The spirit of Jungian group psychotherapy: from taboo to totem

Practitioners of analytical psychology were late in coming to the practice of group psychotherapy because Carl Jung effectively forbade the treatment of individuals in stranger groups. This article explores Jung's objections to group therapy and, by way of a conceptual review of the literature, expands on the practice that grew up proximate to his death. It is argued that Jungian theory is especially conducive to collective treatment because it is concerned with the relationship between oppositions (whether in persons or between people) and uses synthetic and symbolic processes to bring about an integration of the one with the many. For Jungians who espouse a theory of symbolic transformation, archetype, and myth, the group is embodied in individuals and can be accessed by working with individuals in groups.