Analytical psychology

Analytical psychology is an approach to study the human mind. A human mind is always a fascinating thing to study; it has aroused interest for many scientists. One such scientist who was interested in studying the human mind and who coined the Analytical psychology is Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. His study has some similarities with Freudian psychoanalysis. The aim of this study is to better understand how the human mind works.  The study tries to understand how a human mind relates with the subconscious mind.

 The study believes that, the dream shows the ideas, hopes, and feelings of an individual which they are not really aware.  Analytical psychology basically involves an in depth analysis of human’s thoughts and personalities.  The theory believes that man’s actions can be clearly explained by the subconscious motivation.

Some of the archetypes that Jung believed to be important in people's lives include:

• Persona archetype: the personality we show to the outer world
• Shadow archetype: the darker side of a person, which is always present in the person but only revealed when the person wants to revel the darker side.
• Anima: The feminine nature of a man, the personality traits include showing compassion, caring etc.
• Animus: The masculine natures of a female, the personality traits include more rational and logical behaviour.

Basically in the study Jung found two main attitudes of people, the attitude include

• Introvert: The person, who wants to focus all the energy on him, prefers to be alone rather than being surrounded by people. A person who is a bit shy and not much of a social person,
• Extrovert: The person who happens to be an exact opposite of the introvert nature. He/she feels energized when surrounded with lot of people. Loves to socialize, and be the centre of attention.

Jung coined the term Analytical Psychology, to better describe his approach, which is not only a way to develop the personality traits through the individuation process but also a process of healing.

Questions:

• How can we better understand our personality?
• How do we interpret our actions with respect to Analytical Psychology?
• Can a person be both introvert and extrovert in nature?