ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the split between Jung and Freud, particularly in relation to their respectively moving away from considering trauma as the foundation stone of psychopathology. It draws from contemporary research on infant development, trauma, and attachment. The chapter outlines a position focused on early relational trauma and highlights how developments in the two streams of theory complement each other. The chapter offers a way of looking at Jung's contributions regarding the spirit that will hopefully make his approach more comprehensible and accessible. While the individual (ego) suffers the defeat of realizing that he or she is not wholly in control of their environment, a further vertex opens up, and the individual may, over time, discover that they can to some extent trust their psyche. Addressing infantile experience and recognizing the role of the spiritual vertex in the development of the ego are two necessary aspects of the process of development that Jung called individuation.