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The Search for Self in Depth Psychology

Depth psychology is an approach to therapy, psychological

research and the study of the human person that encompasses

the unconscious mind. The two pioneers of this approach were

Sigmund Freud and his protégé Carl Gustav Jung. They could truly be

said to be the founding fathers of the psychodynamic school1 of counselling and

psychotherapy. These two men met for the first time in 1907 when

Jung was only 32 years of age, and he later recalled that this

first discussion lasted for some thirteen hours, virtually

without stopping.2 They met regularly thereafter, exchanged

publications and letters, and this collaboration was to last

six years and to end rather inimically in May 1913. That

Freud was to influence the younger man profoundly is without

doubt. That the younger man, being equally as intellectual

and as fiercely driven as the older, would soon plough his own1 Psychodynamic approaches to therapy are methods of using DepthPsychology. This latter term was coined by Eugen Bleuler to refer topsychoanalytic approaches to therapy and research that take theunconscious, or literally the depths of the mind, into account. It is alsoimportant to note that there have been many developments in Freudian (andJungian) analysis over the years, such as object-relations theory and, notleast, the work of Jacques Lacan and others, but these developments arebeyond the scope of this short essay. However, these do not addsubstantially to our subject here – namely a sketch of the search foridentity, which can quite easily be drawn from the work of the foundingfathers. 2 See Crowley, V. (1999, pp. 5-6) and Kerr, J. (2012, p. 3).

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furrow was also inevitable. That the two were pioneers in the

investigation of the human psyche or in the quest for the

elusive self is also without question. In short, then, these

two thinkers and practitioners began to explore the self in a

new and far deeper fashion than heretofore. We firstly, then,

in this brief account, turn to the contributions of Sigmund

Freud to this exploration.

Sigmund Freud’s Contribution to the search for Identity

While Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) could never be said to be

the discoverer of the unconscious, he could certainly be

credited with both popularising the concept and with exploring

its role in the human psyche within a clinical setting.

Another way of putting this is to say that Freud was cognizant

of the fact that all individuals have hidden depths of which

they are not consciously aware. Born 1856 in Freiberg,

Moravia, then located in the Austrian Empire, Sigmund Schlomo

Freud was destined to become a famous neurologist,

psychiatrist and the founding father of psychoanalysis. In

other words, it is important to note that he was a

professional doctor who was clinically very well skilled, and

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that while much of his thought could be adjudged speculative

by contemporary standards, that he viewed his theory and

practice of psychoanalysis as scientifically based.3 He is

credited with putting forward two basic models of the psyche

or mind which we will now discuss.

The Topographical Model

As a young student with a keen interest in archaeology,

Freud saw himself as metaphorically digging deeper into the

human mind rather like the archaeologist digging painstakingly

in the soil to unearth what is hidden from view. Hence, we

have a model of the mind or self made up of layers: the

conscious mind at the surface, the preconscious layer just

below that and the unconscious depths below that again. The

conscious mind includes everything that we are aware of with

our senses and intellect. This is the aspect of our mental

processing that we can think and talk about rationally. A part

3 Freud always contested that his psychoanalytical methods were scientific.Undoubtedly, he had a different understanding to us as to what science is,and in The Future of an Illusion he equated it with the intellect [See Storr(2001, pp.115 - 116) and Freud (2001, pp. 235 - 241)]. Weinberger andWesten (2001, p.131) are surely correct when they argue that “if Freud canbe faulted for failing to follow what we now consider proper scientificprocedure in testing his hypotheses (a failure we might note, common tomany of his contemporaries), this criticism should be equally applied tohis present day critics, who have much less excuse for doing so.”

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of this includes our memory, which is not always part of

consciousness but can be retrieved easily at any time and

brought into our awareness. Freud called this ordinary memory

the preconscious, because it is just below the surface.

However, the deepest layer or the unconscious mind is a

reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, desires and painful

memories that lie outside of our conscious awareness.

According to Freud most of the contents of the unconscious are

unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety,

or conflict. The mind represses these painful, unpleasant and

conflicting experiences. Moreover, this unconscious layer of

the mind continues to influence our behaviour and experience,

even though we are unaware of these underlying forces.

The Structural Model

Freud went from the topographical model of mind

(archaeological or layer model) to a more structural one in an

attempt to get to grips with what he daily perceived to be the

conflicts that existed not alone within the minds of his own

patients but within himself also. In short, he needed a

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clearer structure to show the struggles and conflicts that are

evident in us all. Freud began to see that our unconscious

wishes and impulses are in conflict with our very defences and

that not just the impulses and wishes

were unconscious but also these defences seemed to be so, too.

