Individuation: what it is, and its 5 phases according to Carl Jung

A concept specially developed by Carl Jung, on the development of personal autonomy.

To be an autonomous being, independent and capable of surviving by oneself by adapting to the environment. To reach one's own identity, to recognize oneself as an integrated entity. To complete the development process in order to become oneself. All these phrases reflect the main objective of human development: the achievement of the individuation process..

There have been many authors who have developed theories around the idea behind this concept, one of the most well known being Carl Gustav Jung (father of depth or analytical psychology), who placed special emphasis on how we achieve selfhood through this process. And it is on the concept of individuation on which the present article focuses, from the Jungian perspective, defining it and establishing its phases.

Individuation: general concept

At a general level, individuation is understood as the process by which a person becomes an integrated individual. a person becomes an integrated individual, becoming one's self and reaching the and reaching the capacity to be totally autonomous and independent. It is a process that requires the growth of the subject and the development of different psychic capacities, appearing throughout human development and lasting, in fact, a good part of life.

This process is especially relevant and visible during adolescence, when the individuation of the person makes him/her capable of generating his/her own identity, differentiating him/herself from his/her parents and beginning to recognize him/herself as a unique entity. This also requires a sense of belonging, a link with the family and cultural environment that provides a starting point and an environment that facilitates the process. All this will will make it possible to generate future projects that are coherent with oneselfThe process of individuation, according to Carl Jung, is a process of individuation according to Carl Jung.

The individuation process according to Carl Jung

In accordance with the above, Carl Gustav Jung elaborated one of the bases of his analytical psychology: the concept of the individuation process. For the author, the term individuation is conceived as a process of differentiation, constitution and particularization of one's own essence, in such a way that the subject can discover who he/she is and allows the development of personality.It is a process of differentiation, constitution and particularization of one's own essence, so that the subject can discover who he/she is and allows the development of the personality. It is also identified with self-realization, being part of a natural and instinctive process towards one's own maturation.

It is important to bear in mind that the individuation process is eminently conflictive, both in the Jungian vision and in others, since it involves the integration of contrary elements. In Jung's case, he proposed that we are dealing with a process in which conflicts appear between diverse opposites in the person, linked to the conscious-unconscious opposition and to individuality-collectivity..

The basis of this whole process is the ego, from which we will advance in the understanding of the aspects denied up to that moment and little by little accepting and integrating them. The contents to be developed and integrated will be increasingly complex and to advance in this process it is necessary to be able to identify, link and integrate the opposites without identifying with them, differentiating them from the self.

In this sense, the individual personal aspects will be integrated in the first place, working on the emotional experiences initially repressed by the consideration of their inadequacy. in the consideration of their inadequacy or conflictivity or the experience of traumas, to later integrate also elements of the collective unconscious, adding to the development the elaboration of culturally inherited archetypes. Likewise, the different basic processes that make up the personality will also be developed and integrated.

It is noteworthy that there is also another conception of individuation more centered on the Biological evolution of the subject, although, contrary to other conceptions, the individuation process proposed by Jung is not limited to adolescence or childhood.. In fact, each of the stages that form part of this second interpretation of the process would last about ten years each, the process of conscious individuation not being completed until well into adulthood.

First there is a phase in which the ego begins to be born (previously there is no consciousness of individuality), later, when puberty is reached, there begins to be a distancing from the environment and a search for identity, the adaptation to one's role and the integration of the self appears, and finally a fourth stage in which there is the search for the meaning of the ego. the search for a meaning of the self occurs. It would be in the latter when there is a greater probability that the necessary processes to finish individuating will take place.

Stages of the individuation process

The process of individuation, from the Jungian perspective, takes place in a series of four phases through which the subject first complements his conscious and unconscious aspects and gradually integrates the opposites (person and shadow, conscious and unconscious...) until he reaches the selfhood of the person: that is to say, to be oneself, a fully integrated individual.

Although in principle there are four, there are numerous interpretations and ways of dividing them even within the Jungian theory, but in all of them the following are taken into account (including in this case a fifth, which would be the completion of the process).

1. Stripping oneself of oneself and the first approach to the unconscious

The beginning of the individuation process occurs at the moment when the awareness that one's own consciousness is not the totality of the self begins to appear. One begins to of the existence of impulses, desires and psychic content that is neither expressed nor directly observable. nor directly observable. The subject realizes that there is a great part of himself that has been ignored by himself and will try to begin to approach its comprehension, given that a moment has arrived in which his development has made him see this need.

