Аналитичната Психология на Карл Густав Юнг (известна с името Юнгианска психоанализа, когато става въпрос за психотерапевтичния метод) е направление в парадигмата на психодинамичните психотерапии. Както и при останалите психодинамични терапии – Психоанализата на З.Фройд и индивидуалната психология на А.Адлер, Его-психологията на Ана Фройд, обектните отношения на М.Клайн, базисно за аналитичната психология е схващането, че огромна част от психичните процеси протичат на несъзнавано ниво. За разлика, обаче от класическата психоанализа, която постига лечение чрез интегриране в съзнанието на травматични за Аза спомени и конфликти, Юнгианската анализа е насочена към подпомагане на процеса на индивидуация, като естествен вътрешно присъщ процес на оцелостяване на личността, чрез диференциация на индивидуалното съзнание от колективното несъзнавано. Основни методи на Юнгианската психоанализа са анализата на сънищата и активното въображение.

Key role in the process of individuation is played by the transcendent function, which achieves unity and unification of opposites. In analytical therapy, the therapist supports transcendental function. The function is so named because it "facilitates the transition from one mental state to another through confrontation of opposites" (C.G. Jung, Psychological commentary on The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation ', in CW 11).

Към личното несъзнавано, въведено от Фройд, Юнг добавя съществуването на колективното несъзнавано. Юнг го дефинира като съставено от съдържания с митологичен характер, които „не принадлежат на определена личност, а по-скоро на човечеството като цяло“ (Тавистокски лекции). Този основен колективен образ Юнг нарича с името archetype - "An archetype means a typos [imprint], a definite grouping of archaic character containing, in form as well as in meaning, mythological motifs." ( ibid )). Archetypes are universal and pre-existent forms in the psyche, basic forms of the unconscious that are common to all human beings. As contents of the collective unconscious, they are originally given and are not subject to the will and functions of the Ego.

Picture - Leonardo - St. Anne, Mary and the child Christ - the archetype of both mothers

The archetype is not a product of individual life experience, but inherited. For Jung, the archetype on a psychic level is what is the instinct of the biological: “Therefore they (instincts) are very accurate analogues of archetypes, so accurate indeed that we have reason to suppose that archetypes are unconscious images of the instincts themselves; in other words, they represent the basic model of instinctive behavior ”(Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, KG Jung).

In the culture of ancient civilizations, archetypes appear as characters and motifs in mythology, legends and fairy tales. The presence of recurring motifs in the cultures of different civilizations, according to Jung, testifies to the common mental basis of archetypes in the collective unconscious.

Archetypes are mental forms of the collective unconscious, but most often they manifest, usually in dreams, as images and can be perceived by consciousness in this way.

Jung also introduced the term "complex," which he defined as the accumulation of psychic content charged with a common emotional tone, usually painful to the Self.

Jung came across it empirically while conducting an associative experiment. He found that certain words given to the subject had disturbances in the reaction: the change in reaction time, reactions with more than one word, error in repeating the stimulus and strange reactions such as laughter, coughing, stuttering.

Complexes are emotionally charged groups of representations - thoughts, ideas, in the Unconscious.

All elements - memories, ideas that make up the complex share a common emotional tone, e.g. irritation, anger. Each complex is organized around a nucleus, a bearer of meaning and many associations associated with the nucleus, arising partly from personal disposition and partly conditioned by the environment. The formation of the complex requires a conflict between what is in reality and the personal vulnerability of the individual. The conflict charges with a sufficiently high emotional load the core of the complex. Once constellated and updated, the complex can resist the intentions of the Ego consciousness, break its unity, break away from it and act as a "living foreign body within the realm of consciousness" (Review of the theory of complexes, K. G. Jung).

As Jung says, "Everyone today knows that humans have complexes, what is not so widely known is that complexes can possess us" (Review of Complex Theory, CG Jung). The Ego-complex is the central characteristic of our psyche, but many of the complexes that are not associated with it are dormant somewhere at the bottom of the unconscious until a suitable constellation draws them to the field of consciousness. The knowledge of the existence of a complex does not neutralize it, does not stop it from having a harmful effect on the psyche. What takes away the charge of the complex is either the realization of the reasons that gave rise to it, or the assimilation of part of the emotional charge.