Addressing the intersection between analytical psychology and neuroscience, this book applies the science of memory reconsolidation to Jungian methods of dream interpretation in order to reexamine Carl Jung’s vision of archetypes and the collective unconscious. Writing from the perspective of depth and clinical psychology, the author explores how dreams and dreamwork promote neuroplastic changes in the brain, arguing that through developing a relationship with dreams, memories evolve into new emotional experiences. Chapters analyse several dream series through Jungian dream interpretation and connect to several core themes in analytical psychology research, including several archetypes, complexes, cultural complexes, and the concept of the ‘other’, using both the author’s own dreams and those of others. Chapters thereby provide concrete examples of the neuroscience process of memory reconsolidation concerning Jungian dream interpretations, supporting debate within the two academic fields.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part 1: Accessing the Dream
1. Reengaging complex theory
2. The Neuroscience of the Dream’s Journey: Affects, Memories, and Predictive Coding
3. Metacognition, Top-Down Processing, and Memory Reconsolidation
Part 2: The Dream Series
4. Prodromal Dreams and Disease: The Self Archetype and the Symbol of Pharmakon
5. Interoception, Hemispherization, and the Anima
6. Father Archetype: Fear and Related Complexes
7. Abandonment, Pain, and Grief: Archetypes of the Other and the Orphan
8. The Cultural Historical Dimension of the Collective Unconscious: Destabilizing Microaggressions that Construct Identity
Part 3: Conclusions
9. Consilience
10. Conclusion
Chronology