Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: On Psyche and Adaptation
Introduction
The Notion of “Psyche” in Early Analytic Theory
Jung’s “Basic Postulates”: The Reality of the Psyche
Understanding the “Unconscious”
On Clinical Interaction or, How Max Scheler was Ahead of His Time
Conclusion
Chapter 2: Adaptation in the Early Analytic Tradition
Introduction
Sigmund Freud
Adaptation in Ego Psychology: Heinz Hartmann
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Robert Langs and Adaptation in Clinical Practice
Introduction
Original Development of Adaptation and the “Adaptive Context”
Central Ideas Derived from Langs’ Understanding of Adaptation
Rearticulating the Analytic Relationship
The “Reality” of Therapy Includes the Therapeutic Frame
The Communicative Fields
Unconscious Communication and Analytic Listening
Two Types of Derivative Communication
Critical Considerations of Langs’ Theory of Unconscious Communication
Clinical Illustration
Clinical Example
Summary
Excursus: Final Phase: Adaptation and Death Anxiety
Conclusion
Chapter 4: Adaptation in Carl Jung
Introduction
The Concept of “Adaptation” in Jung
On Psychic Energy
Theoretical Assumptions
Progression and Regression of Libido
Langs and Jung
Adaptation in Clinical Practice
Returning to Bruce
Clarifying Adaptation in Jung
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Adaptation and Clinical Technique
Introduction
What is and What is the Value of Clinical Technique?
What Langs and Jung Share
How Langs and Jung Might Supplement Each Other
Incompatibilities between Langs and Jung
Understanding Symbols
Individual and Collective
Adaptation, Clinical Interaction, and Ethics
Conclusion
References
Index
About the Author
John R White, PhD, LPC is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Philadelphia. He has more than 25 published articles and book reviews as well as a good deal of editing experience in philosophy. He became a licensed mental health counselor and Jungian psychoanalyst with a degree from the Interregional Society of Jungian Analysts.
A thought-provoking and well-presented development of a synthesis
of the contrasting approaches to adaptation found in the works of
Robert J. Langs and Carl G. Jung. This work provides an important
bridge between conflicting theories of the human psyche and the
different therapeutic approaches based upon these theories. The
philosophical, theoretical and clinical perspectives are considered
as central concerns of psychotherapeutic healing. This book has the
potential to advance the science and art of analytic training and
supervision for analysts of all analytic persuasions.
Guided by Robert Langs and Carl Jung as they complement, deepen,
and correct each other's work, John White clearly and
comprehensively explores that vital dynamic at the heart of life
and, thus, of effective psychotherapy: the nature and process of
authentic adaptation. Further guided by his training as both a
philosopher and an analyst, he convincingly does so at the borders
of psychoanalytic theory, metapsychology, philosophy, clinical
'technique, ' and the lifelong challenge of being and becoming more
wholly human. In the process, he better introduces Jung to the
Freudian community, and Langs, including the totality of his work,
to the Jungian community (as well as each to his own community!).
Clinical illustrations include a highly engaging case study of
derivative listening around the adaptive context of a tape
recorder. The result is a gem of a book that, in its originality,
scholarship, practicality, and thorough analysis, unfailingly
enriches one's theoretical and clinical perspectives--including,
and not least poignantly, on oneself.
In this important, groundbreaking book, philosopher and Jungian
psychoanalyst John White makes an original and scholarly
contribution to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. This
book is an exemplary expression of comparative psychoanalysis at
its best, bringing together the seemingly unlikely pairing of
Robert Langs and C. G. Jung. Drawing on Langs's analytic technique
and discipline as well as Jung's idea of psychic reality and
symbolic vision, White engages, extracts, and distills his own
broader and creative understanding of adaption, extending the view
of both perspectives and formulating principles of clinical
technique that enrich the art and craft of psychoanalysis. This is
an important resource for both Freudian and Jungian analysts,
candidates, and analytically oriented therapists who value
tradition as well as innovation in psychoanalytic theory and
practice.
John White writes as I imagine he teaches--patiently circling back
at orchestrated intervals to summarize the rich ground he has
tilled in his scrupulously linear and scholarly text. In
introducing Jungians to Langs and bridging the contributions of
Jung and Langs to the theory of adaptation, White breathes new life
into and highlights the relevance of adaptation to clinical
practice for Jungians and psychoanalysts alike, supplementing
Jung's Psychology with Langsian innovations (e.g., in his
discussion of Langs's seminal notion of "derivatives") while
reiterating the timeless resonance of Jung's broader and ultimately
deeper conception of individuation, as the movement of the Self, in
the lifelong adaptive process of psychic development. White's
achievement here in 'bringing these two approaches into something
like harmony, without overlooking their incompatibilities, ' is
nuanced and deft, like that of the experienced teacher who somehow
gleans new harvest from well-trodden earth.
Owing to recent the decline of ego-psychology, adaptation has
become a neglected topic in the analytic literature. John White
gives the term (in its various significations) renewed relevance to
clinical work through a remarkable synthesis of ideas gleaned from
Carl Jung and Robert Langs. White delves deep into their core
similarities and differences, their strengths, weaknesses, and
blind spots, demonstrating how they complement each other in
striking ways. What makes Dr. White's effort so memorable,
original, and persuasive is his deep historical and philosophical
knowledge that he brings to bear on these reflections--a trait
which is usually absent in the clinical literature--and his ability
to salvage and build upon the now all-but-forgotten legacy of a
brave, brilliant but idiosyncratic man like Robert Langs. Here's
hoping this book will give Langs's work a renewed lease on
life.
White has utilized a scrutiny of Robert Langs's understanding of
adaptation as a springboard to bring clarity to some key issues
facing the psychotherapists of our era. White illuminates a
diversified perspective, freeing adaptation from a one-sided
historical or causal understanding, or one of simple acquiescence
to context, and linking it to possibilities inherent in the
individual and in nature. At its heart, this is a work about
clarity which, to White's credit, draws us into a more pluralistic
grasp of psychological phenomena--a notion that points back to the
necessity of the continual growth of the theorist or therapist
demanded by psychological work. Overall, this read is excellent as
paradigmatic of the analyst's task to continually revisit the old
with new eyes and, as White points out, to be mindful of the
multiplicity of conceptual and perceptual frameworks that any
approach to the psyche must embrace. White's foray into his topic
exemplifies how a sharp and open mind can simultaneously observe
and participate in an important theme and highlight a world lying
hidden within it. What is most impressive is that even with such
hovering clarity, White always draws us back to earth, back to what
is before us. His sparkling insights, grounded in philosophical
understanding, become not only accessible, but immediately
useful.
White's work in Adaptation and Psychotherapy is an important
contribution to psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, and
comparative psychoanalysis. No other author has offered a
comparison of the theoretical systems of both C. G. Jung and Robert
Langs in the history of psychoanalysis. White brings the ongoing
relevance of these two significant figures into sharp focus,
particularly their relevance to contemporary practice. Offering a
unique perspective on the theories of both men, White outlines the
central importance of the patient's capacity for adaptation in
analytic treatment and how the treatment process is deepened by a
focus on adaptation. In doing so, he provides a fresh look at the
theories of both men and the ways the two systems are
complementary. Psychoanalysis as a field benefits from the kind of
rigorous, careful analysis of core concepts that John White
provides in this volume.
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