A Few Jungian Observations on the Psychological Dynamics of the Couple

Abstract

The anima and animus pair constitute, in the Jungian psychoanalytical thinking, one of the most important and representative units for the mobility of the human psyche. Basically, around this ontic couple and the inter-relations of its structures are developing a multitude of creative and exploratory manifestations of the human being. The relationship with the other, during the process of falling in love, is often a central justification for the artistic elaboration or for the development of real nature, but also for the existence of a new life. What role should be given, in this context, to the dimension of the individual unconscious, and in particular, the collective one? How does the Jungian analytics delimit the periods of development, stagnation and even psychological setback of the couple? What benchmark divides the time of the couple and how can the temporal segments of these results be defined? What capacity of influence do the parents exert on the young members of a newly formed couple? What does the harmfulness of this influence consist in and what are its unconscious motivations? Jung's arguments are all the more interesting as the challenges of postmodernism and the contemporary couple always invite to reflect on constitutive grounds and possible ways of understanding or interpretation.