speak symbolically, they contribute to the ease and success the individual experiences through therapy". 

Why PhotoTherapy and not Photo-Therapy?

Judy Weiser - founder of the term PhotoTherapy (instead of Photo-therapy)  explained to me that she prefers using the term PhotoTherapy as one word -two capital letters - for it shows the equal power of the two halves.

Watch out! Two main streams ahead!: 

Judy Weiser explains clearly the main difference between the two main streams of PhotoTherapy. I couldn't explain it better, so below are her exact words! [2]

PhotoTherapy techniques  are therapy practices that use people's personal snapshots, family albums, and pictures taken by others (and the feelings, thoughts, and memories these photos evoke) as catalysts to deepen insight and enhance communication during their therapy or counseling  sessions (conducted by trained mental health professionals), in ways not possible using words alone. (Photo Art Therapy is a specialized category of these techniques practiced only by those with additional training in Art Therapy).

     Therapeutic Photography techniques are photographic practices done by people themselves (in situations where the skills of a trained therapist or counselor are not needed -- therefore the rest of this page is only about PhotoTherapy techniques) to increase their own self-knowledge and awareness, improve family and other relationships, activate positive social change and reduce social exclusion, strengthen communities, deepen intercultural relations, reduce conflict, bring attention to issues of social injustice, sharpen visual literacy skills, enhance education, promote well-being, expand qualitative research and prevention methodologies, and produce other kinds of photo-based healing and learning.

Let's get to work! Where do I start? [2]

I found at Judy Weiser's web page, the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy,  great PhotoTherapy techniques. Quoting her exacts words: "the therapist's primary role is to encourage and support clients' own personal discoveries while exploring and interacting with the ordinary personal and family snapshots they view, make, collect, remember, or even only imagine.

The five PhotoTherapy techniques are interrelated and interdependent. 

 Each of the five PhotoTherapy techniques is directly related to the various relationships possible between person and camera (or, person and photograph) -- although in practice, these categories often naturally overlap".

Below, are the techniques presented on Judy Weiser's page (PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy) and clicking over the links will direct you to her page, were you will find further info about each technique.

	1) Photos which have been taken or created by the client
	2) Photos which have been taken of the client by other people
	3) Self-portraits, which means any kind of photos that clients have made ofthemselves,
	4) Family album and other photo-biographical collections
	5) "Photo-Projectives"

 " Like so many holistic approaches, PhotoTherapy suffers somewhat from having to be taken apart for studying in any step-by-step order, when in fact each technique is partially formed by, and overlaps, several of the others. Therefore, the most effective application of these techniques will occur when they are creatively combined -- because they comprise an integrally interconnected system that is far more useful as a holistic system, than in any linear summation of its parts". Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R, Founder/Director of the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy

PhotoTherapy with...:

Children [1]

In her web page of PhotoTherapy - "Picture Yourself Well" - Kelly Gauthier writes that "Photo therapy has proven to be very effective with children experiencing emotional and behavior challenges.  Unlike talk therapy that children often find intimidating, photo therapy offers a visual alternative and a creative outlet that children are innately comfortable with.
Photo therapy is also extremely effective on children with learning disabilities, especially children with ASD, asperger's, and NLD.  It is because these children are visual learners that photo therapy works so well.  The photographs allow these children to create their own language that the rest of us can finally understand.  Because children with autism and asperger's tend to "see" and "hear" things differently then we do, photographs become the missing link and connection.  With the use of photographs we can now fill in the pieces that are missing and decipher between what they see and what we hear, and what they hear and what we see.  Photo therapy unlocks the door to communication between children and their parents, their peers, and more importantly their society. 
By providing children with an alternative form of therapy, they now have a voice from which to speak".  

Anorexia, Bulimia, and other negative body image:

Please check on Ellen Fisher Turk page. Note: Some pictures in this webpage - although strongly moving and professional -  might be disturbing. 

Photo Art Therapy

Once again, Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R, Founder/Director of the PhotoTherapy Techniques in Counseling and Therapy was of great help on the subject!! Thanks! (I quote her exact words below, to the end of the page!)

