The Wounded Healer Archetype In An Age of Pathologized Suffering

gaze up at the night sky and if you know where to look you'll see the curus constellation five light years away is a reminder of a myth from closer to home the constellation named after Chiron King of the Centaur the halfman half horse became a wise mentor to many Greek Heroes including Hercules and achilles Chiron suffered the cruel fate of being abandoned at Birth eventually he was adopted by Apollo who taught Chiron many skills including medicine music prophecy poetry and law Chiron distinguished himself from other Centaur who were violent and impulsive by harmonizing Primal instincts

with reason and logic later in life Chiron was accidentally struck by a poisoned aror while living in unbearable pain chiron's Mastery of The Healing Arts was driven by a search for a cure for himself while he never succeeded in healing himself he brought comfort and healing to many others and so the myth of the Wounded healer was born which later inspired Carl Young's description of healing professionals whose wounds motivate them to serve others the poet roomie also spoke to the power of the Wounded healer as a path to transformation when he said the wound is

the place where the light enters you only by examining our own wounds can we truly discover wholeness the unique expression of this life and what we are called to bring forth into the world to help others however befitting Greek mythology ology that is a Herculean task like all archetypes the wounded healer has its shadow polarities constellated within our inner Universe which can dim the light within the wound this installment of archetypes of Awakening will explore the delicate journey of psychological and emotional healing through the wounded healer Shadow polarities victimhood and savior Hood the passive shadow

of victimhood is often rooted in shame name and manifest as a resistance or complete refusal to examine one's own wounds unconsciously the person may record evidence of their persecution moaning about the state of the world and their problems overlooking their responsibility and power to enact change and how they contribute to Dynamics and situations that cause pain the active shadow of Savior hood is often rooted in Pride and manifests as a denial of One's Own wounds and an exaggerated sometimes delusional belief in one's to heal others this may start as a desire to mask their wounds

and regulate their Pain by excessively attending to others needs not only does this codependency act as a painkiller it can inadvertently fuel the Assumption the person they're trying to save is powerless like all archetypes one polarity can swing to another for example Someone caught in savior Hood May overextend themselves leaving them exhausted and frustrated by the ingratitude of those they're trying to take care of swinging them towards victim hood or someone CAU in victimhood May project the role of victim onto others swinging them into the Savior Hood polarity in undertaking this exploration we seek not

to minimize or negate the very real visceral suffering many have experienced some people have been victims of horrific circumstances others with great effort have striven to alleviate the suffering of others in the role of helper what we offer is a different perspective one that aims to show how our wounds and the suffering they create can become pathologized a problem to be fixed and contained instead of an opportunity for personal and systemic transformation in an age of pathologize suffering these polarities can manifest in the dynamic between psychiatrist and patient where the patient may willingly hand over

all responsibility for their healing to the expert point of view in talking therapy someone may expect their therapist to have all the answers and heal them instead of using the support to cultivate inner resourcefulness unintentionally a therapist or healing professional can fuel this Dynamic by projecting woundedness onto the patient safely compartmentalizing themselves as the Healer in the words of yungan analyst Jane clap savior complexes in helping professions occupational hazards that we must stay vigilant about so that we don't forget we are wounded healers that is humans coming together with another human to support them not

rescue them if we forget our woundedness we can unconsciously create power dynamics in the diad that lead to states of inflation and false omnipotence pathologizing is intertwined with diagnosing it is true that a diagnosis or label can validate suffering and cultivate self-compassion and in some cases such as some neurod Divergent diagnoses they may free the individual from the pathologization of their symptoms Syms and affirm their unique expression of wholeness but there is always a risk that a diagnosis becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that stifles growth due to identification with perceived Brokenness especially when the disorder is

explained as lifelong and incurable as Yan analyst and poet Marian Woodman said healing means making whole and very often in our culture it's confused with curine which brings in an outside medicine or surgery to interfere with the inner process so as I see healing it's allowing our psyche to work with us to bring wholeness to our being the excessive pathologizing of mental health is based on an Ever narrowing definition of normal anything that falls outside of this range is considered abnormal echoing the pathologization of the feminine and its capacities a hill by the church and

its Mal minions in the medieval Witch Trials today medical institutions and Commercial pharmaceutical interests are Gatekeepers to the definition of normal and consequently Madness or Insanity doctors and psychiatrists run the risk of becoming institutional minions by defending the top- down definition of normal as a fixed objective [Music] truth if you talk to God you are praying if God talks to you you have schizophrenia Thomas says anyone navigating the path of the Wounded healer will find the burden of culture with them with every step and every corner turned as we explored in decoding the artist archetype

