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Individuation Hijacked: Persona and Hero in an Evolving Universe
October 17, 2020 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm PDT
Building on the Friday evening lecture, the Saturday workshop will explore what happens when the archetype of the hero is hijacked and unhealthy compulsion takes the wheel. The compelling urge to achieve and master, so characteristic of heroes and heroines, may be used to avoid shame or insecurity. The original intent of heroic energy is then lost and the personality becomes rigid, controlling, and work-obsessed. This leads to the illness of our times, an unhealthy and compulsive pursuit of status and achievement, often to the destruction of individuals, families and communities.
Understanding the teleology, the original intent of the heroic and compulsive urge to individuate, can help us to channel this energy into more satisfying and meaningful ways of living that accord with true self. This presentation will help clinicians in their work with compulsive, perfectionist, and workaholic clients; individuals who struggle with those tendencies; and partners of individuals whose personalities have become rigid and difficult to live with.
Related Lecture: Individuation Hijacked: Persona and Hero in an Evolving Universe
Gary Trosclair, DMA, LCSW, is a Jungian analyst in private practice in New York City and Westchester County, New York. He is President of the New York Association for Analytical Psychology and serves on the faculty of the Jung Institute of New York. He is the author of I’m Working On It In Therapy: How To Get The Most Out Of Psychotherapy, and of the blog The Healthy Compulsive Project. His new book The Healthy Compulsive: Healing Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and Taking the Wheel of the Driven Personality describes the hijacking of the urge to individuate and a return to an authentic and meaningful life.