ABSTRACT

Carl Jung (1951) believed we have a collective unconscious in which exists the archetype of the wounded healer, whose wounds are both a burden and a driving force in his need to heal the problems of others (Farber 2013). He adopted the term wounded healer from the ancient legend of the physician Asclepius, who, because he was able to identify his own wounds, could create a sanctuary in order to treat others. Jung thought that an illness of the soul could be the best possible form of training for a healer and wrote that only a wounded healer who had healed his own wounds could heal effectively.