      "Photo Art Therapy" is when photos are used as an art medium by therapists who have also been specifically-trained in Art (or Expressive Arts) Therapy to use art-making for its healing benefits. In contrast, PhotoTherapy techniques are a wider professional therapeutic practice that can be done by (and taught to) any kind of mental health professional, including those who have never heard of art therapy.

      The American Art Therapy Association defines Art Therapy as "the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience [problems]... and by people who seek personal development... through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes". Many art (or expressive arts) therapists have clients create art during sessions ("making art to make sense"). While such activities might involve photographic imagery or image-creating as an art medium during the primary process of therapeutic art-making, this does not fall under the formal definition of PhotoTherapy processitself because "making art [during therapy] using photos" is not an integral component to ordinary PhotoTherapy practice. Instead, those art-based activities require the skills of a therapist specially trained in additional art therapy techniques, to know how to do this properly (and safely).

      This distinction might seem a bit artificial (and even perhaps unnecessary) from an outside viewpoint, but the primary pioneers of PhotoTherapy techniques who came together in 2009 at the "International Symposium of PhotoTherapy and Therapeutic Photography" in Finland came to the complicating but necessary conclusion that it was time to introduce the formalization of this third categorization (though really a sub-specialty of PhotoTherapy in many ways) -- due to having been encountering far too many art therapists not knowing the difference and thus who kept referring to their own field's specialized photo-art-based activities as "PhotoTherapy" techniques when, in fact, this was not true. Therefore the formalization of the category "Photo Art Therapy" was announced during the Opening Plenary Address of this Symposium -- and was welcomed by all art and expressive arts therapists in attendance as a much-welcomed clarification.

      The actual choice of names for this specialty followed the title first used in print by art therapist and Jungian psychologist Irene Corbit in 1992 in her book by the same name (co-authored with art therapist and psychologist Jerry Fryrear). Corbit explained in her book's section "Why Photo Art Therapy", that:

     "The combination of photographs and art work is a powerful tool for enabling and facilitating one in the ever-present challenge of living a more fulfilling life. The Photo Art Therapy activities are primarily visual, and many of the activities also add movement; all include discussion with a therapist, group, or partner... The creative-expressive nature of the activities is one of the most therapeutic qualities... Another advantage is... its multi-modal nature".

      Thus, a key difference that helps to differentiate "Photo Art Therapy" practice from that of "PhotoTherapy" itself, is that art therapists usually have clients create art as an essential component of their therapy sessions (although, of course, each session might be a different proportion of art-making and talking about it):  

    Whereas "art-making during sessions" is very rarely done during "PhotoTherapy" sessions, a "Photo Art Therapy" session simply cannot happen without it (i.e., in Photo Art Therapy practice, if the "art part" is not happening, then the therapy itself is usually not happening -- whereas in PhotoTherapy practice the "art part" is not essential at all, even if it does occasionally happen). PhotoTherapy does fine without any "art part" at all, becausePhotoTherapy is not about art -- not even about photographic art.

      This is the key reason that NO training or skill in photography or photo-art-creating is needed for any kind of mental health professional to learn how to use PhotoTherapy techniques in their therapy practice (and training in Art Therapy techniques is not necessary) -- whereas for using Photo Art Therapy techniques, these things are primary and essential components of the training needed before using.

Sources:

[1] http://pictureyourselfwell.webs.com/phototherapy.htm
[2] http://www.phototherapy-centre.com/five_techniques.htm

Regression

Regression is a defense mechanism, where there is a reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. For an example an adolescent who is overwhelmed with fear, anger and growing sexual impulses might become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood behaviors he has long since overcome, such as bed-wetting. An adult may regress when under a great deal of stress, refusing to leave their bed and engage in normal, everyday activities.

When confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development. Anna Freud called this defense mechanism regression, suggesting that people act out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are fixated. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental stage might cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.

