A Jungian Approach to Transforming Compulsion: A Clinical and Symbolic Guide to OCD

Obsessions and compulsions have plagued humanity for millennia, and yet no major psychological theory has considered their content to be meaningful―until the work of Carl Jung. This book presents Jung’s symbolic approach to the understanding and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

The strength-based Jungian perspective restores dignity and efficacy to what can be an experience of frustration and, for the sufferer, humiliation. In this book, Morgan Stebbins employs his 30 years of practice as a clinician, professor and teacher to outline a step-by-step process: we see how obsessional ideas and compulsive actions can be understood from a symbolic standpoint, and how that both changes the personality and heals the suffering from unwanted ideas and urges.

Featuring clinical material throughout, this will be a valuable guide for Jungian analysts, clinicians of all kinds, as well as individuals in advanced study and clinical training who want to learn about the Jungian approach to the spectrum of obsessive and compulsive struggles.

Morgan Stebbins, MDiv, LMSW, DMin, LP (Licensed Psychoanalyst), is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in New York. He is a senior training analyst, supervisor and former Director of Training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association (JPA) of New York. His research and publishing interests revolve around a Jungian understanding of the psyche in the modern world. This interest has focused on topics such as Lacan and Jung, religious traditions in psychological context, understanding gender identity, and understanding spirituality in the modern world as a psychological practice.