Hence, he needed to complement his topographical model with a

structural one of the mind. Mitchell and Black put it thus:

"When Freud began to perceive the basic conflictual seam in

the psyche as not between conscious and unconscious but inside

the unconscious itself, a new model, the structural model,

became necessary to delineate the primary constituents of

mind."4

It was at this point that he proposed his classic definition

of the psyche as containing the competing elements of Ego, Id

and Superego.5 These components, according to Freud, are the

4 Mitchell and Black (1995, p. 20)5It is interesting to note that Freud’s structural model of the psychemirrors Plato’s notion of the tripartite soul which he describes in termsof the Allegory of the Charioteer in his dialogue Phaedrus (sections 246a -254e). The obvious parallelism here would be that the Charioteer(Intellect, Reason) corresponds to the Ego, while the noble winged horse(our moral impulse or our spirited nature) that wishes to head towards theheavens corresponds to the Superego while the impulsive, irrational horse(our appetitive nature) that wishes to rush towards the earth is the Id.

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major parts of the self or mind which we loosely deem the same

in everyday language, though we shall attempt to differentiate

these latter two terms more precisely in our final chapter.

It is very important to note that this structural model puts

these three major components in the unconscious.6 The Ego, Id and

Superego are not topographical regions or layers as it were as

we saw in his previous model. Rather they are distinct

elements at war or in conflict with one another. Freud said of

the Id that it is "a cauldron full of seething excitations." 7

Moreover, at birth the person is all Id. Ruled by the pleasure

principle 8, which is aimed at reducing tension, avoiding pain and

gaining pleasure, Corey remarks that the Id is “illogical,

6 Mitchell and Black (1995) argue strongly for this contention, though someauthors would argue that the Ego is conscious while the Superego straddlesall three strata, Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious. 7 Quoted Mitchell and Black (1995, p. 20)8 Freud argues that the young baby realises early the importance of thepleasure principle. If the little child cries and is fed quite often when itdoes so it begins to realise that its needs can be met, its hunger andthirst satisfied and that such leads to real pleasure and gratification. Simplyput, this is the “pleasure principle.” Now, it would be great if we livedin an "ideal world" where all our needs, wants and desires were satisfied.But such is not the real world. Instant gratification is not the way oflife. Everything comes at a price. The child also learns very early on thatsometimes when he/she cries their needs are not met immediately. In otherwords that child is beginning to learn that harsh reality is just that -harsh! It is almost superfluous to state that Freud called this meetingwith harsh reality the "reality principle." The child now embarks upon a morebalanced take on life – fine, it is well and good that one’s desires, needsand wants are met, but such does not happen all of the time. The youngchild quickly learns to balance the "pleasure principle" with the "reality principle."

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amoral, and driven to satisfy instinctual needs... does not

think, but only wishes or acts.” 9

Storr underlines the fact that the Id is the oldest part of

the mind from which the other structures are derived. He goes

on to quote Freud: "The id contains everything that is

inherited, that is present at birth, that is laid down in the

constitution..." 10 Here we must recall that Freud was a

Darwinian, a determinist with a scientific bent, a fervent

atheist who sought to reduce whatever the human is to some

scientific understanding - little more than a very

sophisticated animal. Indeed, for Freud, human beings were not

yet fully evolved. Hence, there was a split or a rift in their

very nature. In other words, human beings were torn between

their dark bestial motives, their animal nature (Id) on the one

hand and civilized conduct and demeanour (manners and customs

at a more superficial level and morality and ethics at a

deeper level) on the other. It is at this second deeper

level, with the help of internalised parental rules and

regulations, that the Superego (a type of Conscience) is formed.

9 Corey (2005, p. 57)10 Quoted: Storr (2001, p. 60)

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Hence, humans are literally driven to seek pleasure on the one

hand by the Id, but society and civilization, on the other

hand, through the agency of the Superego, reign in this sheer

licence and profligacy - otherwise there would be murder, rape

and strife of all kinds. Further, the Ego, with the aid of

this Superego represses, regulates and helps reign in the

bestial impulses of the Id. In this way, safety, both of the

self and others and society at large, is maintained to the

greatest extent humanly possible.

The Ego operates on the reality principle. It seeks to control the

Id's demands until the appropriate time and place. The key word

associated with the Ego is balance. As the infant develops and

attempts to adapt to the demands of the outside world, the Ego

emerges. This means essentially that the Ego delays

gratification of needs until the appropriate time and place.