Behaviors associated with regression can vary greatly depending upon which stage the person is fixated at:

• An individual fixated at the oral stage might begin eating or smoking excessively, or might become very verbally aggressive.
• A fixation at the anal stage might result in excessive tidiness or messiness.

sources: http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/0001251

            http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_10.htm

Acting out

Acting Out is a defense mechanism, where performing an extreme behavior in order to express thoughts or feelings the person feels incapable of otherwise expressing is done. Instead of saying, “I’m angry with you,” a person who acts out may instead throw a book at the person, or punch a hole through a wall. When a person acts out, it can act as a pressure release, and often helps the individual feel calmer and peaceful once again. For instance, a child’s temper tantrum is a form of acting out when he or she doesn't get his or her way with a parent. Self-injury may also be a form of acting-out, expressing in physical pain what one cannot stand to feel emotionally.

Source: http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-defense-mechanisms/0001251

Repression

Repression is another well-known defense mechanism. Repression acts to keep information out of conscious awareness. However, these memories don't just disappear; they continue to influence our behavior. For example, a person who has repressed memories of abuse suffered as a child may later have difficulty forming relationships.

Sometimes we do this consciously by forcing the unwanted information out of our awareness, which is known as suppression. In most cases, however, this removal of anxiety-provoking memories from our awareness is believed to occur unconsciously.

Video: What are Repression and Suppression?

For further reading on Defense Mechanisms, click here. 

Reference:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_4.htm

Denial

Denial is probably one of the best known defense mechanisms, used often to describe situations in which people seem unable to face reality or admit an obvious truth (i.e. "He's in denial."). Denial is an outright refusal to admit or recognize that something has occurred or is currently occurring. Drug addicts or alcoholics often deny that they have a problem, while victims of traumatic events may deny that the event ever occurred.

Denial functions to protect the ego from things that the individual cannot cope with. While this may save us from anxiety or pain, denial also requires a substantial investment of energy. Because of this, other defenses are also used to keep these unacceptable feelings from consciousness.

In many cases, there might be overwhelming evidence that something is true, yet the person will continue to deny its existence or truth because it is too uncomfortable to face.

Denial can involve a flat out rejection of the existence of a fact or reality. In other cases, it might involve admitting that something is true, but minimizing its importance. Sometimes people will accept reality and the seriousness of the fact, but they will deny their own responsibility and instead blame other people or other outside forces.

Addiction is one of the best-known examples of denial. People who are suffering from a substance abuse problem will often flat-out deny that their behavior is problematic. In other cases, they might admit that they do use drugs or alcohol, but will claim that this substance abuse is not a problem.

Video: What Is Denial?

For further readings on Defense Mechanisms, click here. 

Reference:

 http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_3.htm

Defense Mechanisms

You've probably heard people talk about "defense mechanisms," or ways that we protect ourselves from things that we don't want to think about or deal with. The term got its start in psychoanalytic therapy, but it has slowly worked its way into everyday language. Think of the last time you referred to someone as being "in denial" or accused someone of "rationalizing." Both of these examples refer to a type of defense mechanism.

In Sigmund Freud's topographical model of personality, the ego is the aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. The id seeks to fulfill all wants, needs, and impulses while the superego tries to get the ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner.

What happens when the ego cannot deal with the demands of our desires, the constraints of reality, and our own moral standards? According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant inner state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that things are not going right. As a result, the ego then employs a defense mechanism to help reduce these feelings of anxiety.

Frued identified three types of anxiety:

1. Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's urges, resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior.


2. Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually easily identified. For example, a person might fear receiving a dog bite when they are near a menacing dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety is to avoid the threatening object.


3. Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our own moral principles.

In order to deal with this anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped shield the ego from the conflicts created by the id, superego, and reality.

Defense Mechanisms

Because of anxiety provoking demands created by the id, superego, and reality, the ego has developed a number of defense mechanisms to cope with anxiety. Although we may knowingly use these mechanisms, in many cases these defenses work unconsciously to distort reality.

