Hysteria and Complex

Mon. January 30, 2006
Categories: Lectures

Jung added the word association test to the diagnosis of hysteria, hysteria being one thing that he and Freud agreed upon.  They also agreed that psyche divides itself into relatively autonomous complexes gone out of control so that the complex invades the body. In this situation, a form of personality disintegration has taken place. If you are using Jung’s typology, hysteria is seen as an extraverted disorder (schizophrenia being  intraverted).

There are many ways to read Freud. He believed the myth that we all live is the Oedipus Complex. Incest. This complex contains seeds of important psychological development. Freud discovered his identity through mythic identifications. If we experience a fresh incarnation of the myth and become aware of it, it frees us to live consciously. In this way, Freud identified with the biblical Jacob in a dream….one would have to read Interpretation of Dreams to understand why, but the point is that myths are paradigms or templates for discovering ourselves.

Dr. Bona reiterated that the secrets of the soul are connected to suffering. He said “we need to give life to the complex in order to properly bury hidden and ambivalent abandoned feelings, wishes, desires…to give them blood/life/feeling and bring them to consciousness. They are not in their proper place as repressed contents. Our job is to bury them properly or let them go.”

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