Jungian Psychoanalysis: Working with the Unconscious
People usually come to analysis because something has become painful, repetitive or impossible to carry in the old way. Alongside the wish to resolve a problem, there is usually another movement: a deeper longing towards something we cannot yet fully name, but can often sense.
What is Jungian Psychoanalysis?
Jungian psychoanalysis is a form of depth psychology that looks at the deeper dimensions of the psyche through working with the unconscious. Imagine consciousness as a small boat moving upon a much larger sea. The boat is the world we know: our thoughts, intentions, choices and the story we tell about who we are. Beneath it lies a psyche far larger than what is available to conscious thought - it contains both the personal unconscious which includes everything we have repressed since childhood and the ancestral patterns we have inherited, and the collective unconscious which includes the wider culture and ecologies of life.
We encounter this unconscious life in dreams, bodily responses, images, symbols and creativity; in the stories that move us and the patterns that keep returning. While some of these patterns may seem restrictive and exhausting - often born from traumatic experience or having had to repress certain inner qualities in our youth - the stories and symbols that lie within these patterns also contain the breadcrumb trail that brings new movement, where our life force long chained, can be released, and relationship restored. This kind of work is hard to facilitate by using our rational mind alone.
In sessions we work with both the unconscious and the problems we face in our daily lives, aided by somatic work, art practice, voice dialogue, and Sandplay where suitable. We engage in the symbolic language of the (and your) unconscious and how this is reflected in the mythopoetic and the world around you.
In the longer term, Jungian analysis makes space for in depth trauma work that is difficult to reach.
An important part of any therapeutic process is the relationship between client and analyst. Trust and safety create the vessel in which difficult experiences can be approached without being forced. Analysis is therefore not something done to a person, but a process shaped through attention, dialogue and the meeting of two people.
Sessions
Sessions last 50 minutes and usually take place every one or two weeks, in Dutch and English, in person in Vorden or Zutphen, or online via Zoom. A brief introductory call is available before an intake, so that you can ask practical questions.
“After engaging in several forms of therapy, my work with Suzanne was the first to reach the depth I had been seeking. Her Jungian approach is complemented by clarity, attentiveness and genuine care.”
‘After years of orbiting the same issues, I found my way to a Jungian psychoanalyst. There, for the first time, I encountered the force of the unconscious—how it works on us, and how, when we learn to look toward it with attention, what has long seemed fixed can begin to change. I started to understand the deeper dynamics beneath my symptoms. I even became inspired by meeting my darkest parts—not because they were pleasant, but because I sensed that entering into dialogue with them could yield the answers I had been seeking, and created a much bigger sense of belonging. I also realized, lasting change, like anything, takes time.’
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
— Mary Oliver, A Summer Day.”
Frequently Asked Questions
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Jungian analysis explores the conscious and unconscious aspects of your psyche, using dreams, images, and patterns in your life as guides. It aims to help you understand underlying dynamics rather than only addressing symptoms, supporting lasting change and deeper self-understanding.
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No. Dreams can be a valuable entrance to the unconscious, but they are not required. We can also work with relationships, emotions, bodily responses, recurring situations, images and the questions arising in your present life.
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Yes. I work online with clients of different nationalities in Dutch and English. Sandplay itself is offered only in person and usually forms a complementary part of an analytic process.
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If you are considering Jungian analysis, a brief introductory call offers space for your questions and for us both to sense whether working together would be appropriate. You do not need to arrive with a complete account of what is wrong. A first conversation can begin with what is most present now.
From the Library
A living collection of essays at the meeting place of psyche, myth, art and the more-than-human world.
