The 8 differences between psychoanalysis and analytical psychology

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are the two authors who have had the greatest influence on the development of the psychodynamic model; in fact, the disagreements between the two authors shaped the evolution of this paradigm during the 20th century. In this article we will analyze 8 differences between Freud's psychoanalysis and Jung's analytical psychology.

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Psychoanalysis and analytical psychology

The famous Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) founded the discipline to which he gave the name of "psychoanalysis". This author highlighted the importance of unconscious processes and development during childhood in the determination of behavior, as well as the analysis of unintentional acts (such as dreams) to bring these types of aspects to consciousness.

One of his most outstanding students was Carl Jung (1875-1961). Although Freud believed that he was to be his heir, Jung explicitly showed his opposition to some of the key aspects of psychoanalytic theory

, particularly its overemphasis on sexuality and lack of interest in individual differences and their influence on treatment.

While it is undeniable that psychoanalysis would not have existed without Freud, Jung's influence on subsequent generations has been enormous; Not only has his criticism of his teacher been supported by a large number of psychodynamic therapists, but of him that his model of therapy is probably more used today than that of psychoanalysis Freudian.

• You may be interested: "Sigmund Freud: life and work of the famous psychoanalyst"

The differences between Freud and Jung

The differences between Freud's theory and Jung's are multiple, and of course this is also transferred to the therapeutic methods that each one promoted. Below we will review some of the most notable ones, which include aspects such as sexuality, the conception of development or the relative influence they give to heredity and the environment.

1. Personal and collective unconscious

While Freud believed that the unconscious is specific to each person since it develops based on early experiences, Jung also described a collective unconscious that would be transmitted through genetic inheritance and it would be composed of archetypes, primordial images that all human beings share.

2. Sexuality and libido

For Jung, the concept of libido did not have a predominantly sexual character, but used it to refer to any type of psychic energy. In this same line, psychological processes would not be determined only by sexual impulses but also by other different ones.

However, Freud, who popularized the term, expanded your conception of libido as he developed his work; thus, although at first he considered that all libidinal energy is in turn sexual, in his last stage he distinguished between the life drives, including the sexual ones, and the death drives.

3. The death drive

Freud adopted the concept "death drive" or "Thanatos" in opposition to the life drive or Eros. Is about a tendency toward death and self-destruction that contradicts itself, at the same time that it coexists, with the impulses towards survival, sex and creation. For Jung psychic energy has a non-specific character, so he did not agree with the idea.

4. Development and its stages

The Freudian model of the stages of psychosexual development, which ends when the genital stage is reached at puberty, is extremely well known. Jung, on the other hand, considered that the development of the personality is not limited to childhood but can continue throughout life; in this sense he used the concept "individuation process".

5. Oedipus and Electra complexes

According to Freud's theory, between the ages of 3 and 5, children develop ambivalent feelings (typical of the combination of life and death drives) towards the progenitor of his own sex. Jung proposed the existence of the Electra complex, which would consist of the rivalry of girls towards their mothers for the love of the father, in front of the male Oedipus.

• Related article: "The Oedipus Complex: one of the most controversial concepts in Freud's theory"

6. Conception of psychotherapy

Jung's therapy draws heavily on his idea of ​​the collective unconscious, which Freud rejected, and is more tailored to the needs of each individual than Freud's therapeutic model, the psychoanalytic cure, which in its classic version was weighed down by an excess of rigidity.

On the other hand, the goal of psychoanalysis is the resolution of deep emotional disorders through the reprocessing of traumatic experiences, and that of Jungian analytic therapy is to redirect the patient towards freedom and spontaneity, in addition to bringing behavior and self-image closer to achieving the "self real".

7. Dream interpretation

Jung viewed Freud's type of dream analysis as too restrictive and overly focused on sexuality. For this author, dream symbols could not be interpreted by fixed rules, but the external world of the person had to be taken into account, as well as the internal one.

8. Vision of parapsychology

One of the most peculiar points of conflict between Freud and Jung concerns their conception of the paranormal. Jung developed the theory of synchronicity, according to which there may be causal relationships between apparently unrelated physical and psychological phenomena; Freud considered that these kinds of ideas did not deserve any kind of consideration.

• Related article: "Synchronicity: the science behind significant coincidences"