While all defense mechanisms can be unhealthy, they can also be adaptive and allow us to function normally. The greatest problems arise when defense mechanisms are overused in order to avoid dealing with problems. In psychoanalytic therapy, the goal may be to help the client uncover these unconscious defense mechanisms and find better, more healthy ways of coping with anxiety and distress. 

Deborah Gibson gave me a great insight about defense mechanisms. Basically, we are all happy with and about our defense mechanisms until we are not - for instance,  they might  prevent us trusting others and letting ourselves have deep, intimate relationships - which at this point, Art Therapy can be of great help. Expressing your fears and the way you cope with them through art, can give you a more clear view on how you project your defense mechanisms, where do they help you, or on the contrary, where are they boycotting your personal growth and fulfillment. 

Researchers have described a wide variety of different defense mechanisms. Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna Freud described ten different defense mechanisms used by the ego.

Below, there is a list of the different Defense Mechanisms. Hopefully, the list will grow every week. 

To watch a video on Defense Mechanisms, click here. 

Different Defense Mechanisms

(click on each one for the explanation)

* DENIAL

* REPRESSION

* ACTING OUT
* REGRESSION 

Reference:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_2.htm

What is Counter-Transference in Psychotherapy?

Countertransference refers to the range of reactions and responses that the counselor has toward clients (including the clients' transference reactions) based on the counselor's own background and personal issues. Although countertransference occurs in all therapy and can be a useful tool, an unhealthy countertransference occurs when the counselor projects onto clients her own unresolved feelings or issues that may be stirred up in the course of working with the client. If the counselor's own boundaries are not firm, she is more likely to have difficulty remaining objective and may respond to a client's transference reaction with countertransference. This is not the same thing as the counselor's subjective feelings toward the client, which may be positive (if the client is a friendly and attractive person) or negative (if the client has an unpleasant appearance and temperament). For example, if clients act seductively, the counselor may feel uncomfortable or threatened. Counselors must pay close attention to their own feelings to protect their clients and to learn more about them. At the same time, the counselor should keep in mind that the feelings clients evoke in a counselor are likely to be feelings that clients are evoking in their daily interactions with others.

Countertransference occurs when the counselor loses her objectivity and becomes overwhelmed, angry, or bereft when hearing a client's story. In such a situation, the counselor may push a client to deal with childhood abuse or neglect issues before the client is ready--out of the counselor's own emotional needs. For the same reason, a counselor might discourage the client from talking about abuse issues, saying it is not the right time. However, it is very important to let the client determine when and at what pace to work on the issues, especially when dealing with child abuse and neglect. Effective treatment will be severely diminished if the counselor is unaware of her countertransference feelings toward a client. In these cases, the counselor should be closely supervised, or the client may need to be referred to another counselor.

Counselors must also be cautious not to see signs of childhood abuse in every symptom. Because of the high incidence of childhood abuse and neglect among clients in substance abuse treatment and many counselors' earnest desire to help, there is a danger of overinterpreting nonspecific sequelae. Not everyone in treatment has been abused, and counselors should be aware of the possibility of clients recovering nonexistent repressed memories, especially from clients who are eager to please their counselor. (See also the section below, "Avoiding the 'Rescuer' Role.")

It is important for counselors to have a general awareness of these transference and countertransference issues and to be as knowledgeable as possible about their own areas of emotional vulnerability and unresolved emotional issues. This is especially important for counselors who are themselves survivors of childhood abuse or neglect.

Reference:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64902/

What is Transference in Psychotherapy?

Transference generally refers to feelings and issues from the past that clients transfer or project onto the counselor in the current relationship. When clients interact with other persons, they are likely to respond in ways that repeat old patterns from their past. Clients bring the everyday responses and distortions of life into the relationship with the counselor, who, as a professional, can recognize these problems that are interfering with clients' daily functioning (Kahn, 1991). These transference reactions have specific implications for survivors of childhood abuse, who may perceive the counselor as threatening or abandoning in the same way as the perpetrator of the abuse. Conversely, clients may idealize the counselor, seeing him as the warm and loving parent they always wanted.

