Psyche-Soma-Connection

Soul, body and spirit are connected. In my analytical work, I pay special attention to phenomena in the body in the transference and countertransference, taking into consideration findings from the neuroscientific research (Damasio, Rizzolatti, Shore, Fonagy, Wilkinson et. al.); mirror neurones allow for deep empathy when the analyst feels and senses unconscious contents an analysand may find hard to express. Unconscious psychic contents can find their symbolic expression in somatic symptoms, felt and even sensed in the form of a somatic counter-transference in the body of the analyst.

In some cases, somatic expression of symbols may point to transgenerationally transmitted contents, as is explained in this diagram elaborating the different vectors of communication between the analyst and analysand’s respective conscious and unconscious. 

According to Jung: “Our souls as well as our bodies are composed of individual elements which were already present in our ancestors…Body and soul …have an immensely historical character.” (C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams and Reflections, recorded and edited by Aniela Jaffé, New York, Vintage Books, p. 235ff) 

See article by Kristina Schellinski When Psyche Mutters Through Matter: reflections on Somatic Counter-Transference, in: Jungian Odyssey 2011, Spring Publications, New Orleans

Lectures given by Kristina E. Schellinski in Ascona, Basel, Copenhagen, Milano, Riga, Rome, Vilnius, Zürich

Transgenerational Perspective

In my work with clients, I take into consideration the different layers in the unconscious, including the personal unconscious, family unconscious, cultural unconscious and the collective unconscious. These layers may overlap and intersect; for example, certain complexes in the psyche may have their root in contents from the family unconscious andthe cultural unconscious. 

When an analyst or analysand carry unconsciously elements of transgenerationally transmitted contents, be these traumatic events, family secrets or other unintegrated contents, these need to be made conscious. Transgenerational contents may stand in the way of a recognition of images of the Self, and when transgenerationally transmitted contents are differentiated from other unconscious material, this can help free the person to pursue their individual development. 

Some of my clinical experience is discussed in an article in these two books: 

Schellinski Kristina The Ghosts of Two World Wars: Is the Replacement Child Part of a Cultural Complex in the European Psyche, in: Europe’s Many Souls, edited by Rasche Joerg & Singer Thomas, Spring, 2016

Schellinski Kristina (2014) Horror Inherited – Transgenerational Transmission of Collective Trauma in Dreams,in: Confronting Collective Trauma,edited by Grazina Gudaite & Murray Stein, Spring Journal Inc. 

A Home in the Soul

Many persons feel up-rooted, some even feel lost at certain times in their lives. For some, this is because they live in new and unfamiliar surroundings. Others suffer from an inner state of restlessness, lacking a sense of belonging. Self-alienation can affect a human being on an outer and an inner level. Re-discovering the centre within, the Self, in the Individuation Process allows to reconnect with one’s soul, providing for a feeling of belonging at the deepest level.

Familiarising ourselves with contents in the unconscious and recognising our projections helps us to know ourselves. Living in a state of disiunctio, with its characteristic conflicts and self-alienation, can be seen a first and necessary step towards finding wholeness or coniunctio (see: C.G. Jung, Psychology of Transference) – provided we become conscious of our projections. 

Lectures given by Kristina E. Schellinski in Basel, London, Freiburg and Zürich