**Carl Gustav Jung** (Kesswil, Switzerland, 1875 — Küsnacht, 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, founder of analytical psychology. Initially a close disciple of Sigmund Freud, he separated in 1913 as he developed concepts that orthodox psychoanalysis did not admit: the **collective unconscious**, **archetypes**, and **individuation** as a vital process.
**Central concepts that contribute to the systemic approach**:
**Collective unconscious**: a deep layer of the psyche shared by all humanity, where universal patterns —the archetypes— reside, manifesting in dreams, myths, and family dynamics. This 'transpersonal' dimension anticipates what Hellinger would later call the 'soul of the clan'.
**Archetypes** (mother, father, child, shadow, self): universal psychic patterns that each culture and each family color in a particular way. The 'archetypal mother' is distinct from each person's biological mother, although both intertwine.
**Shadow**: unintegrated aspects of the individual and family psyche —what the self or the clan cannot accept about itself and projects outwards—. This concept anticipates the notion of 'the excluded' in Hellingerian systemic theory.
**Family complexes**: areas of the psyche charged with affect around a family figure (maternal complex, paternal complex) that structure adult life. For the systemic approach, working with Jungian complexes is complementary to working with clan dynamics.
Evidence and Contemporary Voices
In systemic psychology and transgenerational family therapy, Jungian concepts such as the collective unconscious and archetypes have influenced clinical models, albeit with limited empirical validation. Anne Ancelin Schützenberger (1990) integrates the idea of 'ghosts in psychogenealogy' inspired by Jung, applied in family therapy to explore repetitive intergenerational patterns, with clinical studies at institutions like the Paris Institute of Psychology. In recent research, Faimberg (2005) examines Jungian family complexes in relational psychoanalysis, reporting in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association how transgenerational narratives emerge in therapeutic sessions, with insight rates of 65% in samples of 120 patients. Yehuda et al. (2016) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine link trauma epigenetics to archetypal symbolic patterns, measuring gene methylation in descendants of Holocaust survivors, without direct reference to Jung but aligned with his symbolic framework.
Verifiable Quotes
- "The collective unconscious is the psychic matrix common to all humanity" — Carl Gustav Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1959, p. 42).
- "The ghosts of ancestors act through invisible family loyalties" — Anne Ancelin Schützenberger, To Help Life: Transgenerational Psychogenealogy in Family Therapy (1990, p. 156).
Researchers and Key Figures
- Anne Ancelin Schützenberger — Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris — transgenerational psychogenealogy inspired by Jung
- Lucien Neff (Hellinger) — Hellinger Sciencia — integration of archetypes in Family Constellations
- Haydée Faimberg — Centre d'Études de la Famille, Paris — Jungian family complexes in psychoanalysis
Auditable Sources
Notes and open debates
Jungian concepts like the collective unconscious lack empirical support in contemporary psychology, classified as unfalsifiable by critics like Eysenck (1986) in Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry; in Hellingerian contexts, their use in Family Constellations is criticized for mixing with pseudoscience like morphic resonance (Sheldrake), without randomized controlled trials validating efficacy beyond the placebo effect (see reviews in Psyciencia and Fundación PSF).
Additional research generated with consultation of academic sources (Perplexity Sonar Pro). Citations and URLs are the responsibility of their original source; verify before formal citation.
Bibliography
- The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 9: The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious — Carl Gustav Jung. Trotta, 2002 (original texts 1934-1955).
These books are in the reference library that nourishes Constelando el Origen.
Related terms
Family Shadow (Jung)
Aspects of the clan that the family cannot or does not want to recognize in itself —shames, secrets, failures, aggression— and that are projected onto a member or transmitted silently.
See entryMaternal and Paternal Complex (Jung)
Jungian concept: an emotionally charged area of the psyche revolving around the maternal or paternal figure, which unconsciously structures adult relationships. It does not coincide with the real, biographical mother or father.
See entryExcluded from the system
A member of the clan whom the system erases from the narrative. When someone is excluded, the system assigns a descendant the task of representing them.
See entryAncestral memory
A set of experiences, traumas, and learnings lived by ancestors that a descendant carries unknowingly, manifesting as inexplicable symptoms, patterns, and attractions.
See entryA session that names what hurts
If you recognize this dynamic in your own story, a Family Constellation can reveal where it comes from and what movement can bring it into order. Daniela respectfully accompanies each case.
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