INTERVIEW WITH THOMAS KIRSCH MD
XIXTH IAAP CONGRESS, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, 21st AUGUST 2013
Dr Thomas Kirsch
Dr Kirsch is the son of two first generation Jungian analysts, James and Hilde Kirsch, who began their analytic work with Jung in 1929. Dr. Kirsch Picture Through his family he met many of the first generation of Jungian analysts. He is a graduate of Yale Medical School (1961) and completed his psychiatric residency at Stanford Medical Center in 1965. A graduate of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, he has served there in many capacities, including being president from 1976 – 1978. From 1977 until 1989 he served as a vice-president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, and from 1989 – 1995 as president. He has also been a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis since 1976. Author of many papers on dreams, history of analytical psychology, and the analytic relationship, and editor of Jungian sections in encyclopedias and psychoanalytic dictionaries, he has now written a book on the history of analytical psychology. In addition to his private practice, he is on the faculty of the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco and a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the Stanford Medical Center.
The interview in Copehagen. From the right: Thomas Kirsch, Malgorzata Kalinowska, Tomek Jasinski
TK – Tom Kirsch
TJ – Tomek J. Jasiński
ŁM – Łukasz Müldner-Nieckowski
MK: We are very happy to be able to talk to you today. For some time we have been reflecting on the relationship between the history of analytical psychology and the developments of Jungian Associations as well as its relationship to the individual and group identity. As you know there are two Jungian groups in Poland, that have a status of the IAAP Router Groups. We are one of them.
TK: Are there any Jungian books translated into Polish?
MK: Main part of Jung’s CW is translated, but not the whole edition. Some books by Marie Louise von Franz, Marion Woodman, one book by James Hillman, but there is almost nothing of post-Jungian psychology and its clinical application. This is also the reason for this interview. We thought that to be able to promote Jungian psychology in Poland, we need to show its roots, its development since Jung. Our plan is to include the interview in this year’s newsletter of our group, it will be published both in Polish and in English.
TJ: I thought that it is particularly important, since the whole history of analytical psychology is so complex – and complicated – I hope you can imagine that for people like in Poland it is particularly difficult, where there is so little access to data, to information, to literature in Polish.
TK: You looked to my book “The Jungians”.
TJ: Yes. We know your book. It is in the syllabus of our training. We are now after the first edition of the preliminary training, the group is just about to start the advanced level, and the second group is starting this September.
We think of doing the translations of Jungian literature also. And that is a huge project, very long term, needless to say I guess.
TK: Yes [Laughing].
MK: So actually, as you can see from what Tomek just said, we are again at the beginnings. Again there are the beginnings and pioneering in Jungian psychology. And that is why we thought it would be great to meet with you and talk about the beginnings, and what’s next, and see how does it really feel to be so close to the history of Jungian psychology again.
TJ: So then it was an obvious first question: how did you get involved in Jungian psychology, you know, in the first instance?
