CHAPTER 1

Part 1. Jung's Early Work

Jung began his career in psychiatry in December 1900, when he was appointed as anassistant physician at the Burghölzli mental hospital in Zurich. Breuer and Freud hadpublished their Studies on Hysteria in 1895; and Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams hadappeared in November 1899. But psychiatrists were still fascinated by the researches ofJanet and Morton Prince into cases of "multiple personality," and it was thisphenomenon which inspired Jung's first published work: his dissertation for his medicaldegree, "On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called Occult Phenomena." This wasbased on his observations during seances of a 15 ½-year-old cousin, Helene Preiswerk(called S. W. in the paper), who was reputedly a medium. She claimed to be controlledby a variety of spirits, varying from her grandfather, who was deeply serious, to a figurecalled Ulrich von Gerbenstein, who was flirtatious and frivolous. Jung interpreted thesevarious figures as "unconscious personalities."

From "On the Psychology and Pathology of So-called OccultPhenomena" CW 1, par. 77

In our account of S. W.'s case, the following condition wasindicated by the term "semi-somnambulism": For some timebefore and after the actual somnambulistic attack the patient foundherself in a state whose most salient feature can best be describedas "preoccupation". She lent only half an ear to the conversationaround her, answered absent-mindedly, frequently lost herself inall manner of hallucinations; her face was solemn, her look ecstatic,visionary, ardent. Closer observation revealed a far-reachingalteration of her entire character. She was now grave, dignified;when she spoke, the theme was always an extremely serious one.In this state she could talk so seriously, so forcefully andconvincingly, that one almost had to ask oneself: Is this really a girlof 15 ½? One had the impression that a mature woman was beingacted with considerable dramatic talent.

Jung goes on to compare S. W. with a case of Janet's.

CW 1, pars. 92–3

Janet conducted the following conversation with the subconsciousof Lucie, who, meanwhile, was engaged in conversationwith another observer:

[Janet asks:] Do you hear me? [Lucie answers, in automaticwriting:] No.

But one has to hear in order to answer. – Absolutely.

Then how do you do it? – I don't know.

There must be someone who hears me. – Yes.

Who is it? – Somebody besides Lucie.

All right. Somebody else. Shall we give the other person a name?– No.

Yes, it will be more convenient. – All right. Adrienne.

Well, Adrienne, do you hear me? – Yes.

One can see from these extracts how the unconscious personalitybuilds itself up: it owes its existence simply to suggestive questionswhich strike an answering chord in the medium's own disposition.This disposition can be explained by the disaggregation of psychiccomplexes, and the feeling of strangeness evoked by theseautomatisms assists the process as soon as conscious attention isdirected to the automatic act. Binet remarks on this experiment ofJanet's: "Nevertheless it should be carefully noted that if thepersonality of 'Adrienne' could be created, it was because thesuggestion encountered a psychological possibility; in other words,disaggregated phenomena were existing there apart from thenormal consciousness of the subject." The individualization ofthe subconscious is always a great step forward and has enormoussuggestive influence on further development of the automatisms.The formation of unconscious personalities in our case must alsobe regarded in this light.

Returning to his own case, Jung discusses the "Origin of theUnconscious Personalities."

CW 1, pars. 132–3

As we have seen, the various personalities are grouped roundtwo types, the grandfather and Ulrich von Gerbenstein. Thegrandfather produces nothing but sanctimonious twaddle andedifying moral precepts. Ulrich von Gerbenstein is simply a sillyschoolgirl, with nothing masculine about him except his name. Wemust here add, from the anamnesis, that the patient was confirmedat the age of fifteen by a very pietistic clergyman, and that evenat home she had to listen to moral sermons. The grandfatherrepresents this side of her past, Gerbenstein the other half; hencethe curious contrast. So here we have, personified, the chiefcharacters of the past: here the compulsorily educated bigot, therethe boisterousness of a lively girl of fifteen who often goes too far.The patient herself is a peculiar mixture of both; sometimes timid,shy, excessively reserved, at other times boisterous to the point ofindecency. She is often painfully conscious of these contrasts. Thisgives us the key to the origin of the two subconscious personalities.The patient is obviously seeking a middle way between twoextremes; she endeavours to repress them and strives for a moreideal state. These strivings lead to the adolescent dream of the idealIvenes, beside whom the unrefined aspects of her character fadeinto the background. They are not lost; but as repressed thoughts,analogous to the idea of Ivenes, they begin to lead an independentexistence as autonomous personalities.

This behaviour calls to mind Freud's dream investigations,which...