Examples of Transference

In an attempt to demystify transference, here are some very simple examples:

• You meet someone at a party who reminds you of a favorite aunt and you find yourself feeling warmly towards this new acquaintance.
• A client who has difficulty depending on others may find themselves feeling resentful, jealous, or angry towards their therapist without realizing there is a connection between these feelings and the therapist's upcoming vacation.
• A client who fears disapproval and rejection notices that they suddenly find themselves worried about judgment or criticism from their therapist when they start to talk about a certain topic or feel a particular feeling.
• A perpetually single client prone to distrusting people may begin to view the therapist with suspicion as their relationship deepens.
• A client who struggles with anger and hostility may find themselves similarly struggling with anger and hostility toward the therapist.

References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64902/

http://cbtvspsychodynamic.com/transferenceexamples.html

Jung's Archetypes

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that archetypes are models of people, behaviors or personalities. Jung suggested that the psyche was composed of three components: the ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious.According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind while the personal unconscious contains memories, including those that have been suppressed. The collective unconscious is a unique component in that Jung believed that this part of the psyche served as a form of psychological inheritance. It contains all of the knowledge and experiences we share as a species.

The Four Cardinal Orientations define four groups, with each group containing three types (as the wheel of archetypes shown above illustrates). Each group is motivated by its respective orienting focus: ego-fulfillment, freedom, socialness and order. This is a variation on the three groups of Types previously mentioned; however, whereas all the types within the Ego, Soul & Self sets all share the same driving source, the types comprising the four orienting groups have different source drives but the same motivating orientation. For example, the Caregiver is driven by the need to fulfill ego agendas through meeting the needs of others, which is a social orientation; whereas, the Hero, which is also driven by the need to fulfill ego agendas, does so through courageous action that proves self-worth. Understanding the groupings will aid in understanding the motivational and self-perceptual dynamics of each type.

The Origins of Archetypes

Where do these archetypes come from then? The collective unconscious, Jung believed, was where these archetypes exist. He suggested that these models are innate, universal and hereditary. Archetypes are unlearned and function to organize how we experience certain things.

"All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes," Jung explained in his book The Structure of the Psyche. "This is particularly true of religious ideas, but the central concepts of science, philosophy, and ethics are no exception to this rule. In their present form they are variants of archetypal ideas created by consciously applying and adapting these ideas to reality. For it is the function of consciousness, not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gateway of the senses, but to translate into visible reality the world within us."

Jung identified four major archetypes, but also believed that there was no limit to the number that may exist.

The Self

Billy Alexander

The self is an archetype that represents the unification of the unconsciousness and consciousness of an individual. The creation of the self occurs through a process known as individuation, in which the various aspects of personality are integrated. Jung often represented the self as a circle, square or mandala.

The Shadow

Benjamin Earwicker

The shadow is an archetype that consists of the sex and life instincts. The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts and shortcomings. This archetype is often described as the darker side of the psyche, representing wildness, chaos and the unknown. These latent dispositions are present in all of us, Jung believed, although people sometimes deny this element of their own psyche and instead project it onto others.

Jung suggested that the shadow can appear in dreams or visions and may take a variety of forms. It might appear as a snake, a monster, a demon, a dragon or some other dark, wild or exotic figure.

The Anima or Animus

Joe Zlomek

The anima is a feminine image in the male psyche and the animus is a male image in the female psyche. The anima/animus represents the "true self" rather than the image we present to others and serves as the primary source of communication with the collective unconscious.

The combination of the anima and animus is known as the syzygy, or the divine couple. The syzygy represents completion, unification and wholeness.

The Persona

The persona archetype

The persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" is derived from a Latin word that literally means "mask." It is not a literal mask, however. The persona represents all of the different social masks that we wear among different groups and situations. It acts to shield the ego from negative images. According to Jung, the persona may appear in dreams and take a number of different forms.

