Specializations
Jungian psychotherapy
The most basic tool used by this school of therapy is amplification: seeking images in culture and art that could reflect the inner world of the individual, and by doing so, help process difficult thoughts and issues. Dream analysis is also often used, as well as creative work, visualization, and active imagination exercises. Despite having a portfolio of preferred tools, however, a Jungian therapist never enforces any particular method or subject onto the patient; instead, we follow the patient's lead at all times and tailor every session to their individual needs and boundaries. Jungian therapy is best suited for creative people with a vivid imagination or those who enjoy interacting with art and narrative media. It can be highly effective for a wide variety of mental health issues.
Psychotherapy of neuroses and related issues
From the perspective of analytical psychology, neurosis is a situation in which the unconscious demands changes that are impossible to accept for the conscious ego. This results in growing tension between the individual's conscious approach and unconscious needs, causing the feelings of anxiety, burnout or anger. A neurosis might be accompanied by sudden "flashes" of intense emotion or auto aggression when the repressed content violently breaks into our conscious life. Therapeutic work involves discovering and understanding the unconscious elements that attempt to push themselves into our consciousness, and learning to express them in constructive ways. Often it requires changes to be made not only in our inner approach, but also outer life.
Therapeutic support for autistic individuals
I've been participating in research on the autism spectrum for over 10 years now and I make continuous effort to follow this subject, both in the scientific as well as the sociocultural context. Being an autistic individual myself, I'm actively engaged in self-advocacy efforts, and I support AIM and ASAN. I wholeheartedly support the neurodiversity movement. I oppose the pathologization of autism and any and all efforts to "cure" it. As follows, I do not offer a "therapy for autism", but rather, therapeutic support for autistic people who would like to work towards self-acceptance, feeling of self-worth and inner freedom to live in accordance with their autistic nature.
Work method
The school of analytical psychology was created in the early 20th century by Carl Gustav Jung. It is based primarily on the assumption that our consciousness is merely a small piece of our whole psyche, and that our true personality contains many elements that we are not consciously aware of. The unconscious part of the psyche communicates with the conscious part by means of dreams and imagination. It can also use artifacts of culture as a mirror, reflecting itself in them and causing certain books, games, movies or songs to resonate with us more than others. Jungian therapy attempts to analyze these messages from the unconscious, hoping to uncover what the unconscious psyche is trying to tell us and what it might need.
In his time, Jung stood against pathologization of atypical mental states. He believed the psyche to be a self-balancing system; instead of interpreting symptoms as mental illnesses or disorders, he chose to see them as the psyche's attempts at self-regulation. Rather than stigmatizing mental health issues as "abnormal", he argued that it is the modern world and way of life which goes against human nature, and that it is, in fact, natural for the psyche to react with fear, distress, anger or even delusion when the outer world of the individual contradicts their nature so harshly. In line with this way of thinking, a Jungian therapist will typically not try to suppress the outward symptom, but rather search for the inner cause behind the symptom and work on resolving it. Because of that, analytical psychology does not offer quick, superficial solutions; it demands systematic and often difficult work, but its effects are also long-lasting.
Personally, I believe the most important aspect of analytical psychology is its belief that in order to keep the psyche in balance one needs to be allowed to live in accordance with their authentic nature. One's conscious and unconscious needs should be equally observed, respected, expressed and constructively fulfilled. As a therapist, I am the happiest when I can focus on supporting my patients in the process of discovery and acceptance of their authentic selves. It is not a simple journey - we may discover in ourselves thoughts and feelings we wish we didn't have, or sometimes even things that go against our morality. Yet, even our darkest sides carry ambiguity and can become sources of strength and positive force.
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