I’ve always had a complicated fondness for Carl Jung.
He feels like a wise—and deeply flawed—ancestor. Someone whose ideas helped carve out space for imagination, myth, symbolism, and meaning in psychology… and someone whose work also carries unhealed patriarchal assumptions that deserve critique.
I don’t follow Jung blindly. I argue with him. I update him. I take what’s useful and leave what doesn’t serve us anymore.
Depth psychology, for me, lives in that tension: honouring the power of these ideas while refusing to fossilize them. Making space for queerness. Letting go of rigid gender binaries. Understanding archetypal energies as symbolic patterns—not identities, roles, or prescriptions for how anyone should be.
This is how depth work stays alive.
What Depth Psychology Actually Means (Beyond the Textbook)
Depth psychology is not one method—it’s an orientation.
Broadly speaking, it refers to therapeutic approaches that actively work with the unconscious: the layers of psyche that shape our behaviour, longings, fears, and meaning-making outside of deliberate awareness. Jung is part of this lineage, as is Freud, along with many modern therapies that understand humans as more than rational problem-solvers.
What draws people to depth work isn’t technique—it’s dissatisfaction with surface-level answers.
People often arrive here during burnout, identity shifts, grief, political uncertainty, ecological anxiety, or moments where symptom relief alone doesn’t feel like enough. Depth psychology asks different questions:
- Why this pattern?
- Why now?
- What wants to emerge?
This is why depth work pairs so well with areas like:
It’s not about comfort. It’s about coherence.
Why Depth Work Is Better Done With Support
Depth work doesn’t inherently slow us down—people do that.
Without support, it’s easy to consume big psychological ideas quickly, move from insight to insight, and skip integration entirely. That’s often when shadow material shows up sideways: projection, reactivity, moral certainty, or acting out what hasn’t yet been metabolized.
A therapist helps by:
- slowing the pace
- grounding insight in lived experience
- creating space for digestion rather than acceleration
Depth work is less about uncovering secrets and more about learning how to stay in relationship with what’s emerging—without getting carried away by it.
How I Use Depth-Oriented Techniques in Therapy
Rather than presenting these as “what depth psychology is,” I want to be clear: these are ways I like to work, because they tend to open meaningful dialogue with the unconscious.
Dream Work
Our current understandings of dreams is deeply theoretical—we don’t actually know why we dream. But we do know that the human system doesn’t do things for no reason.
In therapy, dream work often starts at the surface and then deepens.
For example, someone might dream repeatedly about romantic encounters with attractive young men and wonder, “Does this mean I want something I’m missing?” That’s not wrong—but it’s usually not the whole story.
When we explore archetypally, we might ask:
- What feels new, alive, or compelling right now?
- What’s being born or drawn toward consciousness?
- Where is excitement or vitality trying to enter your life?
Dreams speak in metaphor, not instruction manuals. Over time, they help articulate questions you may not yet have language for.
Shadow Work
The shadow is made up of parts of ourselves that were rejected—by family systems, culture, gender norms, or survival needs.
In therapy, shadow work isn’t about fixing “bad” parts. It’s about understanding what had to go underground, and how those parts continue to influence relationships, self-concept, and choice.
When approached with care, shadow work reduces shame and expands self-compassion.
(For a deeper dive, see my other blog post→ Shadow Work & Integration)
Archetypal Patterns
Archetypes are symbolic, energetic patterns—often easiest to speak about through story, character, or myth.
They’re powerful because they loosen identity.
If someone believes “I’m just bad with money,” archetypal work might help us imagine and gradually embody an energy of stewardship, discernment, or trust that previously felt inaccessible. Imagination becomes a bridge between inner world and real-world change.
(Explore more in my other post→ Archetypal Psychology & Meaning)
Active Imagination
Active imagination is one of the most versatile tools I use.
It can support:
- working with inner children or protectors
- revisiting painful memories with new resources
- engaging in parts work through dialogue
- imagining futures that don’t yet feel possible
When paced and grounded, it’s not escapist—it’s integrative. Many adults were taught to abandon imagination long before it stopped being useful.
Why Depth Psychology Matters Now
Depth work offers something increasingly rare: meaning that isn’t commodified.
In a time of burnout, political instability, environmental collapse, and identity fragmentation, people aren’t just anxious—they’re disoriented. Depth psychology doesn’t promise certainty, but it does offer orientation.
It helps people build lives that feel internally coherent, values-aligned, and alive—rather than merely functional.
How This Lives Inside My Work
Depth psychology isn’t a separate modality for me—it’s an undercurrent.
- It informs my somatic work (because the body is part of the unconscious in modern culture).
- It complements parts work (because inner conflict is relational).
- It honours spirit and soul as legitimate dimensions of wellness.
I work in conversation with Jung’s ideas, alongside modern psychology, neuroscience, and lived experience. I’m a student as much as a guide.
Not simple.
But deeply right—for many people who want therapy to engage the whole self.
Depth psychology isn’t about becoming someone else.
It’s about learning to listen beneath the noise—to symbols, dreams, patterns, and longings that have been shaping you all along.
If this way of understanding yourself feels intriguing, grounding, or quietly unsettling… you’re probably in the right place.
*******
Note: My work is influenced by depth psychology and Jungian ideas, among other approaches. I am not a Jungian Analyst; I work in ongoing, critical conversation with these traditions.
A Gentle Note Before You Go
Everything you’ve just read is woven from my training as a therapist, my lived experience, and the conversations I have with real humans navigating real life. These reflections are meant to support your own self-understanding—but they’re not a substitute for therapy.
If something in this post resonated and you’d like personalized support, you’re welcome to reach out or explore working together through Rising Rooted.
If you’re craving more self-led exploration—mythic, creative, and a little wild—come wander over to The Wolfskin Project, where I share free courses and resources for soul-remembering and self-crafting.
What are your thoughts?