ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 focuses on two key ideas that are crucial to the internal working of Jung’s model of the psyche and its application in art therapy. These are the synthetic method and the transcendent function. The synthetic method considers both conscious and unconscious material with potential archetypal amplifications. Internal opposites, such as the tension between the conscious and unconscious, create the necessary tension that fuels the transcendent function with psychic energy, so it can, under the right conditions, generate a unifying symbol. Although we accept that the unconscious provides symbolic material, Jung’s original ideas offer a structural and imaginative explanation of how the psyche undergoes a transformation. Several case vignettes illustrate a Jungian approach to art therapy.
