Editorial

Transformation is at the very heart of the work in our consulting rooms. This issue takes up this theme and explores the topic from various angles. A research perspective on transformation was taken at a conference in Freiburg/Germany from October 4–6, 2024, which was organised under the lead of Prof. Christian Roesler with “The Process of Transformation” as the central theme. The first three articles of this issue by Christian Roesler, Eckhard Frick and Lorraine Freedle are plenary papers from this rich conference.

Christian Roesler opened the conference with his paper entitled “The Process of Transformation—The Core of Analytical Psychology and How it Can be Investigated”. He took Jung's theory of archetypes as his starting point by explaining that Jung's endeavour to create a map of a universal transformation process to inform psychotherapeutic work was without solid research evidence. Roesler shows that it is possible to find four distinctly different theories contained within the concept of archetypal theory. Roesler questions the validity of a universal process of individuation with the various stages as described by Jung. Instead, Roesler states that there is a great need for research on psychotherapeutic processes. As an example of such research, Roesler reported results from the Structural Dream Analysis research project. He acknowledges that Jung's general idea of a helping force in the unconscious, manifesting itself in symbols, images and narrative patterns such as in dreams, is an important contribution to the field of psychotherapy, but without recourse to what he calls “dubious statements about its biological foundation, or by drawing questionable parallels to the fields of anthropology, religion, prehistory and the like.”

Eckhard Frick, a Jungian analyst and a Jesuit who accompanies Ignatian retreats, continued the theme of transformation with his paper entitled “The Spiritual Path of Transformation”. He introduces several concepts of spiritual transfo