So much of the field of personal development stems from work by Carl Jung (1875-1961) from MBTI and DiSC Assessments to motivation theories and coaching methodologies. Jungs work is vast, here are a few of the things he contributed to psychology and psychiatry…

• The concept of introversion and extroversion
• Personality styles/psychological types
• The collective unconscious and archetypes (psychic structures that are common to all conscious beings)
• Individuation - the idea that we keep developing and changing throughout our lives into old age in a ‘personal quest for wholeness’
• The Self, The Ego and The Persona aspects of personality
• Personal consciousness and the unconscious
• Dream interpretation as a representation of the unconscious and method of psychiatric analysis
• Synchronicity - what we might call coincidences, Jung believed they had deeper meaning
• Active imagination - a state halfway between sleeping and waking where you observe and record what you see

And a few things that I see have an impact on how I (and many others) approach coaching and facilitation-

The origin of ‘talking’ therapy
Jung saw his psychiatry patients as complete people capable of individuation, they played an active role in their own recovery. This differed from the prevailing approach at the time that saw patients as a victim of their illness who needed to be ‘cured’ by the doctor. This echoes modern coaching philosophy which puts the person in control of their own life and views everyone as having unlimited potential.

Two chairs
Jungian analysis involved the therapist and patient in 2 identical chairs facing one another. He removed the coach as it invoked a dependency mindset and reinforced a hierarchy. This is how I approach facilitation with participants and myself sitting on chairs without tables in-between. For me a facilitator standing up suggests hierarchy and hinders accountability, creativity and collaboration.

Knowing yourself before helping others
Jung advised other therapists that they need to put right in themselves first what they hope to put right in their patients. This echoes coaching philosophy that says you can only support people who are below or at the level of development that you are at yourself.

Jung’s work spanned science, spirituality and influences from nature. He would not be limited by the confines of only what could be proven through scientific method. As a result, many disregarded his ideas about concepts such as the collective unconscious which cannot be proven. Nevertheless, his ideas have prevailed and influenced modern psychiatry, psychology, personal development, biology and anthropology.

Another interesting fact, when Carl Jung first met Sigmond Freud, they spoke uninterrupted for 13 hours. I hope they had good snacks! Their friendship was not to last though, they fell out over their different ideas about human psychology and behaviour.

And to end this post, only a Jung quote would suffice. My favourite and one you will see on our website is -

“Until you make the unconscious, conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”