In this workshop, Dr. Price, a Jungian analyst who practices psychiatry in an inpatient setting, discusses the process of delusional development, the impact of synchronicity on delusions, and the archetypal basis of paranoia. He uses concepts from cartography that he has found useful in an innovative understanding of delusions. these include the Terra Incognito (Unknown Territory), Datum Points, where delusions are fixed in actual reality, and Wave Fronts, a cartographical idea from ancient Polynesian navigators.
Dr. Price also discusses the gap between the perspectives of Psychiatry and Analytical Psychology. In 1949, Jung wrote about psychiatry’s continued neglect of delusions some 42 years after the publication of his work on the meaning of Dementia Praecox. His concerns are still valid today. The psychiatrist, who has the most exposure to delusional ideas and psychotic patients rarely has the knowledge to understand the content and meaning of the delusion. Jungian analysts who do have the capacity to understand the meaning of delusions don’t usually see delusional patients as they rarely come to the consulting room. Most psychological works on delusions are based on autobiographical writings of delustional people instead of actual case examples. Therefore, Dr. Price presents case examples from both inpatient and outpatient settings.