Jung understood that one's "personal equation" lies at the heart of all reflection on the human psyche, as well as all psychotherapeutic practice.  Inevitably, this individual approach owes its formation to life experiences.  How can I describe my own "personal equation" in a few words?  As I try to serve the psyche's capacity for self-healing and self-creation, new horizons are always opening ahead.  But I find myself retaining certain "touchstones" acquired from the experiences that have made me who I am.  Perhaps the earliest of these experiences was glimpsing, through books and through friendships, what poets know of the imagination: its power, its freshness, its endless adaptability to the world in which we find ourselves.  Equally important have been experiences of motherhood, of the life of dreams, and of the natural world.  Finally, it was through my own analysis in Zürich that I became most sure of my own center.  That is one experience whose richness I want to share with others.  And that is why I do the work I do.

In private practice in Charlotte, North Carolina, I work with adults on an individual basis, paying respectful attention to dreams and supporting analysands engaged in a sandplay process.  Together with my husband, Howard Tyas, I regularly conduct seminars on Jungian topics, ranging from dreams and the exploration of traditional images of individuation to clinical concerns.  I also co-lead weekly dream groups of 4-8 weeks' duration, in Charlotte and elsewhere in the Carolinas.  In recent years, I have addressed groups on such diverse topics as dreams, the creative process, synchronicity, the nature of Jungian analysis, the experience of living as an expatriate, a Jungian perspective on cultural diversity, understanding the Faust legend in Jungian terms, depression, typology, sandplay, the mysterium coniunctionis, and the Hindu myth of the Great Seduction.

In my thesis for the C. G. Jung Institute/Zürich, I explored melancholic depression, its possible meanings for the individual, its presentation in the analytical setting, and attitudes on the part of the analyst which may best serve the work.  Stimulated by the limitations in Jungian perspectives on severe depression to date, I focused on difficulties that individuals may experience when looking to traditional Jungian resources such as active imagination and artwork.  More recently, I have focused on the connection between depression and gender and how Jungian concepts of anima and animus might be re-imagined better to reflect women's experience of life.    

Over the years, writing poetry and teaching creative writing have impressed upon me the role that imagination can play in the individuation process.  Some of the themes that have stimulated my own imagination have led me far afield from academic psychology.  With a personal connection to Native American spirituality, I have explored the meaning of Lakota ritual and the persisting appearance of animal totems in contemporary experience.  Interest in women’s health issues led me to an apprenticeship in midwifery and an appreciation of the importance of childbirth as a psycho-spiritual experience.  In my home state of Texas, I worked as a Spanish-English translator, counseling Hispanic women receiving medical care, as well as Central American refugees.  These interests have broadened my perspective as an analyst and enhanced my respect for the diversity inherent in Jung's idea of individuation.

Education:

  • B.A. in English Literature, Wellesley College, 1966.
  • M.A. in British and American Literature, Brandeis University, 1968.
  • Ph.D. in British and American Literature, Brandeis University, 1974.
  • Diploma in Analytical Psychology, C. G. Jung Institute/Zürich, 1996.  (Dissertation: Melancholic Depression and the Poisoning of the Imagination)

Affiliations:

  • Association of Graduate Analytical Psychologists (Zürich)
  • International Association for Analytical Psychology
  • Inter-regional Society of Jungian Analysts
  • North Carolina Society of Jungian Analysts
  • Board of Directors of the Foundation C. G. Jung Institutes for Alumni, Supporters and Friends

Publications:

  • Poems in journals such as the Beloit Poetry Journal

  • "Women, Depression, and the Soul-Image," Spring: A journal of archetype and culture, No. 65 (spring & summer, 1999), pp.81-105.

Offerings/ Seminars and Dream Groups

 

Images of Individuation

Perchance to Dream

Living the Symbolic Life

Jungian Offerings for Spring 2004

 

E-mail Karen Hodges at khodges@jungiananalyticpraxis.com