May 8 Monthly Meeting
Presenter: Dr David Russell
Carl Jung was a highly regarded psychiatrist and researcher. He was largely responsible for the transition of the nascent psychoanalytical interest group from a small and relatively inward-looking gathering into an international and professionally accepted movement. The intellectual divide separating Jung and Freud, that eventually was too great to bridge, was essentially the recognition of two very distinct emotional drivers: Freud’s for conceptual clarity to a point close to dogmatic understanding, and Jung’s for an experiential appreciation of the inherent complexity and ambivalence of the human psyche.
This conflict of desires, the longing for white-boned clarity with the correlated desire for a definitive practice and the longing for an acceptance of the fullness of the other’s experience, is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Evidence-based psychology/psychotherapy, what is called “best practice”, is now de rigueur in medical/scientific worlds.
The aim of this talk is not to argue the case in favour of one desire over the other, or to evaluate the respective methods of observation and measurement. Rather, it is to accept that what we have here are two legitimate worldviews; two different attitudes to knowledge and interpersonal engagement; two different understandings of the relevance of the client’s experience. A useful question might be: is it of value to be fluent in these two languages of the mind and thus move from one perspective to the other depending on the exigencies of the moment?
Dr David Russell is a psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice (East Sydney). He also holds the position of Associate Professor (Adjunct) in the School of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney. Through the study of the history and philosophy of psychology whilst a student at the University of Sydney he was drawn to the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. However, the spirit of the times being as they are, the only area for a PhD candidate in psychology interested in therapeutic methods was cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Following a few years in private practice he moved into a teaching/research position with UWS and was responsible, as part of a small and enthusiastic group, firstly for the foundation of degrees in Social Ecology and then a master’s degree in Analytical Psychology (a postgraduate course-work program based on the works of Carl Jung and the post Jungians). David has recently retired from the academic life in order to more fully pursue his therapeutic practice.