Klein’s Reparation and Jung’s Coniunctio

Encountering the unconscious

Abstract

Many patients report experiencing some form of intrapsychic attack, often manifesting in psychological and physical self-attack, and destructive interpersonal dynamics. Writers such as Melanie Klein (1940), Sigmund Freud (1917/1950), and Henri Rey (1994) offer hypotheses regarding the origins of such intrapsychic self-attack, and it is from these that the first ideas regarding the concept of the impulse to repair arise. However, an exploration of the relationship between Jungian perspectives, particularly in relation to the concept of the coniunctio, and psychoanalytic ideas regarding reparation of the inner world, is notably lacking. This paper explores both psychoanalytic and Jungian analytic theoretical perspectives, and the relationship between these, in articulating the ingredients which might contribute to true repair of the inner world within the patient, the analyst, and the therapeutic relationship. Clinical case material generated will be utilised to illustrate the clinical and theoretical material explored, and will illustrate my articulation of the elements which might contribute to true repair of the inner world within both the patient and the analyst, and within the therapeutic relationship.