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Jan 03, 2010, 11:13 PM
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Member Since: Feb 2007
Location: The place where X marks the spot.
Posts: 1,848
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A brief spiel on complexes...
Quote:
Complex. An emotionally charged group of ideas or images. (See also Word Association Experiment.)
[A complex] is the image of a certain psychic situation which is strongly accentuated emotionally and is, moreover, incompatible with the habitual attitude of consciousness. ["A Review of the Complex Theory," CW8, par. 201.] ...
Complexes interfere with the intentions of the will and disturb the conscious performance; they produce disturbances of memory and blockages in the flow of associations; they appear and disappear according to their own laws; they can temporarily obsess consciousness, or influence speech and action in an unconscious way. In a word, complexes behave like independent beings. [Psychological Factors in Human Behaviour," Ibid, par. 253.]
Complexes are in fact "splinter psyches." The aetiology of their origin is frequently a so-called trauma, an emotional shock or some such thing, that splits off a bit of the psyche. Certainly one of the commonest causes is a moral conflict, which ultimately derives from the apparent impossibility of affirming the whole of one's nature. ["A Review of the Complex Theory," Ibid, par. 204.] ...
The negative effect of a complex is commonly experienced as a distortion in one or other of the psychological functions (feeling, thinking, intuition and sensation). In place of sound judgment and an appropriate feeling response, for instance, one reacts according to what the complex dictates. As long as one is unconscious of the complexes, one is liable to be driven by them. ...
Identification with a complex, particularly the anima/animus and the shadow, is a frequent source of neurosis. The aim of analysis in such cases is not to get rid of the complexes-as if that were possible-but to minimize their negative effects by understanding the part they play in behavior patterns and emotional reactions.
A complex can be really overcome only if it is lived out to the full. In other words, if we are to develop further we have to draw to us and drink down to the very dregs what, because of our complexes, we have held at a distance. ["Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype,"CW9i, par. 184.]
Source: http://www.jungny.com/lexicon.175/carl.jung.67.html
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