A Jungian Approach to Transforming Compulsion

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'In these highly readable pages, an uncanny feeling for what preoccupied C.G. Jung about psyche informs Morgan Stebbins. Focusing upon compulsions enables him to bring the central insights of the compassionate psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology into contemporary view. This reading of the Jungian method of self-inquiry is as inspiring as it is masterly: Stebbins not only helps us locate the desires that fuel our commonest obsessions, he makes us also willing to discover for ourselves what they intend for us to realize.'

John Beebe, author of Integrity in Depth

This extended, fruitful meditation on the nature of compulsions from a Jungian analytic perspective is a valuable addition to the literature. With deep psychological insight into the meaning of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, the reader is given a grand tour of these sources of human suffering and their ultimate purpose in our psychic life. History, theory and practical clinical wisdom are all drawn upon in creating this monograph dedicated to the possibilities of the transformational processes in the psyche which lie hidden in the symptoms. The paradoxes surrounding personal agency in the encounter with the autonomous psyche give rich grounds for on-going reflections.'

Joseph Cambray, PhD, IAAP

'Morgan Stebbins' book, 'A Jungian Approach to Transforming Compulsion' is the most needed book in clinical Analytical Psychology on OCD.

The treatment of obsession and compulsion through analysis has not been well studied, leaving much to pharmaceutical approaches. Morgan Stebbins' deep engagement with the symptom as a pathway to meaning, combined with his profoundly empathic approach to the patient's suffering, leads to a new understanding of this field. The book also builds a bridge to the historical roots of Analytical Psychology, and its reference to Alienism serves as a reminder of Jung's early efforts to uncover the hidden resources within symptoms.

In the tradition of a Jung's non-judgmental approach, Morgan Stebbins offers a deeply clinical book that accompanies the reader and analyst through the maze constituted by the obsessional urge to finding meaning. What matters most is Morgan's role as a guide, leading us through the alleviation of suffering while simultaneously maintaining a vision of the creative potential that lies at the heart of the work.'

Caterina Vezzoli is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Milan. She trained as a psychologist at the University of Padua and at the Jung Institute in Zurich, and is a training analyst there and at the Centro Italiano di Psicologia Analitica (CIPA). She has served as Director of Studies, Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of CIPA's Milan Institute, as well as its National Treasurer and Vice President. She taught for many years in the department of psychiatry at the University of Milan. She has done extensive research on children's dreams, child analysis, the psychology and physiology of sleeping and dreaming, the associations experiment, and has written extensively on these topics. She has also been a member of the IAAP international committee for coordination and development of Jungian child analysis and is the IAAP liaison for the developing group in Malta.