Carl Jung
Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)
Carl Jung: from psychiatric clinic to analytical psychology
Medicine and the Burghölzli clinic
Jung studied medicine at the University of Basel and joined Zurich’s Burghölzli psychiatric clinic in 1900. Working under Eugen Bleuler, he encountered patients with severe mental illness and pursued experimental psychological research. That clinical setting shaped questions he later brought into his work on dreams, symbols and the unconscious.
Collaboration and break with Freud
Jung became a close collaborator of Sigmund Freud, but their accounts of psychological energy and mental illness diverged. Their partnership ended in 1913. Jung subsequently developed analytical psychology as a distinct approach rather than a branch of Freudian psychoanalysis, combining clinical concerns with an interest in mythology and religion.
Concepts and later work
Jung proposed a collective unconscious and archetypes, and described introversion and extraversion as broad psychological orientations. His account of individuation concerned the relation between conscious and unconscious life. In later years he continued writing on symbols and traditions beyond medicine. These concepts remain historically influential, though they should not be confused with validated diagnostic tests.