Main description:

How does the body influence the way we see the world?

Imagination, Illness and Injury examines the psychological factors behind perceptual limitations and distortions and links a broad range of somatic manifestations with their resolution.

Melanie Starr Costello applies Jungian theory to a variety of cases, attributing psychosomatic phenomena to cognitive processes that are common to us all. She analyses the role of illness in several life narratives, and interprets the appearance of somatic phenomena during important phases of analytic treatment. Together these case narratives present a significant challenge to established views of psychosomatics. Subjects covered include:

archetypal constrictions of identity
somatic elements of perception
the psyche-soma split.

Imagination, Illness and Injury brings a fresh perspective to the understanding and treatment of the psychotherapy client as a psycho-somatic unity. Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts, and psychotherapists will greatly benefit from the clinical applications of archetypal theory presented here.

Contents:

Introduction. Part I: The Imaginal System: Archetypes and Complexes and Perceptual Determinants. Archetypal Constrictions of Identity: A Case of Resolution Through Injury. Albert Speer's Twilight of Evil: A Case of Near-death Awakening. The Unconscious Complex and Olfactory Messaging: A Case of Repetition Compulsion. Part II: Somatic Elements of Perception: The Interpersonal Origins of Awareness. The Psyche-Soma Split: A Case of Maternal Negligence. Psychosomatics in Analysis: A Case of Repair Through Regression. Building the Bridge: A Case of Restoration Through Dyadic Imaging. Conclusions.