Another way of talking about the balancing role of the Ego is

to state that it is rather like an executive or a manager of

the personality. We may say that it attempts to strike a

balance between the realities of the outside world and the

irrational self-seeking drives of the Id. The prime function,

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then, of the Ego is self-preservation. It realises the need

for compromise and negotiates between the Id and the Superego.

The Ego's job is to get the Id's pleasures to be reasonable and

bear the long-term consequences of actions in mind. In so

doing, it denies both instant gratification and the pious

denial of that gratification.

In a healthy person, according to Freud, the Ego is the

strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the Id, not upset

the Superego, and still take into consideration the reality of

every situation. Not an easy job by any means, but if the Id

gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the

person's life. If the Superego becomes too strong, the person

would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and

unbending in his or her interactions with the world.

The Goal of Psychoanalysis

A client attends psychoanalysis in order to get to know the

self more fully and this will involve the therapist’s enabling

the client to make as much of his/her unconscious desires,

drives and all sorts of painful and repressed memories

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conscious. Succinctly put, the goal of psychoanalysis is

making the unconscious conscious.11 Such analysis will also

seek to disarm defence mechanisms which seek to protect

through keeping inappropriate or unwanted thoughts and

impulses from entering the conscious mind. Obviously, the

therapist or analyst will make sure that the client is strong

enough for such revelations from the unconscious.

In summary, we may say that the search for identity in

Freud is bound up with a systematic analysis which allows the

client to encounter the unconscious aspects of the self. The

client is, consequently, stronger in their identity as they

are now more aware than ever before of their inner

motivations.

Carl Gustav Jung’s Contribution to the Search for Identity

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was born in the small Swiss

village of Kesswill. His father was a poor rural pastor in the11 Freud (1985, p.105, n.1) contends that dream analysis is the best way ofaccessing the unconscious: “In the interpretation of dreams, to whichindeed we owe our best knowledge of unconscious mental life, we follow atechnical rule of disregarding doubt and uncertainty in the narrative ofthe dream, and of treating every element of the manifest dream as beingquite certain.”

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Swiss Reformed Church, while his mother came from a wealthy

and established Swiss family. Although his first career choice

was archaeology, he went on to study medicine at the

University of Basel. While working under the famous

neurologist Krafft-Ebing, he settled on psychiatry as his

career. After graduating, he took a position at the famous

Burghölzli, Mental Hospital in Zurich under Eugene Bleuler,

the discoverer of schizophrenia. While Jung was a friend and

disciple of Freud, their friendship and professional

collaboration lasted for six years only. He was soon to

establish his own unique understanding of the psyche and his

own way of doing psychotherapy which he called analytical

psychology. It is to an exploration of Jung’s understanding

of the self that we now turn.

The Jungian Model of Psyche

Jung was a highly imaginative, learned and widely read

psychiatrist. He was au fait with mythology and all its

symbols, no matter from what ancient culture such mythology

had emerged, as well as keeping abreast of the professional

and scientific developments in the field of psychiatry. A

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central symbol in ancient culture was, of course, the circle

(or sphere) and it is no surprise that this central symbol

would form an essential element of his model of the psyche.

Simply put, we may describe his model as being like three

concentric circles, with what he terms the “Self” being the

inner circle rather like a nucleus whose influence radiates

out from there through the other rings. Stevens gives a

wonderfully clear description of Jung’s model:

The model is divisible into three concentricspheres, like a three-layered onion.... theouter layer represents consciousness with itsfocal ego, the middle layer the personalunconscious with its complexes, the centralsphere the collective unconscious with itsarchetypes, and, at its core, the co-ordinating nucleus of the entire system, theSelf. Together, these components make up theanatomy of the psyche... 12

Now, the ego played a much smaller role for Jung in the

psyche than it did for Freud. It is a small part of the psyche

which the latter uses to relate to itself and the outer world.

Hauke puts it thus: “rather than the ego being in charge, Jung

reverses the priority and regards the relationship of the ego

to the Self as that of the ‘moved to the mover.’ ” 13 It is

important to underscore the fact that in the Jungian model of

12 See Stevens (1991, p. 28) 13 Hauke (2000, p. 56)

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the psyche, the Self, a word which Jung practically always

capitalised, permeates the entire sphere of the psyche with its

influence and is not just operative at the core. Let us turn

now to discuss in more detail what Jung meant by the different

layers of the unconscious.

