Before I talk about Archetypes I have to point out a Psychoanalysis theory about human mind AKA Psyche. Our mind is developed by multiple units and layers and mechanisms. We are not one dimensional beings, we have compartmented and fragmented states of mind due to different experiences and upbringing factors.
For-example we could have a rational mind together with an emotional mind. It's never this or that. It's both together along with other units such as spirituality, unconscious mind.
The Psyche is made of all the forces that influences our behaviours, thoughts and emotions and personality traits.
Carl Jung , believed that there are a distinctive patterns in human experiences and their psyches, which connects all humans together. It's like we all are connected to a big google drive which he referred to as Collective Unconscious and we share similar information such as ideas, beliefs, thoughts, stories in form of images without consciously being aware about it. Jung believed we inherit these information as we inherit other behavioural patterns from our ancestors.
"Archetypes are the fundamental units of the human mind." They are the living system of reactions and aptitudes that determine the individual’s life in invisible ways.”
We can find these Images almost everywhere from religion stories and myths, legends, fairy tales and even in our dreams or fantasies. Every character that we see in our dreams has a representative in the "collective unconscious".
Jung has named these characters as Archetypes and he has identified 12 different types in 4 categories:
The Self ( Soul ) : Represents The unit of psyche in which we see ourselves as authentic and whole. A complete sense of self is achieved when we have an alignment between our natural desires and morality. The goal is to build a cohesive harmony among our unconscious and conscious mind. Our true self, is the one that is loving and caring towards itself and others. It manifests in forms of kindness and compassion.
The Persona : This is basically the mask that we put on to present ourselves to the outside world. We like to adapt and fit in our society, therefore we may put on different masks in different situation and circumstances. When there is a huge gap between the Persona and the Self , we deal with inner conflicts and identity issues. More like WHO I am alone vs WHO I am in the society.
The Shadow : Consists of our dark sides. The parts that we don't like and it is not accepted by us or other people. The suppressed desires, emotions and instincts. The shadow holds on to emotions such as anger, shame and guilt and it usually manifests itself in forms of scary images, like monsters, demons, dragons or dark figures. The shadow tends to attack the self, appear to be controlling, destructive and impulsive (hard to manage).
Anima/Animos : We all have feminine and masculine attributes within us. Jung believed that our feminine (anima) and masculine (animus), energies has to be in harmony and expressed equally. However due to social constructions of gender roles and sexual identities, we are often discouraged to explore and embrace both sides of our femininity and muscularity.
The Innocent
Motto: Free to be you and me
Core desire: to get to paradise
Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.
The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal
Motto: All men and women are created equal
Core Desire: connecting with others
Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretence
Other Names: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, the silent majority.
The Hero
Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Core desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken"
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight
Talent: competence and courage
Other Names: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.
The Caregiver
Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself
Core desire: to protect and care for others
Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
Other Names: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.
The Explorer
Motto: Don’t fence me in
Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul
Other Names: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.
The Rebel
Motto: Rules are made to be broken
Core desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to overturn what isn’t working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
Other Names: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.
The Lover
Motto: You’re the only one
Core desire: intimacy and experience
Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment
Other Names: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.
The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
Other Names: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.
The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
Other Names: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.
The Sage
Motto: The truth will set you free
Core desire: to find the truth.
Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
Other Names: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.
The Magician
Motto: I make things happen.
Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
Other Names: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.
The Ruler
Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Core desire: control
Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community
Strategy: exercise power
Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
Other Names: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.
A person could have several archetypes that affect their thoughts, behaviour and emotions. Jung believed, as we grow and evolve physically we need our organs to work together as a system. Same goes to our psyche , we also need to unite our archetypes and help each part to transform to their potential while working with each other. Jung believed, a person might struggle with mental issues as a result of conflicted or neglected archetypes.
Although Jung's ideas of archetypes have not been approvingly viewed in the classic psychology, due to lack of explanation and physical evidence of the archetypes in the mind ( its sounds more philosophical, mystical and spiritual).
However Jungian therapy has been one of the best in-depth and analytical forms of talk therapy, which provides deeper understanding of human mind. Jungian therapy aims to bring balance and harmony between dark sides of the mind and help clients to feel whole and complete. In modern days you hear terms such as Shadow work, Inner-work , or Inner-child work and its all driven from jungian therapy and its related to our inner parts.
How Archetypes can be used in trauma healing ?
By tapping in to one's inner-world and understanding the different units of the mind, it can be helpful to bring a sense of unity and stability. Something that is often deprived trauma survivors and it's a main cause of mental health issues.
Trauma survivors experience great amount of discomfort and intense emotions that their sense of safety, protection, stability and comfort are shattered. The survivor has no other choice, specially at young age, to only focus on surviving and sometimes that means to disconnect from the outside word and even with own self. Which means they completely cut off and continue on living based on survival instincts.
In this case, the psyche will only focus on bringing protection and security by operating on a defensive system. In jungian language that would mean that the Self is hybrid while the Shadow self and the Persona are on full function. The archetypes are not achieving their full potential and are in conflict which each other, as everyone in the system is fighting for their own survival.
Moreover, trauma survivors commonly experience intrusive thoughts, and nightmares. In their dreams they often see scary objects, situations or characters where their sense of safety is threatened, they feel harassed, terrified and criticized or shamed. Which again from Jungian perspective, its the Shadow self manifesting itself with suppressed emotions ( shame, guilt, anger).
Through psychotherapy we identify every parts of the psyche system and help the client to come back to a sense of security and safety by becoming whole and united.
Jungian archetypes are used in therapy to help client address their emotions through different characters and personalities.
To befriend the Shadow is literally to calm and heal the part of us that is holding on to so many negative emotions and it is super angry and at everyone and everything. The process of healing is to bring client to a state of accepting himself as a whole by paying attention to each unit.
A metaphor I often use for my clients is like walking to a messy, crowded and loud classroom and attempting to each student one by one.
How I use it in my work ?
In my work I use archetypes combined with Internal Family System, a more evidence based therapy which also focuses on the inner parts and the integrated self.
In my sessions, I help my clients to talk about and identify their conflicted parts in the best way they can. However, I also use expressive methods such as metaphorical cards, painting , visualisation and lots of other fun activities to tap into the inner word.
For me, what matters the most, is to help my clients to have a great sense of self. Hence if the identification of the inner parts are not helpful I do not tend to force it. There are variety of other tools and techniques to help clients to have have a better understanding of themselves .
If you are interested to identify your archetypes and want to bring unity and inner harmony, go ahead and schedule a free consultation with me or write me here. We can discuss about it further.
Follow my instagram stories where I will be using Jungian Archetypes to analyse movie characters and make commentaries.
Happy Healing
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