Treatment of Bipolar Disorder - Jungian Therapy

Jungian Therapy

Jungian authors have likened the mania and depression of bipolar disorder to the Jungian archetypes 'puer' and 'senex'. The puer archetype is defined by the behaviors of spontaneity, impulsiveness, enthusiasm or mania and is symbolized by characters such as Peter Pan or the Greek god Hermes. The senex archetype is defined by behaviors of order, systematic thought, caution, and depression and is symbolized by characters such as the Roman god Saturn or the Greek god Kronos. Jungians conceptualize the puer and senex as a coexistent bipolarity appearing in human behavior and imagination, but in neurotic manifestations appears as extreme oscillations and as unipolar manifestations. In the case of the split puer-senex bipolarity the therapeutic task is to bring the puer and senex back into correlation by working with the patient's mental imagery."