Clinical Practice in the Light of the Red Book

Jung’s Liber Novus is the record of his visionary experiences 1913 – 1916 from which he subsequently derived his science of analytical psychology, his understanding of man’s place in the becoming of the Cosmos and his unique approach to the practice of psychotherapy. As he wrote in 1916: “Analytical treatment, rightly understood, is never an isolated process, a psychological bottle of medicine, or spa treatment, but a new adjustment to the conditions of life, and accordingly is thoroughly all-round, penetrating every sphere of life.”

In this presentation I will show how a close reading of Liber Novus: The Red Book can be used as a helpful and authoritative way of orientating ourselves in working with our patients, informing the psychotherapist about what we do and why we do it.

I will draw on my experience of studying and teaching Liber Novus to suggest how this has changed the way in which I practice as an analyst. I aim to show how Jung’s presentation in Liber Novus can clarify our understanding of his new terminology (archetype, collective unconscious, symbol, Self, individuation process and transcendent function). With this clarification in place, I will then introduce passages of the Liber Novus text to show how we can use them to orientate ourselves in working with our patients.

Learning Objectives
This course is intended to help you:

1. Describe the ways in which Jung’s definition of psychotherapy and its aims changed over the period 1913 to 1928 as a result of the experiences he recorded in The Red Book: Liber Novus.
2. Demonstrate how a reading of the text of the Red Book: Liber Novus clarifies the meaning of archetype, collective unconscious, symbol, Self, individuation process and transcendent function.
3. Demonstrate how this clarified understanding of Jung’s terms can promote a new approach to our clinical practice.

Instructor

George Bright was educated at Cambridge University and The London School of Economics. He is a Training & Supervising Analyst of the Society of Analytical Psychology and a co-founder of The Circle of Analytical Psychology, a London-based group engaged in the study of Jung’s Liber Novus and Black Books. He works in private practice in London. His 1997 paper Synchronicity as a basis of analytic attitude won the Michael Fordham Prize.