Discussion 4, main post

Ancient histories have brought us foundational principles which are still active today in therapeutic consulting rooms, with or without critical attention to them, and with important consequences for how we care for others.  For instance, whether the self is a think or a process, how the relation of matter and form, or physicality and spirit, shape how we understand body and mind, whether causation is inherent as a law of nature or imposed on it, the relation of inner experience and the objective world, and what is considered the good life. Pick one ancient concept, whether Western, Eastern, Caribbean, African, Indigenous, and discussion how you see it live today.

Clara respond to the post

For Scalambrino (2018), the ancient Western concept of anima, the root word of animation, can be considered in relation to the ancient concept of the soul, in view of theological interpretations of the psyche, and in view of ancient Greek philosophy.  Anima (and animus) can be seen to live today in Jungian approaches taken in Analytical psychology.  Barone-Chapman (2014) suggests that the concepts of anima and animus in Jungian Analytical psychology can be considered in view of masculine and feminine behavior, choices, and expression and patriarchal bias toward the area of womanhood (i.e., female inferiority).
Orchard (2016) explains that the archetypes of the anima and animus according to (post) Jungian theory are present in our psychic structure.  An Archetype can be considered as inherited with our brain structure, an inherited mode of psychic functioning a pattern of behavior (Orchard, 2016, p. 28).  It can be that an archetype gives energy to certain ways of being (p. 28) which can, for example, urge a woman toward the development of an idea, a purpose in life, and the way to express herself in the world (Orchard, 2016, p. 28).  An archetype can be considered shared in our collective unconscious layer across cultures which can include in archetypes such as fairytales and myths. 
Barone-Chapman (2014) suggests that concepts of anima and animus as they appear in the form of a complex or diagnosis in Analytical psychology and Psychanalysis can be considered to frame women as separate from her experiences (e.g., considered in view of terms such as animus ridden, anima woman).  And are considered with regard to feminine diseases such as such as depression, promiscuity, paranoia, eating disorders, self-mutilation, panic attacks, and suicide attempts, whether reported/treated or not, are all female role rituals (Barone-Chapman, 2014, p. 15).  It may also be that in view of Barone-Chapmans (2014) interpretation, the concept of anima lives today in our engagement with feminist thought to include in the area of gender and identity.

References

Barone-Chapman M. (2014). Gender legacies of Jung and Freud as epistemology in emergent feminist research on late motherhood. Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 4(1), 1430. doi:10.3390/bs4010014
Orchard, J. P. (2016). Trauma and the animus complex: Working toward a healthy animus-self relationship (Order No. 10259254). Available from Psychology Database. (1879382818). Retrieved from https://tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/docview/1879382818?accountid=34120
Scalambrino, F. (2018). Philosophical principles of the history and systems of psychology: Essential distinctions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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