Other Archetypes

Jung suggested that the number of existing archetypes is not static or fixed. Instead, many different archetypes may overlap or combine at any given time. The following are just a few of the various archetypes that Jung described:

• The father: Authority figure; stern; powerful.
• The mother: Nurturing; comforting.
• The child: Longing for innocence; rebirth; salvation.
• The wise old man: Guidance; knowledge; wisdom.
• The hero: Champion; defender; rescuer.
• The maiden: Innocence; desire; purity.
• The trickster: Deceiver; liar; trouble-maker.

References:

Article from http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm

Jung, C.G. (1951). "Phenomenology of the Self." The Portable Jung, 147.

Jung, C.G. (1964). Man and His Symbols. New York; Doubleday and Company, Inc.

Parent & Child Relationship: the Dyad Therapy

By Aiala

Dyad Psychotherapy

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is a treatment approach for families that helps children with symptoms of emotional disorders, including Complex Trauma and disorders of attachment.

It was originally developed by psychologist Daniel Hughes as an intervention for children whose emotional distress resulted from earlier separation from familiar caregivers. Hughes cites attachment theory and particularly the work of John Bowlby as theoretical motivations for dyadic developmental psychotherapy.

Dyadic developmental psychotherapy is based on the theory that maltreated infants not only frequently have disorganized attachments but also, as they mature, are likely to develop rigid self-reliance that becomes a compulsive need to control all aspects of their environment[i].

Parent-child-dyad art therapy is an interesting and innovative art therapy, in which parent and child share the production of an artwork. Aiming to reinforce or re-establish bonds between children and parents, it provides a space where parents' early unresolved conflicts and children's developmental abilities can be expressed[ii].

 I believe that small children and their parents can gain a lot from it and maybe in some cases even more than regular separated therapy. I base this idea on the attachment theory as well, were the child’s self is built upon the relationship with his parents, especially with the mother. Also, a mother with narcissist tendencies could learn to see her child as a different and separated object, instead of an extension of her own self. This way, she could relate to her child according to his needs, and not as a object for healing her unmet expectations or unhealed inner child.

---

[i] http://carolgolly.com/therapy-services/dyadic-therapy.html

[ii] Lucille Proulx, Strengthening Emotional Ties through Parent-Child-Dyad Art Therapy - Interventions with Infants and Preschoolers

The Shadow

The Jungian Shadow: Its Phenomenology, Detection and Conscious Integration.

Psychiatrist Carl Jung’s construct of the shadow, comprised of the denied aspects of the self (1959, p. 20), conceals within itself the golden key not only to understanding the agency by which wars and feuds of all kinds tend to start, but the very solution to preventing their emergence in the first place. Such conflicts develop out of constricted, narrow views, and Jung claimed the shadow itself was the result of a narrow identification with the persona—the social mask, at the expense of the unattended aspects of the self (Bennett, 1966, p. 117). 

As individual attention is habitually and excessively focused on the façade of the persona, the deeper, neglected aspects of the personality continually sabotage the individual’s conscious intentions (Jung, 1959, p. 123). In order to account for these frustrations, while also avoiding their true source, the shadow is conveniently projected onto other people (Bennett, 1966, p. 119), resulting in what can often be perceived as threatening and unfriendly circumstances (Wilber, 1979, p. 82). Whether the shadow manifests as a war protester who covertly bombs public buildings, a novice guitarist who practically deifies Eddie Van Halen, or as a pro-life extremist who assassinates abortionists, it always represents the very qualities that the persona claims to lack. As such, attentive detection and conscious integration of the shadow would seem to offer a genuine solution to taming the darker aspects of humanity, as well as harnessing its highest potentials, especially if willingly practiced by a growing percentage of the world population.

This essay explores a first-person, phenomenological approach to detecting and integrating the shadow, as well as a third-person, structural view of development that is believed to occur as a result of shadow integration. Drawing from both first-person experience and logical argument, based upon insights in both transpersonal psychology and Buddhist mindfulness practice, it is theorized that the cultivation of compassionate yet intentional awareness is capable not only of detecting the presence of the shadow, but also of gently confronting and integrating it into the personality in a manner which develops a more deeply attuned sense of self with the world at large, with no inherent need to deny any aspects of the self and therefore no need to project any of these aspects outside of the experienced self.

