The Matrix and Meaning of Character: An Archetypal and Developmental Approach

Character structures underlie everyone’s personality. When rigidly defended, they limit us; yet as they become more flexible, they can reveal sources of animation, renewal and authenticity.

The Matrix and Meaning of Character guides the reader into an awareness of the archetypal depths that underlie character structures, presenting an original developmental model in which current analytic theories are synthesised. The authors examine nine character structures, animating them with fairy tales, mythic images and case material, creating a bridge between the traditional language of psychopathology and the universal realm of image and symbol.

This book will appeal to all analytical psychologists, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists who want to strengthen their clinical expertise. It will help clinicians to extend their clinical insights beyond a strictly behavioural, medical or cognitive approach, revealing the potential of the human spirit.

Nancy J. Dougherty is senior training analyst in the InterRegional Society of Jungian Analysts and the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago. She is coordinator of training in the Florida Associaiton of Jungian Analysts Seminar and is in private practice in Naples, Florida, USA

Jacqueline J. West is President and Training Director of the C.G. Jung Institute of Santa Fe, a senior training analyst in the InterRegional Society of Jungian Analysts and Jung Institute in Santa Fe. She is in private practice in Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA