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Sunday, July 11, 2021

Carl Jung's Imago explained

Imago is the term coined by analyst Carl Gustav Jung in reference to the object's unconscious prototype, which is internalized from the child's initial connection with the significant figures caring for him (usually the parents). That is, imago is a kind of imaginary (unconsciously) pattern of relationships, which shapes the way a person defines relationships with others.

Thus, for example, a child who grows up in a rigid and demanding home will develop an imago that will cause him to experience human relationships as rigid and demanding relationships. Due to the formation of this imago, the same child may experience other significant figures in his life, as teachers and friends, as rigid and demanding as well and accordingly - develop personal tendencies that conform to this perception (e.g., tendency to want and / or tendency to sue). Since according to Jung Imo is an introverted prototype that accompanies us throughout life, he suggested that the same emo created in childhood will also affect the way the adult chooses a partner in adulthood. For example, the same child with a demanding emojo may choose in his adulthood a demanding and rigid partner because the love model that internalized is a stronger link between love and and reciprocity. Alternatively, the same child may choose a passive and unconditional partner as an attempt to deal with a painful and threatening emojis that faces. Similarly, the same imago that we carry with us from childhood will usually also affect the transference pattern we develop towards the dynamic psychotherapy therapist — that is, On how we perceive the therapist beyond his actual qualities. If we go back to a child who has developed a rigid and demanding emojo, then that child may turn to perceiving the therapist as a rigid authority figure who should be desired, for example, in rapid therapeutic progress.

It should be noted that Jung's beliefs that we are influenced not only by experiences influenced the way he perceived the concept of emego. Jung suggested that imago is not only created in the form of the connection with our actual parents, but also out of the cultural baggage that passes between generations. Thus, for example, the image of a loving mother is not only related to the actual relationship with the mother in childhood, but is also influenced by the prototype of motherhood that exists throughout the years of existence of the human race.