The clinic of meaning

The clinic of meaning, Jungian perspectives

« Everywhere we encounter this idea of a central, life-giving symbol, a living unity, which acts incomprehensibly as a spiritual guide or director (…) Thus the life in us is a much larger entity than the ego, it is the most intimate and internalized principle of the truth of life that spreads throughout our being »

(Jung, l’analyse des visions, seminar 1930-1934, p.1252).

The question of meaning is central to depth psychology. C.G. Jung explored the creative movement of life that animates the individual conscious and unconscious psyche as the origin and goal of the individuation process. A genuine dynamic of confrontation with oneself and with the shadow, this process can be hindered, halted or perverted by forces contrary to life. Malaise, depression, feelings of emptiness, self-hatred… all speak of disunity with oneself, the loss of meaning in one’s life, of one’s place in the world in harmony with the living order. How does the therapeutic process work in the intimacy of the transferential bond between patient and psychoanalyst? What do the specificities of the Jungian approach bring to traumatic developmental damage and to the clinic of anorexia nervosa? How does the creative experience of the psyche contribute to the emergence of meaning, a sense of self and existence? What does the experience of individuation teach us about the quintessence of the soul in the evening of life?