The Personal Unconscious and the Complexes

Jung had a far more inclusive and more positive notion of

the unconscious that did Freud. Stevens, quoting Jung’s own

words, reports that the personal unconscious includes

“everything of which I know, but which I am not at the moment

thinking; everything of which I was once conscious but have now

forgotten; everything perceived by my senses, but not noted by

my conscious mind; ...all the future things which are taking

shape in me and will sometime come to consciousness; all this

is the content of the unconscious.” 14 In short, it is a

veritable creative storehouse to which we are challenged to

find the key rather than Freud’s fearful “seething cauldron”

which we have described above.

14 Stevens (1991, p. 31)

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However, the second concentric “layer” or ring, which

represents this personal unconscious, also contains what Jung

describes as complexes. Jung defines these complexes thus:

“autonomous complexes, disturbing factors that disrupt the

conscious control and act like ‘true disturbers of the peace.’

Because this is such a well-known fact my term ‘complex’ ...

has passed into common speech.” 15 Indeed, we modern human

beings are heirs to many complexes of which inferiority,

superiority, ego, father, mother, Adonis, hero, martyr and so

on are just some examples.16 These all act to disturb our inner

peace and by doing so challenge us to grow by facing up to and

integrating these “inner demons” into a more holistic, complete

and rounded self.

The Collective Unconscious and the Archetypes

The collective unconscious is perhaps Jung’s greatest

contribution to depth psychology. Stevens maintains that it

is a notion which is “of comparable importance to quantum

theory in physics.” 17 Jung found support for it in his dreams.15 Jung (1986, p. 122)16 The site Analytical Psychology gives a long list of these complexes and provides a clear description of each. See http://analyticalpsychology.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/types-of-psychological-complexes, accessed 28/02/201317 Stevens (2001, p. 47)

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While Freud had three distinct layers in his topographical

model of the psyche which we discussed above, Jung believed

that there was in fact a layer further down, namely the

collective unconscious where material from ancient cultures

abounded at a powerfully primal and symbolic level.18 Often

these symbols were found abundantly in religions and

mythologies of various cultures. If Freud’s notion of the

unconscious could very loosely be designated “the personal

unconscious” then below that level dwelt the collective

phenomenon. Jung, with respect to interpreting dreams,

averred that “[t]his personal unconscious must always be dealt

with first, that is, made conscious, otherwise the gateway to

the collective unconscious cannot be opened.” 19 This

collective unconscious, in other words, is completely

impersonal, and consequently is not loaded with negative

personal ramifications. Hence, we have a reservoir in our

dreams for further creativity. Finally, Jung maintained that

the contents of the collective unconscious are called

archetypes, a description of which we will now outline.

18 Interestingly, he maintained that there were still three layers to thepsyche by doing away with the preconscious layer of the Freudian model. Itwas apparently hard to eradicate the notion of the triadic nature of thehuman mind.19 Jung (2002, pp. 136-137)

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A Note on Archetypes

It is important to note that the concepts of archetypes and

the collective unconscious are inextricably interlinked – they

form one theory basically. Archetypes are what Jung describes

as “identical psychic structures common to all” and “most of

them can be found everywhere and at all times. They occur in

the folklore of primitive races... as well as in dreams,

visions, and delusions of modern individuals entirely ignorant

of all such traditions.” 20 In a certain sense, we might

argue, that the archetypes function in a parallel way to

genetic material in the human genome. Hauke, in like manner,

argues that they are part of “a phylogenetic inheritance of

the human psyche amassed over aeons of human evolution.” 21

In fact, there is a strong connection between the

archetypes of the collective unconscious layer and the

complexes of the personal unconscious layer as every complex

is linked to a distinct archetype. Each complex is, as it

were, a personification of the archetype. In other words, a

20 Jung (1986, p. 65)21 Hauke (2000, p. 56),

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complex is a means whereby each archetype manifests itself,

and, hence, there is a line from each complex to a specific

archetype in the Jungian diagrammatic representation of the

psyche.