The Phenomenology of Shadow Recognition

The first sign of shadow projection appears as a strong emotional reaction to anyone or anything in the environment (Wilber, 1979, p. 94). More precisely, the first-person experience of such affect feels visceral, impulsive and automatic, more like an unconscious reflex than a conscious, intentional response (Bennett, 1966, p. 119). The instinctive reflex arising out of such affect then projects the source of the feeling outwardly onto some other person, thing or situation, often in the form of emotionally pungent criticism and blame (1966, p. 119). It is this very tendency, in fact, which can serve as the prime indicator that the shadow is in play. By becoming mindfully aware of the people to whom the persona is positively or negatively attracted, in addition to the outwardly focused perceptions which accompany such attraction, it is possible to recognize the shadow (Welwood, 200, p. 208).

Integrating the Shadow through Conscious Awareness

“I looked, and looked, and this I came to see:That what I thought was you and you,Was really me and me” (Wilber, 1979, p. 95).

As is by now evident, the contents of projection are the secret characteristics—the ‘its’—which the persona refuses to acknowledge. And ending this externalization of the personal contents of consciousness is what Jung’s former mentor, Freud, was pointing to when he proclaimed, “where id was, there ego shall be” (Freud, 1965). Here Freud is literally saying, "Where it was, I shall come to be.” Just as Ged, the lead character in LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea, purposely faces and intimately embraces his own formerly destructive shadow (1975), so also is the shadow integrated by consciously addressing the persona with its own antithesis (Wilber, 1979, p. 100), so that what was formerly a problematic ‘it’ now becomes an integral part of the ‘I’, where it may now bestow its once hidden wealth upon the experience of the personality (Jung, 1959, p. 270).

As previously mentioned, shadow projection is accompanied by the presence of pronounced affect (Jung, 1959, p. 38), which in turn can act as the very signal for a return to, and cultivation of, mindfulness. By deliberately diving into the felt experience of this affect, while simultaneously acknowledging its source to be interior and not exterior to the self, it is possible to come face to face with the projected contents of the personal unconscious.

Shadow Integration and the Development of the Ego

As Jung indicated, once the shadow has been adequately befriended and integrated into the personality, development of the experienced self expands and unfolds (Jung, 1959, p. 340). Developmental theorist Susanne Cook-Greuter’s model of ego development, interestingly, seems to mirror Jung’s sentiments, though her conception of ego differs slightly from Jung’s. While the stages of development in the first two-thirds of her model depict the ego as differentiating itself in the direction of greater levels of autonomy, the last third of her stage-model—the postconventional stages of development—views the ego as growing toward higher levels of unity and integration with the ground of being itself (Cook-Greuter, 2004, p. 5). This higher integration involves a progressive dissolution of subject-object duality, so that all opposites are eventually absorbed and embraced (2004, p. 28). The shadow, of course, qualifies as one of the opposites to be enfolded into the unified ego, making its detection and integration absolutely essential, in this view, to human development toward more encompassing levels of wholeness and wellbeing (2004, p. 25). 

References

http://ieric2010.hubpages.com/hub/Carl-Jung-and-the-Shadow-An-Introduction

Bennett, E. A. (1966). What Jung Really Said. New York: Schocken.

Cook-Greuter, S. (2004). 9 levels of increasing embrace. Retrieved from http://www. cook-greuter.com

Freud, S. (1965). New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. London: Hogarth Press.

Jung, C.G. (1959). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Sir Herbert Read, Michael Fordham, Gerhard Adler, William McGuire (Eds.), The Collected Works of C. G. Jung (Volume 9, Part 1). Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity.

Ladner, L. (2004). The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology. New York: HarperOne.

LeGuin, U. K. (1975). A Wizard of Earthsea. New York: Bantam.

Welwood, J. (2000). Toward a Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation. Boston: Shambhala.

Wilber, K. (1979). No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth. Boulder: Shambhala.

Williamson, M. (1996). A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. New York: Harper.