Brief & In-Depth – Embodied Imagination –

Brief and In-Depth leads to insights and "new ways of getting over the dreaded impasse."

Carl Jung (Nature of Dreams in The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1960)

Brief and In - Depth

Brief and In – Depth is a short-term therapeutic method. It originated with individuals who would travel, perhaps once a year, to Switzerland for brief periods of intense analysis with Jung and other analysts.

Brief and In-Depth, is both a new approach to short-term therapy and an innovative method that can be applied to a variety of areas not only psychotherapy. For a series of 8 to 10 weekly sessions therapist and client meet to work on a particular core issue. This may be relationship or professional problem, health issue, creative block or emotional issue.

The method is a revival of a practice that privileges dreams and memories and focuses on unconscious processes, rather than a cognitive approach. The process uses a modern version of the Asclepian incubation practices, that were once part of that ancient tradition of healing. Brief and In-Depth initiates and builds up an ongoing series of incubation experiences over each session.
Through this work individuals experience deeply the value of their dreams and memories and the method taps into them as a deep source of wisdom and healing.

Brief and In-depth Experience

In my Brief and In-depth work, I decided to focus on my steadily worsening Multiple Sclerosis condition which was first diagnosed 10 years earlier. The work began with some key symptoms from my most recent Multiple Sclerosis relapse. I was amazed at the experience of travelling deep within my body to the source of the discomfort of 3 different symptoms and the richness of the material that was to be discovered there.

We worked together for 10 weeks on the ensuing dreams. From the first, which featured a dancing man threatening me with a gun outside my bedroom window, the dreams ranged from dreams of torture and dismemberment to family members gathered at a prayer meeting, an imam figure at a market place, a Jewish rabbi sitting at table and culminating in a dream in a cathedral where a tall man with glasses handed me a note [which was unable to be read] and a feast was laid out to which I was especially invited.

The review of my dream sequence was remarkable when I understood the progression from extreme discomfort to the appearance of figures from so many different religions. It was unexpected but somehow unsurprising that my dreams highlighted the spiritual element to my healing and it was clear to both Robert and me that the cathedral dream was the final one. This was borne out by the feelings I experienced for some time to follow. I felt that I could face and cope with anything; that all worries, stresses and tensions had vanished and in their place was a deep sense of well-being. I experienced a wonderful lightness of spirit.
The long term result: my MS symptoms remain however my deterioration is now at a snail’s pace; at 68, I feel healthier than I did 10 years ago; I live a full and rich life with a manageable chronic condition.

The dreams remain vivid in my mind. I was not seeking a cure for my condition, however my psyche has been deeply healed and I am better able to cope with the challenges of my daily life.