In psychology, there are many terms that are not clear to the average man in the street. In today's publication, we are ready to shed light on one curious phenomenon. Let's talk about what is the concept of self.
In the interpretation of Carl Jung
The famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was the founder of deep analytical psychology. All his life he actively used the concept of "self." Jung believed that each person has deep unconscious talents. All our potential, about which we have not yet learned, unites into the so-called hidden personality.
The self is an example of the personality that we are destined to become from birth. Some people are making great strides in the field of knowing their own internal resources and hidden talents. And some do not realize a small fraction of their own capabilities. So, at birth, each person is already destined for his own, unique life path.
The self is a hidden personality, it is extremely flexible and takes the context of a specific time period in human life. For the greatest completeness of the implementation of their own internal resources, a person faces certain difficulties. A wise person takes all obstacles for granted, as an invaluable life experience, as an opportunity to move forward and learn the resources of his own soul, mind and body. A morally weak man always grumbles at fate, feeling himself miserable and deprived. It is ironic that even the most successful people are often unhappy with their current results.
Empirical concept expressing unity of personality
We have already learned what self means. It represents a certain psychological spectrum and reflects how tightly the conscious and unconscious personality of a person merges together. A holistic personality includes an unconscious component, therefore, it can reflect experiences that have already taken place, as well as moments that have not yet occurred. Carl Jung believed that the unconscious personality can be endowed with super features, and its possibilities can be truly unlimited.
The unity of opposites
Empirically, the self is the unity of two opposites, both masculine and feminine, as an attraction of a negative and positive charge, as the interaction of light and shadow, as a hero’s struggle with his sworn enemy. This list can be continued endlessly, and a third, as we see, has not been given. The self is the union of opposites into a holistic alliance. This concept is not accepted as an independent philosophical idea and in fact is only a working hypothesis. However, it is widely represented in geometric forms and symbols, it can be traced in fairy tales, legends, myths and dreams. Therefore, the concept of the self takes one of the leading places in the series of many similar archetypal ideas.
The problem of self in psychology
It happens that patients complain to doctors about the inner emptiness or lack of meaning in life. In this case, the loss of connection with one's own hidden personality, which is capable of leading a person forward, is clearly manifested. The absence of such a guiding star is a serious psychological problem and requires the intervention of professionals.
Moreover, outwardly a person may seem too confident, but inside himself he experiences complete devastation. It seems to him that he is an absolute loser and that in the whole world no one loves him. Internal doubts and lack of self-esteem have opposite manifestations, for example, a chronic need for attention from the outside.
Narcissism leads to inner emptiness
An insecure person who has completely lost the meaning of existence needs help and support. However, hypertrophied ego, arrogance, narcissistic character and the demand for constant attention from others is also a problem. As we found out, the self is a hidden archetypal personality, which is an internal content. Connection with it gives a person a sense of harmony and integrity with the unconscious. When a person is disoriented in relation to his own "I", he has serious psychological problems.
Two sides of the same coin
The following two diametrically opposed clinical examples have the same consequences. Psychiatrists often come across this picture. Observing two clinically depressed people, they notice a lot of similarities, but also some differences between them. Both patients may have the same physical manifestations of a mental disorder: apathy, tearfulness, lethargy, impaired appetite and insomnia. However, at the same time, their subjective experiences are radically different from each other.
One patient feels his moral imperfection and is thinking of suicide in order to rid the world of its negative influence. Another patient does not feel his own immorality (narcissus), but also does not see the meaning of existence on this planet. Thus, thinking about suicide, he does not do a favor to the world. The second patient lost a guiding star called "self." This in psychology means that a person urgently needs comfort and support from the outside. He longs to reconnect with the internal objects that guide him through this life. Most often, he feels a great deal of relief if someone volunteers to help him. In this case, even the all-consuming sense of shame recedes into the background.
Melancholic and Daffodil
People who have fallen into melancholy are not ashamed, but they are used to blaming themselves for everything. According to such patients, they came to this planet in order to ruin the world. They are too crowded with the internalized objects inherent in the hidden personality. These people have not lost touch with their own alterago, but, on the contrary, the self dominates them. This is described in psychology as a violation of the balance of personality, as the prevalence of the unconscious over the conscious. Both pathologies - both melancholy and narcissistic depletion of the psyche - require clinical treatment.