Reading The Red Book: How C.G. Jung Salvaged His Soul

He was probably Bipolar.

Just because a person is highly intelligent, and does impressive things while they suffer episodes/psychosis- it doesn't make the suffering any less painful for the one suffering.

Trama to the brain and emotional delusion, should not be idealized or romanticized.

Hopefully, all reasonable people can agree on that.

Interesting piece.

Dr. Diamond - thank you for your interesting comments on Jung's Red Book and his personal experience with psychosis.

I think Jung's critics - and many of his disciples - miss the point when they endlessly debate the fine points of how he might have been diagnosed during this period. This is about as relevant as debating whether a woman is suffering from distended belly syndrome or hypochrondriasis when she begins having birth pangs. The question has more to do with the short-sightedness of the debaters than to the problem at hand.

As you say, Jung "demonstrated by personal example that the enigmatic phenomenon we call 'psychosis' is often about being completely inundated or possessed by the personal and archetypal unconscious. . . that it has psychological and spiritual significance, meaning and purpose, and that it can potentially be psychotherapeutically treated with the proper skills, commitment and knowledge."

I completely agree with you, except for your last few words, which I think are misleading in that they imply the task of treatment must be handed to a wise therapist, who then treats the patient with "proper skills, commitment and knowledge." This is fine if such a therapist is at hand, but what if there is not? Who healed Jung?

To me, the most important lesson Jung taught is that neither flesh-and-blood therapists nor drugs nor hospitals are essential for recovery from the experience we call psychosis. It may be sufficient just to be able to hope that one is caught up in a process with meaning and purpose, and that one may emerge from it "stronger, wiser, and more whole," as you say. Jung proved this by doing it himself, just as other spiritual pioneers did before him. And his example has made it possible for many others since to do the same.

If you would like to see how a naive young woman, alone in her agony, followed Jung's example and his advice and lived to tell the tale, go to

http://tinyurl.com/nc88zf

Best regards,
Mary

Dr Diamond,

You say:

"Even for someone like Jung, however, this (psychosis)was an extremely dangerous state of mind and perilous journey that could have just as easily led to tragedy. This is why I strongly recommend that anyone going through such an extraordinary subjective experience seek professional help as early as possible."

I think your first sentence is absolutely correct, but I must take issue with the second.

To understand my problem with it, consider the case of a man standing on the deck of a sinking ship, looking for a lifeboat in the water. There are none; other survivors have taken the lifeboats and have rowed away. The man's choice is to die or to jump in the water. You, looking on from a safe distance, want to tell him not to jump, because there are sharks in the water. Jumping would be a perilous act that could easily lead to tragedy. A lifeboat is the only safe way to leave.

So where is the lifeboat, the professional help that can see one safely through this perilous journey of psychosis? (I truly dislike calling it that, but it's the only label I know of that conveys the gravity of the situation.)

Very few people, I think, plan to have a psychosis, and have time to search out a proper therapist. Most likely the afflicted individual would soon end up before a biologically oriented psychiatrist who has but two remedies in his medicine bag: hospitalization and drugs. Talk therapy, if any, would have to wait until these two sovereign remedies pacify the patient and at least partially restore his wits, or at least quiet his complaints. After a few Haldol injections and seclusion, most patients progress to this point.

If you read my story of the young woman (who was, of course, myself many years ago) faced with a sudden psychosis, you may remember that she struggled with the problem of how to cope with it.

She did what you would have recommended and went to a psychiatrist -- the only one available in her small community -- where she soon realized that the mere act of talking to him was bringing her perilously close to complete demoralization and hospitalization. He understood nothing of her need to have a wise guide like Dante's Virgil who could helpfully accompany her through her personal hell.

At this point, she saw herself faced with two choices: talking, institutionalization and lifelong stigma, or keeping her mouth shut and depending on Jung's example and advice. In other words, either staying on a sinking ship, or jumping into the dangerous untested water. (There was one other choice -- suicide -- but for the sake of her children she rejected it.)

What would you have done?

Mary

Just a tip Dr. Diamond if you have the opportunity you should catch the lecture on the Red Book by Sonu Shamdasani. Dr. Shamdasani doesn't mince any words whatsoever. Excellent to say the least.

Yep!, if you ain't been there yourself, you don't know nothing about it! lol

Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems that this belief that Jung was having some kind of psychotic break is based on the nature of his writing during this period. The content and the style. I am not the first to make this comparison, but might we suggest that Tolkien was also having a psychotic break? Or was just plain nuts? There are very interesting parallels in their work during this time. More broadly, might some want to make a case for certain types of writing, especially that involved with what we can call fantasy, of necessity a symptom of psychosis? And these types of writers, along with other artists, might they be in need of therapeutic rescue?

This journey that Jung when through obviously impacted his life significantly so it would make sense that his belief system and theories changed with him. My question is did this psychotic break start before he broke from Freud? Could this have influenced him to leave Freud? Or did the break from Freud cause this? His theories are based on his personal experience so the idea that his difference in thinking from Freud can be correlated with this psychotic break. Maybe Jung had been dealing with this far longer than even he realized and only noticed and did something about it after it became impossible to ignore.

Hi Dr. Diamond,

I would personally be surprised if anyone experienced a spiritual awakening like Jung did and came out of it without having trouble with integration and psychosis looming close by.

When I was twenty, I had two experiences of ego transcendence, which were wonderful and truly the most profound experiences of my life. I was fully centered in reality and free from all the imaginary constraints that I had built my life upon. So, I could perceive things that I were unconscious to previously. And all kinds of practical and spiritual truths came flowing forth into my conscious awareness that I knew I had always known. I was just too repressed to be in touch with them.

Now, as wonderful and enlightening as these experiences were, I came out of them and went back down into my ego identified state. And I had only the memory of those experiences and the insights that I received. And I tried to "get back" to where I was.

So, it made the most sense to me to resist practical truths that contradicted the higher truths, repress my identity, and invalidate all efforts toward self-improvement. I saw all these things as my enemy. And I floated near the edge of insanity for at least six months after that. And after that I just resigned myself to a conflicted life where I was fighting myself every step of the way.

Then I found Jungian psychology, and I was able to make more sense of my situation and dig myself out of some rabbit holes that I fell down.

So, when I hear you say that Jung was dealing with some issues psychologically, it's quite expected. I would be skeptical if he hadn't dealt with major upheavals like that. And he certainly wouldn't have had the insights that he did about integration if he himself hadn't had to dig himself up out of many rabbit holes.

I enjoyed the post a lot. I'm glad that I found your blog. :)

Best Wishes,

Emerald | YouTube Video Creator @ The Diamond Net