Carl Jung Biography

Carl Gustav Jung was born on 26 July 1875, in Kesswil, Thurgau, Switzerland, to Paul Achilles Jung and Emilie Preiswerk. He was his parents’ second and the only surviving son. He had a younger sister named Johanna Gertrud. His father was a rural pastor.

His mother was eccentric and suffered from depression. She was a strange and mysterious woman who claimed to be visited by spirits at night. He had a strained relationship with her because of her mental problems.

His strained relationship with his often absent, moody, and depressed mother shaped his attitude towards women in general.

As a child, he suffered from multiple personality disorder and was convinced that he had two personalities—a modern Swiss citizen and an eighteenth century person.

A classmate pushed him hard to the ground when he was 12 years old. This resulted in him having fainting spells whenever he tried to go to school. As a result, he stayed home for several months before rejoining school.

He enrolled at the ‘University of Basel’ in 1895 to study medicine and graduated in 1900.

Upon his graduation in 1900, he was appointed as an assistant at the ‘Burgholzli Psychiatric Hospital,’ Zurich, under Professor Eugen Bleuler.

In 1903, he received his Ph.D. from the ‘University of Zurich.’ His doctoral dissertation was titled ‘On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena.’

�Starting from 1905, he began lecturing on psychiatry at the ‘University of Zurich.’ This continued until 1913.

He resigned from his post at ‘Burgholzli’ in 1909 and traveled with Freud and Sandor Ferenczi to the United States to lecture on psychoanalysis. He also opened his own private practice of psychoanalysis in Küsnacht.

Jung was made the chairman of ‘Life of the International Psychoanalytical Association’ in 1910. He eventually resigned from this position, following his fallout with Freud.

Tension started brewing between Freud and Jung when the latter began his work on ‘Psychology of the Unconscious.’ They had disagreement over their opposing views on libido and religion. Their friendship became increasingly strained and was over by 1912.

He went to London where he spoke at meetings of the ‘Psycho-Medical Society’ in 1913 and 1914.

‘World War I’ interrupted his work and he experienced considerable isolation in his professional life, though he continued writing. He also experienced visions, hallucinations, and psychological problems during the ‘World War’ years.

He spent the 1920s and ‘30s traveling all over the world and delivering lectures. He visited places like London, US, East Africa, and India.

�In 1933, he became a professor of psychology at the ‘Federal Polytechnical University’ in Zurich. He held this position till 1941.

From 1934 to 1939, he served as the president of ‘International Society for Medical Psychotherapy.’

A prolific writer, he continued writing throughout his later years. Many of his works were translated into English after his death and published in a collection of 20 volumes.

He founded the school of analytical psychology or Jungian psychology which aims to analyze human psychology in its wholeness through the integration of unconscious forces and motivation present in the human subconscious.

He married Emma Rauschenbach in 1903. They had five children. Even though he remained married to Emma till her death, he had several affairs with other women, including Sabina Spielrein and Toni Wolff.

The 2011 film ‘A Dangerous Method’ showcases a fictional dramatization of the life of this famous psychoanalyst.