Introduction

       Behind Closed Doors:

who is sitting in the therapist’s chair?

Who are we as therapists when we work? Why do I work this way? How does my therapeutic work unfold?

Australian and New Zealand Society of Jungian Analysts

Professional Development Seminar, June 2025

The question of psychological therapy is exceedingly complex. We know for certain that . . . any method or any procedure or any theory, seriously believed, conscientiously applied, can have a most remarkable therapeutic effect.

Therapeutic efficacy is by no means the prerogative of any particular system; what counts is the character and attitude of the therapist.
~ C.G. JUNG CW 18 PAR 1071 (1953)

INTRODUCTION

Opening Remarks

 Juliana Kaya Prpic, Chair ANZSJA Public Program Committee



Jung once said, “I’m glad I’m not a Jungian.” It is a deceptively simple remark that, like so much of his thought, opens a door — an invitation into nuance, into inner freedom, into the ongoing task of becoming. It was this spirit of curiosity and individuation that gave rise to the event Behind Closed Doors: Who is sitting in the therapist’s chair?

At its heart was a wish to create a space where therapists from different traditions could speak from within their own practice — not to teach or prescribe, but to share something of what it means to sit, day after day, in that singular, silent, and sacred space we call the therapist’s chair. Each contribution, shaped by personal history, theoretical lineage, and felt experience, formed part of a mosaic — diverse, textured, and alive.

As Chair of the ANZSJA Public Program Committee, I wanted this to be more than a seminar. I hoped it would be a threshold — where stories could be told not only about analytic and therapeutic work, but from within it. Where Jungians, Freudians, Bionians, object relations thinkers, and group analysts could speak in conversation, not competition — recognising that each tradition holds something precious, and that the psyche thrives not in uniformity but in resonance.

Diversity, here, is not a challenge to be managed, but a richness to be received. Each presenter brings something of their singularity to the work — and each analysand, in turn, finds the particular quality of listening they need. The field between them is made of such things: not only theory and technique, but voice, memory, character, and presence.
The generous reflections shared in these papers remind us that while we may use different languages, we are all labouring at the same threshold — listening for what longs to be spoken, bearing what has never been held, and dreaming new meaning into being.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank ANZSJA members Jacinta Frawley and Patrick Burnett for developing and bringing the seminar to fruition and to Jacinta Frawley for preparing the papers for publication.

Welcome on behalf of the ACPP Board

Michael Moore, ACPP Board Member

In August 2024, the ACPP held a one-day Conference on the theme of Unity and Diversity: “I am large, I contain multitudes” (Issue 24: Collected Papers from the ACPP Conference Sydney. Psychoanalysis Downunder. Jan 2025). I was the coordinator, and along with the ACPP Board, we hoped that the conference would activate a desire within the four Member Associations to better understand each other, and to be better understood. To paraphrase the ACPP President, Rob Gordon: a desire to move forward in the task of creating a psychoanalytic community in Australasia, so “that we become a self-conscious community through the lively exchange of ideas and experiences to form a group which can become a resource to all of us who find a place within it”. The fact that the Conference led to two well-attended on-line forums subsequently, appears to reflect such a development.

By chance, prior to the ANZSJA event covered in this issue of Psychoanalysis Downunder, I was reading a reprint of a Lewis Aron lecture (Lewis Aron’s Last Lectures: Jung and Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 35 (1) pp 35-54) which discussed the striking relevance of Jungian ideas to the contemporary trends of psychoanalytic thinking and practice, as well as the striking lack of recognition of the existence of such connections. It was an interesting coincidence that ANZSJA was the member association that organised the program below, one that was inclusive of all the member associations.

The ACPP is grateful for ANZSJA’s initiative, as they have clearly provided another forum for a “lively exchange of ideas and experiences”.  We hope that the publication of the collected papers widens the audience and promotes further reflection.

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION TO THE PAPERS

Jacinta Frawley, seminar organiser and moderator, ANZSJA

Jacinta Frawley graduated from the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich in 2000. She is a Training Analyst and former Director of Training, ANZSJA. She has written and presented extensively on therapeutic topics and is an award-winning advocate for women’s health. Jacinta is currently Convenor of Ethics, ANZSJA. 

Welcome to the papers of Behind Closed Doors: who is sitting in the therapist’s chair?

The seminar was conceived in a conversation with Juliana Kaya Prpic, Chair of ANZSJA’s Public Programme Committee. Juliana was seeking a deepening of the themes of the ACPP’s August 2024 conference. That conference, entitled “I am large, I contain multitudes’ facilitated a rich conversation between representatives of each of the four member societies of the ACPP. Patrick Burnett and I had, respectively, moderated and presented at that conference and eagerly took up the tasks of developing a seminar to continue the conversation. Though respecting theory, clinical material and the history of the psychodynamic groups in our part of the world we were primarily interested in the personal lived experience of practitioners and so we wondered, who it is sitting behind those closed therapy doors. 

Taking inspiration from the C.G. Jung’s words, “Therapeutic efficacy is by no means the prerogative of any particular system; what counts is the character and attitude of the therapist” (CW 18 1953 para 1071). Patrick and I developed the seminar around three focus questions:

• Who are we as therapists when we work?

• Why do I work this way?

• How does my therapeutic work unfold?

With the endorsement of the ACPP we invited representatives of each of the four member societies to join us in a moderated discussion. Patrick Burnett (ANZSJA), Pia Hirsch and Peter Hengstberger (AAGP), Allan Shafer (PPAA) and Matt McArdle (APAS) have offered rich responses and insights. 

Each paper reflects a unique personal and professional history that shaped each presenter into the therapists they have become. The papers express deep curiosity about the human condition. Reflecting on personal history, cultural moments, mentors and ancestors, theorists and influences, the presenters share their experience of the fluidity and imagination of the therapeutic encounter which, within the frame, has space for dreams and play, projection and confusion, madness and hope, and in time deep human connection and healing. 

I whole-heartedly recommend these papers to readers and trust that they are a contribution to the rich fabric of ongoing conversation between member societies and individuals interested in the depth psychologies. We share a wealth of experience and curiosity about the human condition. 

I take this opportunity, on behalf of myself, Patrick Burnett, and Juliana Kaya Prpic to echo Michael Moore’s hope that this seminar will encourage further engagements within the rich therapeutic traditions of the ACPP.