'Claus Braun has written a comprehensive, careful and very important book on the therapeutic relationship as understood within Analytical Psychology. It is an excellent introduction to this topic. I highly recommend it for training in Analytical Psychology and Psychotherapy' - Marianne Müller, past IAAP President, Zurich, Switzerland
'Beautifully organised, clear, and yet deeply reflective, Claus Braun's book will delight Jungian clinicians and candidates. In addition, it will also join the growing body of 'crossover' works that take the post-Jungian clinical message to non-Jungian readers who may not have kept up with developments in analytical psychology. I wholeheartedly welcome the fact that a volume already acclaimed in the
German-speaking world is now available to an Anglophone audience.' - Professor Andrew Samuels, author of
Jung and the Post-Jungians'Years ago, when I was still a training candidate, I always wished for such a book, one in which form, theory and practice were vividly woven into one another, from where a deeper understanding of what was special, specifically Jungian, in our work could be gained.
By choosing this title, Braun signals his position and his intentions: Braun thinks from the point of view of relationships, and thus the reader feels equally invited to participate in dialogue in current analytic discourses both from the German and Anglo-American linguistic areas and in the extensive history of treatment presented by Braun with cautious systematics.
Braun's intention is to make visible the viability and topicality of Jungian basic concepts in a theoretical discourse. In the prism of the central concept of relationship broken, essential Jung's concepts such as complex, shadow, dream, archetype, symbol, alchemy, amplification, ego and self, transformation, individuation, transmission and countertransference gain a depth of focus that make Braun's approach to representation convincing: in the light of relationship, the terms gain dynamics, they become readable as process figures linked or connectable with each other.
The last third of the book is a case history presented in detail - from the first encounter to farewell. His closing words are a gently but clearly formulated ethical appeal to us and our analysands regarding our relationship to a fragile world.
Thus, the book not only offers training candidates valuable support in their development process for our demanding profession, but also gives colleagues the opportunity to deepen their self-reflection.' - Dr. Angelica Löwe, Jungian analyst, Vienna, Austria; member and lecturer at the C. G. Jung-Institut Munich; Editor-in-Chief of t
Analytische Psychologie'In the theoretical part, Braun introduces key concepts of the Jungian theory such as archetype, self, complex, shadow, symbol, dream, alchemy, amplification, individuation, transference and countertransference and examines them from the standpoint of the encounter between the client and the analyst. His focus is the relationship. He looks at everything through this lens, and thus the concept of the transcendent function gains some depth. He demonstrates amplification in a way that gives the term new relevance and helps it emerge from its nebulous existence. Braun assumes that developmental psychology, attachment theory and infant research, as well as psychoanalytic object-relations theory, are all pertinent for the therapeutic relationship in the way Jung defines the
transcendent function: the function that combines the contents of consciousness with the contents of the unconscious. This is what happens in the therapeutic space. Various terms have been used for this dynamic process, such as the concepts of the
interactive field, the
intersubjective third,
the analytical third,
unconscious transference and countertransference, the
analytical couple, etc. In twelve chapters the author develops both the theory of this therapeutic relationship and the practice. For more than 50 pages he presents a case, which certainly contributes to the richness of the book. The details provide deep insight into the therapeutic process, enriched with dreams and drawings of the patient.
Braun uses the archetypal concepts in theory and practice as well as the intersubjective theory and practice, which together make this book so valuable.' - Dr. phil. Isabelle Meier, Dipl. Analytische Psychologin International Seminar of Analytical Psychology, Zurich, Switzerland
'Paying attention to the therapeutic relationship is one of the most reliable and clearly proven effect factors in current psychotherapy research. On the other hand, psychoanalysis has a tradition of more than a hundred and twenty years in carefully considering the complex encounter of therapist and patient, brought forward in terms of transference, countertransference, projection or intersubjectivity. Especially C.G. Jung's Analytical Psychology holds a treasure that should be used to improve our modern understanding of the bilateral and mutual development-path that therapist and patient walk together during their psychotherapeutic work.
Since many years Claus Braun is working on the subject of therapeutic relationship, and as a well experienced psychiatrist and Jungian psychotherapy practitioner, his publications have always been a great win for psychotherapists. The present book summarizes his concepts and results and further develops them to a modern psychodynamic way of working in and with the therapeutic relationship. I am very pleased, that the book, originally published in a German book series, found its way to an international readership. I am sure that every psychotherapeutically active will benefit greatly from it.' - Prof. Dr. phil. Ralf T. Vogel, Ingolstadt, Germany; editor of
Analytische Psychologie C.G. Jungs in der Psychotherapie
