A Jungian approach to psychotherapy maintains two simultaneous perspectives: the overt interactive field of dialogue and relationship between the individual and the therapist, and the subtle-field of relationship where attention is paid to ‘what is not said,’ i.e. that which is communicated metaphorically through the body, the symptom, behavior patterns, and the products of the imagination.
Both perspectives are vital tools for understanding the personality. Individuals may choose to share themselves not only through talk-therapy, but through dream, fantasy, and creative endeavors such as art, poetry, creative writing, music and dance.
Invariably, what is needed in therapy is accurate emotional attunement through the moment-to-moment dynamics of the therapeutic relationship to redress failed or frustrated relationships from infancy and childhood. Empathic attunement by the therapist builds inner self structure and cohesion resulting in a burgeoning awareness of a personal value system, self-direction, and increased self-esteem. As Corbett has written, when we meet experiences which resound with our deepest sense of self, “We happen to ourselves.”
Attention to the psyche’s various expressions also deepens one’s relationship to one’s self, and following, to the world. Those who have suffered from a series of failed relationships often find that the enhanced relationship to self also brings with it more satisfying intimate and social connections and a feeling of belonging to the greater collective of humanity across time and culture.
Analytical treatment offers both the personal emotional experience of being seen, and the capacity to respond to what Hillman revitalized as the Genius or Daimon of the personality, the defining image or calling of fate and character -- the greater Self which seeks to incarnate because of and through our lives.