Shamans and Analysts

Book excerpt: Shamans and Analysts provides a model by which to understand the wounded healer phenomenon. It provides evidence as to how this dynamic arises and gives a theoretical model by which to understand it, as well as practical implications for the way analysts' wounds can be transformed and used in their clinical work. By examining shamanism through the lens of contemporary approaches to archetype theory, this book breaks new ground through specifying the developmental foreground to the shaman archetype, which not only underpins the wounded healer but constitutes those regarded as ‘true Jungians’. Further areas of discussion include: Siberian shamanism contemporary archetype theory countertransference phenomena in psychotherapy socio-cultural applications of psychoanalytic theory. These original and thought-provoking ideas offer a revolutionary way to understand wounded healers, how they operate and how they should be trained, ultimately challenging traditional analyst / analysand stereotypes. As such this book will be of great interest to all Jungians, both in training and practice, as well as psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and counsellors with an interest in the concept of the wounded healer.