Shadow (psychology)

In analytical psychology, the shadow (also known as ego-dystonic complex, repressed id, shadow aspect, or shadow archetype) is an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow, leading to a conflict with it. In short, the shadow is the self's emotional blind spot - the part the ego does not want to acknowledge - projected as archetypes—or, in a metaphorical sense-image complexes, personified within the collective unconscious; e.g., trickster.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

^ Beebe, John (2004). "Understanding consciousness through the theory of psychological types". In Cambray, Joseph; Carter, Linda (eds.). Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis. Advancing Theory in Therapy. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-58391-999-6. Opposing Personality [...] Senex/Witch [...] Trickster [...] Demonic Personality [...] EGO-DYSTONIC COMPLEXES Shadow.
^ Solomon, Hester McFarland (2004). "The ethical attitude in analytic training and practice". In Cambray, Joseph; Carter, Linda (eds.). Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis. Advancing Theory in Therapy. Routledge. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-58391-999-6. The shadow, that portion of the self that the ego designates as bad and projects as unwanted, carries what is treacherous and subversive ⁠— what is unethical and immoral ⁠— within the self and hides it, relegating its contents to unconscious areas within the psyche where it can be lived out in projection, using and abusing the other as a vehicle for the bad aspects of the self.
^ Jung, Carl (1971). "Aion: Phenomenology of the Self (The Ego, the Shadow, the Syzygy: Anima/Animus)". In Campbell, Joseph (ed.). The Portable Jung. Penguin Books. pp. 145, 146. ISBN 978-0-14-015070-4. The shadow is the moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality [...] To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. [...] dark characteristics[...]the inferiorities constituting the shadow[...]have an emotional nature, a kind of autonomy, and accordingly an obsessive or, better, a possessive quality. [...] These resistances are usually bound up with projections, which are not recognized as such, and their recognition is a moral achievement beyond the ordinary.
^ Hillman, James (1977). Re-Visioning Psychology. Harper. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-06-090563-7. Archetypal psychology envisions the fundamental ideas of the psyche to be expressed of persons—Hero, Nymph, Mother, Senex, Child, Trickster, Amazon, Puer and many other specific prototypes bearing the names and stories of the Gods. These are the root metaphors.
^ Avens, Roberts (1977). "The Image of the Devil in C. G. Jung's Psychology". Journal of Religion and Health. 16 (3): 196–222. doi:10.1007/BF01533320. JSTOR 27505406. PMID 24318090. S2CID 13610615. Retrieved 2022-06-25. The shadow symbolizes our 'other side,' the unrecognizable and disowned, animal-like personality rejected by the ego. [...] [T]he trickster, in Jung's psychology, is the collective shadow figure par excellence.

[1] Beebe, John (2004). "Understanding consciousness through the theory of psychological types". In Cambray, Joseph; Carter, Linda (eds.). Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis. Advancing Theory in Therapy. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-58391-999-6. Opposing Personality [...] Senex/Witch [...] Trickster [...] Demonic Personality [...] EGO-DYSTONIC COMPLEXES Shadow.

[2] Solomon, Hester McFarland (2004). "The ethical attitude in analytic training and practice". In Cambray, Joseph; Carter, Linda (eds.). Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis. Advancing Theory in Therapy. Routledge. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-58391-999-6. The shadow, that portion of the self that the ego designates as bad and projects as unwanted, carries what is treacherous and subversive ⁠— what is unethical and immoral ⁠— within the self and hides it, relegating its contents to unconscious areas within the psyche where it can be lived out in projection, using and abusing the other as a vehicle for the bad aspects of the self.

[3] Jung, Carl (1971). "Aion: Phenomenology of the Self (The Ego, the Shadow, the Syzygy: Anima/Animus)". In Campbell, Joseph (ed.). The Portable Jung. Penguin Books. pp. 145, 146. ISBN 978-0-14-015070-4. The shadow is the moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality [...] To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. [...] dark characteristics[...]the inferiorities constituting the shadow[...]have an emotional nature, a kind of autonomy, and accordingly an obsessive or, better, a possessive quality. [...] These resistances are usually bound up with projections, which are not recognized as such, and their recognition is a moral achievement beyond the ordinary.

[4] Hillman, James (1977). Re-Visioning Psychology. Harper. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-06-090563-7. Archetypal psychology envisions the fundamental ideas of the psyche to be expressed of persons—Hero, Nymph, Mother, Senex, Child, Trickster, Amazon, Puer and many other specific prototypes bearing the names and stories of the Gods. These are the root metaphors.

[5] Avens, Roberts (1977). "The Image of the Devil in C. G. Jung's Psychology". Journal of Religion and Health. 16 (3): 196–222. doi:10.1007/BF01533320. JSTOR 27505406. PMID 24318090. S2CID 13610615. Retrieved 2022-06-25. The shadow symbolizes our 'other side,' the unrecognizable and disowned, animal-like personality rejected by the ego. [...] [T]he trickster, in Jung's psychology, is the collective shadow figure par excellence.

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