Carl G. Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psycho‑analyst who founded what became known as analytical psychology. After studying medicine at the University of Basel, he trained under Eugen Bleuler at the Burghölzli psychiatric clinic, where he began developing his own ideas about the unconscious mind. In the early 1910s Jung formed a close collaboration with Sigmund Freud, but their theoretical differences—particularly Jung’s emphasis on archetypes, the collective unconscious, and individuation—led to a permanent split. Over the following decades, Jung traveled extensively, engaging with diverse cultures and spiritual traditions, which deeply informed his theories about symbols, myths, and the psyche’s innate structures.

 

Jung’s major works, such as Psychological Types (1921) and The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1959), introduced concepts that continue to influence psychology, literature, art, and religion. He founded the C.G. Jung Institute in Zürich, where he taught and supervised a community of analysts. His legacy endures through the widespread use of terms like “introversion,” “extroversion,” and “shadow,” as well as through ongoing research into depth psychology and the therapeutic practice of exploring dreams and personal symbolism.