Introduction

C. G. Jung's emphasis on teleology led him to propose that symptoms, and, indeed, mental illness itself, may often signify something of great psychological value for the individual. Jung pointed out that the synthetic method is taken for granted in everyday life, where we tend to disregard the strictly causal factor. Jungian analysts, like their counterparts in psychoanalysis, have found it necessary to expound their refinement of thinking and technique in a professionally public arena. The tendency of psychopathology to provide an absolutist account of the patient is another feature which, when the angle of vision alters, may turn out to have quite different implications. For, in the formulation of a diagnosis concerning the patient, a pluralistic process is hopefully in train. Of course, Hillman means something different from what Rosenbaum means by psychopathology, but the central point remains: the individual case, or symptom, contains the person, or culture, or God.