What is Jungian therapy, also known as depth psychology?

A complete answer would take a few hundred pages—and, like yoga, the best way to understand it is through practice. But I’ll try to summarize it here in a simple way.

Jungian therapy seeks to understand the mind, body, spirit and psyche in an integrated manner, facilitating the process of individuation — that is, the integration of the various aspects of the personality. We seek the causes of suffering and mental agitation, going to the roots of emotional problems. We work with complexes, projections, shadows and archetypes, through the analysis of dreams, drawings, myths, stories, art, among other symbolic expressions.

In short:

• Complexes are clusters of memories, emotions and perceptions — traumas come into play here.

• Projection is when we see in another something that, in fact, is ours (like an irritation that we can't help but feel).

• Shadows are aspects of our personality that are hidden or repressed.

• Archetypes are universal patterns of human behavior and experience (such as the Mother archetype, who nurtures, protects, and loves unconditionally).

These elements are part of the personal unconscious, that is, they are parts of us that we are unaware of, but that profoundly influence who we are.

In Jungian therapy, dreams are messages from the unconscious that help us process the emotions of the day and indicate paths for the process of individuation. They reveal meanings and guide us towards our life purpose.

“We can say that dreams are letters that the Self writes to us each night, telling us to do a little more of this, a little more of that, to go this way or that. Looking at life as a whole, we see that there is a pattern, as if the Self had a plan for us, a kind of destiny.” Marie-Louise von Franz