Existential Therapy and Jungian Analysis: Toward an Existential Depth Psychology

Existential therapy and Jungian analysis share much in common. The early Jung, with his self-professed scientific study and "empirical" description of the human psyche focused strictly on "observed facts," fancied himself a phenomenologist of sorts, loosely using a philosophical method first described in detail by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) at the start of the 20th century. In this article, the author, a clinical and forensic psychologist, compares the contemporary practices of existential therapy and Jungian analysis, citing essential similarities and differences, and proposing and describing the complementary synthesis of these two penetrating and potent theoretical orientations in a reimagined form of therapy he calls "existential depth psychology." He argues here that contemporary existential therapy's reflexively broad dismissal of depth psychology and its profound clinical wisdom diminishes it immensely. And vice versa. Given the inherent bias against such sagacious, depth-oriented counseling and psychotherapy in today's increasingly vapid mental health marketplace, Jungian analysis and existential therapy, despite, or really due to, their differences, desperately need each other to become more balanced, whole, efficacious, relevant, and viable humanistic treatment approaches.