Four Pillars of Jungian Psychoanalysis

Murray Stein takes the extraordinarily complex and distills it in such a way it is immediately absorbable. This book greatly assisted me in my own therapy. I highly recommend.

I truly hate to say this about one of Murray Stein's books because I have read several of them and find them absolutely insightful, well-written, and invaluable to learning about Jungian theory - but this one, Four Pillars of Jungian Psychoanalysis, is just plain boring! It reads like a casual blog post with some general musings about Jungian concepts. Not only is it short - but it lacks any and all depth. My advice is to save your money and just look up the four pillars (Individuation, Analytic Relationship, Dreams, and Active Imagination) online and you'll find much more information than is offered in this book.

Dr. Stein distills the wisdom of his long career as a Jungian analyst, writer, and teacher in this very clearly written and charming book. It is a wonderful resource for beginning therapists wanting to explore the Jungian approach. Experienced Jungian-oriented psychotherapists can round out their knowledge with what Dr. Stein regards as the four key "pillars."

It shows a perfect synthesis of how and why Depth Psychology or Jungian Psychoanalysis differs from other psychological theories and therapeutic practices.