The Intersection of Electroencephalography and Depth Psychology

Abstract

This hermeneutic intersection of electroencephalography (EEG) and psychodynamic psychotherapeutic principles connotes a connection between Jungian and Freudian lenses and neuroscience yet unseen in published literature. Within this dissertation, the corollary between EEG and Jung and Freud’s respective models of the psyche and the spectrum of brainwaves is detailed via comparisons between (a) Jung’s collective unconscious/Freud’s unconscious and delta (1-4 Hz), (b) Jung’s personal unconscious/Freud’s preconscious and theta (4-8 Hz), (c) active imagination and alpha (9-12 Hz), (d) ego and beta (13-30 Hz), and (e) the act of individuation and gamma (30+ Hz). Lastly, the neuroscientific realm of connectonomics and self-emergent properties of complex systems are linked to the concepts of synchronicity and the transcendent function. Using findings in quantitative EEG and raw EEG data, the concluding chapter is a detailed account of trends seen in patients suffering from psychopathologies, their psychological goings on, and the neurophysical manifestation of their symptoms.