subject: Dr. Karin Hastik: Differences Between Jung's and Freud's Theories [print this page] Dr. Karin Hastik: Differences Between Jung's and Freud's Theories
Dr. Karin Hastik: Differences Between Jung's and Freud's Theories by Dr. Karin Hastik
Dr. Karin Hastik has learned from much her years of education that Freud and Jung shared a relationship of many decades, as Jung, the junior partner, learned more about Freud's theories of the unconscious. Perhaps fortunately, to modern psychology, Jung later came to reject some of Freud's theories, and leant toward his own method of psychology which he called analytical. Dr. Karin Hastik found that both men drew on the concept of the unconscious as a way of explaining dreams, but Jung drew more on a multi-layered concept of the subconscious. The primary differences between Freud and Jung are interesting to observe.
Dr. Karin Hastik sees that a main factor which separates the two psychiatrists pertains to religion. Freud generally felt religion was an escape and a fallacy, which ought not to be propagated. His relationship to religion resembles that of Karl Marx; religion was "opiate" of the masses. His faith was fully in the mind's ability to access its unconscious thoughts, in result curing any neuroses.
Jung conversely believed that religion was an important place of safety for the individual as he or she began the process of individuation, exploring and accepting all parts of the self. Dr. Karin Hastik explains that religion further was a means of communication between all types of people, because although religions differed, the archetypes and symbols remained the same.
Jung did not practice a traditional Christian religion, but rather leaned toward exploring the occult. Dr. Karin Hastik points out that in some of Freud's letters, he accuses Jung of anti-Semitism based not so much on the acceptance of Judaism as a religion, but rather on discrimination against Jews in general. However, Jung's respect for the religious aspects of Jewish life was greater than Freud's.
Freud and Jung disagreed on what constituted the unconscious. Freud viewed the unconscious as a collection of images, such as thoughts and experiences the individual refused to process, which lead to neuroses. Jung added to this definition by stating that each individual also possessed a collective unconscious, a group of shared images and archetypes common to all humans. Dr. Karin Hastik explains that these often bubbled up to the surface of the personal unconscious. Dreams could be better interpreted by understanding the symbolic reference points of universally shared symbols.
Freud believed that the principal driving force behind men and women's activities was expressed or repressed sexuality. Unfulfilled sexuality led to pathological conditions. Jung believed that sex constituted only one of the many things that drive humans. Dr. Karin Hastik goes on to explain that, more importantly, humans are driven by their need to achieve individuation, wholeness or full knowledge of the self. Many emotions drive humans to act in psychologically unhealthy ways, but all these ways were a longing for the desire to feel complete.
The unconscious to Freud was the storage facility for all repressed sexual desires, thus resulting in pathological or mental illness. Dr. Karin Hastik goes on to note that, only through laying bare the unconscious could a person discover how to live happily and recover from mental illness. Conversely, Jung felt that the unconscious often strove on its own for wholeness, and that mental illness was not pathology, but an unconscious regulation of emotions and stored experience tending toward individuation.
Dr. Karin Hastik recognizes that the goal of the therapist, according to Jung, was to help the person recognize the work of the unconscious, and thus to assist the patient in understanding how better to strive for individuation which would produce a "whole" person.
Dr. Karin Hastik recalls that, while Freud tends toward a very masterful way of storming the unconscious to denude it of repressed feelings, Jung's path is more in line with the later humanist psychologists. It inspires the holistic Gestalt school, and later therapeutic schools.
We all know that the idea of an unconscious is generally almost universally accepted, yet neither Freud nor Jung felt that after an explanation, continued therapeutic work was necessary. Dr. Karin Hastik finds that later psychoanalytic schools like those which posit behavioral changes have proved more successful in treating mental illness. Once underlying feelings are understood, the work then lies in helping to negate these feelings and replace them with more positive thoughts. This work is something both Freud and Jung ignored. Yet we are indebted to both theorists for their contributions to psychiatry. In effect to this, they are credited with beginning the field of psychiatry.