Examples of archetypes that Jung listed are the mother, the

father, the anima, the animus, the persona, the scapegoat, the

shadow, the trickster and the puer aeternus. The most important

archetype in anyone’s psyche is that of the mother, quite

obviously, as it is she that the young child has most

interaction with in the early stages of life. Interestingly,

as this attachment relationship develops “the [mother]

archetype becomes active in the personal psyche of the child

in the form of the mother complex. At the same time... the

infant constellates the child archetype in the mother. Each

partner in the dyad creates the perceptual field responsible

for evoking the archetype in the other.” 22

Individuation: The Goal of Analytical Psychology

Jung stressed the sheer uniqueness and individuality of the

human person: “There is and can be no self-knowledge based on22 Stevens (2001, p. 50)

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theoretical assumptions, for the object of self-knowledge is

an individual - a relative exception and an irregular

phenomenon.” 23 In this regard, he saw individuation as the

process whereby the individual grows in his/her self-knowledge

by encountering the truths yielded up by the unconscious

through therapy or dream work or other such creative

activities. He described individuation in 1925 as “the

process that brings unconscious material under conscious

control.” 24 This is in line with Freud who also saw the goal

of his psychoanalysis as making the unconscious conscious. It

is a truism of Jungian therapy that individuation means

wholeness at one and the same time as it means individuality.

He looked on the process of individuation as being a life-long

journey, though it primarily and properly belongs to the

second half of human life. Jung describes individuation thus:

This means that the psychic human beingbecomes a whole, and becoming whole hasremarkable effects on ego-consciousness whichare extremely difficult to describe. I doubtmy ability to give a proper account of thechange that comes over the subject under theinfluence of the individuation process; it is

23 Jung (2010, pp. 5-6) calls the individual in this book "an irrationaldatum," which doubtless s/he is. This "irrational datum" is "the true andauthentic carrier of reality, the concrete man as opposed to the unrealideal or normal man" of science. (This book was originally published in1957).24 Quoted Hayman, R. (2001, p. 261)

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a relatively rare occurrence, which isexperienced only by those who have gonethrough the wearisome but, if the unconsciousis to be integrated, indispensable business ofcoming to terms with the unconsciouscomponents of the personality.25

Further, he speaks about the “uniting symbols of the Self”

which cluster about the Self as the planets about the sun.

Such clustering components of the psyche are ego, shadow, the

various complexes, archetypes, personal unconscious and so on.

26 Elsewhere, Jung simply equated individuation with “coming to

selfhood” or “self-realization,” and hyphenated the word

“individual” as “in-dividual,” namely that unique entity that

cannot be subdivided, or that which is indivisible. 27

Conclusion

Psychodynamic therapy, based on the findings of depth

psychology, seeks the integration28 of the self for the client.

Indeed, clients coming to such therapy are often in a state of

fragmentation or fracture. Such fragmentation is, they argue,

because of the split between the conscious and the

25 Jung (2001, p. 158)26 Ibid., p. 13027 Jung (1990, p. 173)28 Storr (1975) contends that integration of the personality is a central task of all psychotherapeutic models, not least that of psychoanalysis.

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unconscious. It is, therefore, the goal of the psychoanalyst

or Jungian analyst to help the client to integrate the

conscious and the unconscious. Furthermore, in time

psychoanalytical theory began to consider the unconscious

influence of other people. In this regard, the psychiatrist

Heinz Kohut emphasised in his therapy how clients develop a

sense of identity through interpersonal relationships (what he

calls “self objects”) 29 to develop a sense of self or

identity.

Jungian analysis is not as narrow as traditional

psychoanalysis along Freudian lines. It focuses largely on

individuation and the capacity of humans to move towards

wholeness and self-realization while the latter focuses

primarily on childhood experiences, working through these

memories systematically while keeping an assiduous eye on the

relationship that results with the therapist. The broad sweep

of Jungian analysis takes into account the client’s own inner

wisdom, their creativity and their native insight into their

own self, albeit that this can only be achieved with the help

of the therapist.29 Kohut, H. (1971), see pp. 1-37.

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Therapists working with psychodynamic approaches appreciate

the hidden depths or mystery that lie hidden within each

unique individual. They also realise that the uncovering of

those hidden depths takes a long time – that is, that the road

to identity is a long and painstaking one. In this regard,

they understand the client’s resistances to change, their

avoidance of painful issues, the importance of getting to

grips with unfinished business, the significance of

transference and countertransference and the use by the client

of ego defences and so on.30 In helping the client to accept

the lessons from the mysterious depths of the unconscious and

to integrate them into the psyche, the therapist is very much

a facilitator of client identity and self-growth.

30 Transference is where people/clients transfer feelings for their parentsor significant others to their spouses or partners or children or therapistor others. For instance, one could mistrust somebody who resembles an ex-partner in manners, voice, or external appearance, or be overly compliantto someone who resembles a childhood friend. Countertransference is definedas the redirection of the psychotherapist’s own feelings towards a client -or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.We humans seek to reduce our anxiety through what Freud described asdefense mechanisms, such as repression, denial, rejection and so on.Freud’s daughter, Anna, enlarged greatly on her father’s theory here.

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