Our philosophy

C. G. Jung famously said, "I would rather be whole than good." This idea, in its myriad forms, is the foundation for successful psychodynamic therapy. Wholeness, or experiencing oneself as fully genuine and expressed, is recognized as the foundation of psychological health. Symptoms such as depression, loneliness, anxiety, grief, unwanted behaviors, or problems in relationships are viewed not merely as negative experiences to be done away with. Rather, they may reflect unconscious (unknown) parts of ourselves that need our attention. Painful symptoms may underlie a frustrated longing to know and discern one's true self or calling in life, for example. Psychodynamic therapy addresses both symptoms and the unconscious thoughts that give rise to them through an honest dialogue between the ego (one's constructed persona) and the non-ego or genuine self.

Vocatus atqua non vocatus deus aderit. 

(Called or not called, God is present.)

-Carved over the door of Jung's Kuessnacht home

The study of psychology as the discipline of interiority (PDI), developed by Wolfgang Giegerich, extends both Jung's and Hillman's ideas about soul into the realm of thought proper. Soul, according to Giegerich, is the mutual and interdependent process of the authentic unfolding of one’s own life and life at large. This unfolding is intelligent in that it has a logic to it, as one can see if one looks back throughout history (including one’s own lifetime). From this perspective, neurosis is seen as the resistance to the logical unfolding of soul - or of the ego’s refusal of becoming conscious of itself. The practice of psychology as the discipline of interiority entails a rigorous dialectical discourse that often culminates in a radical re-orientation of one's initial perspective and identity. 

"In the deepest sense we exist not as organism, but as soul or Geist."

-Wolfgang Giegerich 

Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas.

(I love Plato, but I love the truth more. -Socrates)

-A favorite saying of Dr. Giegerich

Soul in Mind also provides psychotherapy aligned with the profound psycho-spiritual approach to healing offered by A Course in Miracles (ACIM). Students of ACIM may wish to develop their capacity for forgiveness, trust, discernment, and releasing the self-concept through psychotherapy.  

Everyone who needs help, regardless of the form of his distress, is attacking himself, and his peace of mind is suffering in consequence. These tendencies are often described as “self-destructive,” and the patient often regards them in that way himself. What he does not realize and needs to learn is that this “self,” which can attack and be attacked as well, is a concept he made up. Further, he cherishes it, defends it, and is sometimes even willing to “sacrifice” his “life” on its behalf. For he regards it as himself. This self he sees as being acted on, reacting to external forces as they demand, and helpless midst the power of the world.

 Psychotherapy, then, must restore to his awareness the ability to make his own decisions. He must become willing to reverse his thinking, and to understand that what he thought projected its effects on him were made by his projections on the world. The world he sees does therefore not exist. Until this is at least in part accepted, the patient cannot see himself as really capable of making decisions. And he will fight against his freedom because he thinks that it is slavery. (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/902#3:1-4:5 | P-1.3:1–4:5) (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/901#1:1-8 | P-in.1:1-8)

Archetypal Psychology grew out of Jung's ideas and focuses on the notion of what James Hillman called "soul-making" as a primary component of therapeutic work. But here we are speaking not of soul in a spiritual or metaphysical sense; soul is not seen as a substantiated "thing" but rather as the very essence and exhilaration of life itself - what we experience when we are confronted by deep love, profound beauty, art, adventure, poetry and literature, major life events, global history, and world cultures. Archetypal psychology provides a perspective, a way of seeing. This perspective is committed to imagining problems metaphorically rather than literally: it strives to see through the obvious.

The cure of the shadow is a problem of love. How far can our love extend to the broken and ruined parts of ourselves, the disgusting and perverse? How much charity and compassion have we for our own weakness and sickness? How far can we build an inner society on the principle of love, allowing a place for everyone? And I use the term “cure of the shadow” to emphasize the importance of love. If we approach ourselves to cure ourselves, putting “me” in the center, it too often degenerates into the aim of curing the ego – getting stronger, better, growing in accord with the ego’s goals, which are often mechanical copies of society’s goals. But if we approach ourselves to cure those fixed intractable congenital weaknesses of stubbornness and blindness, of meanness and cruelty, of sham and pomp, we come up against the need for a new way of being altogether, in which the ego must serve and listen to and cooperate with a host of shadowy unpleasant figures and discover an ability to love even the least of these traits. (James Hillman, 1991, p. 242-3)