2. Encounter with the shadow

Once we become aware that there is something else in our own being, the first thing we realize is that there is not only a conscious part but also an unconscious and a set of aspects that we deny because we consider them negative (and that we tend to project onto others as a mechanism of compensation): in other words, we begin to be aware of the existence of the duality of person (what we are conscious of and what makes us feel like individual beings who relate to the outside world) and shadow (the hidden and unconscious part of the person).

Once we begin to be aware of the existence of the shadow, we will need to begin to value it without judging it: our unconscious desires and impulses have a great value, even though they may be of great value to us. have a great value, even if some of them are socially frowned upon.. It is a matter of integrating the denied elements and one's own personality. It is not a matter of giving in to impulses (in fact, repression is seen by Jung as something that in a way allows the birth of consciousness), but of accepting the shadow as part of our nature.

3. Encounter with the anima/animus

The third major step in the individuation process is in relation to the sexual archetypes. So far the child has been integrating his own aspects, but now he must begin to integrate archetypal elements, coming from the cultural inheritance, which are part of his personality and of the collectivity and which until then had been denied by the person. Specifically, at this stage, the subject begins to integrate the masculine/feminine polarity.

This process involves integrating into one's own being, in addition to the archetype identified with one's own sex, the part of his or her being traditionally identified with the opposite sex.and a bonding with it appears. That is to say, the man must integrate the anima or feminine archetype (which corresponds to elements such as sensitivity, affection and emotional expression) while the woman does so with the animus or masculine archetype (related to vigor and vitality, strength, reason and wisdom). It is a matter of integrating the sexual archetype in its totality, both logos and eros, making them mediate and being the source of creativity and inspiration.

4. The integration of the light archetype

Once the above is done, the dark and unknown areas of our psyche begin to light up, something that broadens our awareness of ourselves to a great extent and that can generate a sensation of narcissistic omnipotence that makes us believe we are superior. But the effect of reality making us see that our capacities are not so extreme makes us "lower our humility", giving us back our humility. At this moment wisdom and discovery appearsymbolized by the magician or the wise man who gives meaning to the unknown, exploring and discovering the self.

5. The end of the individuation process: coincidentia oppositorum

Little by little there are moments in which the self appears, moments in which the understanding of the self begins to exist. The process reaches its culmination when the coincidence or integration of the opposites is achieved, the acquisition of selfhood, the end of the individuation process.

At this moment the set of elements that make up the mind are already integrated (the conscious and the unconscious, the individual and the collective, the person and the shadow...), having achieved a fully integrated psyche. He is now himself, aware of the different aspects that are part of his being and capable of distinguishing and separating himself from able to distinguish and separate himself from the world. The subject is a complete being, individuated and gradually becoming more and more autonomous (even being able to form his own ethical system).

Its importance in the formation of the personality

The process of individuation, understood as the one that allows us to become ourselves, is of extreme importance in the configuration of the personality, is of extreme importance in the shaping of the personality.. In fact, Jung himself considers individuation as a series of transformations aimed at achieving the midpoint of the personality, that is, the acquisition of an intermediate point that allows us to approach the conscious and the unconscious.

It should not be forgotten that the idea of individuation is to become oneself, integrating the different aspects of the personality and the psyche into a complete whole. This means to accept the presence of the different traits at our disposal and to value them and to value them, even those repressed and denied throughout life. The clearest example at the individual level is between the persona (the part of our personality that we show), and the shadow (the hidden and rejected one, which remains unconscious).

Individuation allows us to be free, to develop our own way of acting and seeing the world and not to limit ourselves to follow the path marked by our predecessors, allowing our way of being, seeing and acting to emerge in an independent and differentiated way. and differentiated. In short, let our personality emerge. With this, we will be able to make a life project coherent with who we are and live our life as the individuals we are.

Bibliographical references:

• Alonso, J.C. (2004). Jung's analytical psychology and its contributions to psychotherapy. Univ. Psychol. Bogotá (Colombia) 3 (1): 55-70.
• Jung, C. G. (1934). On the formation of the personality. In C. G. Jung, Reality of the soul (pp. 173-200). Buenos Aires: Losada.
• Muñoz, P. (2010). Being one-self: Introduction to the analytical psychology of C.G. Jung. Editorial Kaicron. Spain.
• Sassenfeld, A.M. (n.d.). Human development in Jungian psychology. Theory and clinical implications. Universidad de Chile.