since the Age of Enlightenment the rise of reason and the scientific method has disenchanted the world with no space for the Divine increasingly religious or so-called Supernatural experiences of viewed as delusions psychosis or more extreme personality disorders such as schizophrenia we must ask metaphorically if God talks to you are you mad it's apt that K Young's work was inspired by schizophrenic patients during his research on the many symbols and myths that make up the infrastructure of the collective unconscious in the documentary crazywise Phil Boris a photographer who spent decades recording indigenous cultures shares fascinating accounts

of how tribal Healers Visionaries and Chans had experiences that closely matched Western models of Madness prior to embodying their gift of healing Boris astutely notes the influence of the medical approach to treating mental illness we are now pathologizing the normal human experience the list of disorders in the diagnostic and statistical Manual of mental disorders written by the American Psychiatric association has grown by 300% since it was first published in 1952 the DSM is referenced as the Bible of psychiatric disorders if so pathologizing is its Dogma worryingly expanding concepts of mental illness gives authority to medicalize

a wider net of experience in 2016 Dr Nick Haslam introduced concept creep Theory to explain this phenomenon Haslam outlines two axes of semantic inflation horizontal creep forms new categories with medications to match whereas vertical creep results in the relaxation of diagnostic criteria an extreme example of concept creep was illustrated by the backlash to the DSM including prolonged grief disorder to grief which lasts longer than 6 months even if it followed the loss of a long-standing relationship it is not insignificant to note that every disorder becomes fair game to treat pharmaceutically in what must be an

unfortunate coincidence 60% of psychiatrists who contributed to the 2022 edition of the DSM received payments from Big Farmer in the west the so-called medicalization of human experience has left us apprehensive and disconnected from the fullness of the inner World suffering must be contained or erased rather than as roomy suggested seen as the beginning of a healing process through which great potential and Gifts can emerge although there is is a growing movement to view mental health issues such as anxiety depression and complex trauma with more compassion and less stigma the further reaches of the inner world

are still misunderstood and feared non-ordinary states are marginalized as extremes Beyond hope the Visionary is mad the Sharman crazy the prophet deluded while the wound is clear the Healer can be harder to find for many the immensity of suffering and the intrusive and unconventional nature of non-ordinary states is too much to bear suffering may be lifelong symptoms forever managed many don't make it this can't be overlooked however a revision of the cultural understanding of Madness would go some way to giving more people hope and a better shot at finding the light in the darkest of

times include him within that wounded experience in Madness in Civilization French philosopher Mikel Fuko traces a historical account of Madness fuk argued the idea of Reason became synonymous with what kind of thought and behavior was permissible he believed reason had become institutionalized and those who descent are viewed as mad or irrational and dealt with accordingly he relates how in the Middle Ages the view of Madness in Europe was similar to indigenous tribes many saw the potential for wisdom with fables and myths showing the mad man as a truth teller but in the 17th century in

what was known as the great confinement masses of marginalized and social outcasts were institutionalized Madness became heavily stigmatized leading to the development of asylums in the 18th and 19th centuries fuk writes Madness is the false punishment of a false solution but by its own virtue it brings to light the real problem which can then be truly resolved the false solution of excessive medicalization reveals the real human problem of the zealousness and greed of profit motivated disenchanted Industries capitalizing on human suffering fortunately many healers in the fields of psychology and Psychiatry have refused to have Blind

Faith in the western model and dead to question the evolution of humanistic and body based psychologies offer a different perspective on symptoms which might otherwise be pathologized the the integration of the Divine is evident in yunion philosophy transpersonal psychology internal family systems and more founders of holotropic breath work stanislav and Christina grth argue many experiences that are labeled as psychosis and treated with suppressive medication are difficult stages of radical personality transformation and of spiritual opening if understood and supported these crises can result in psychosomatic healing remarkable psychological transformation and Consciousness Evolution suffering has to be

embraced for transformation to occur the opposite of suppression it cannot be bypassed by embracing superficial spirituality it requires Great courage Pioneer psychiatrist Ari Lang captures the Paradox of diving head first into perceived Madness in his description of true sanity where the normal ego adjusted to society dissolves spiritual emergency involves the emergence of inner archetypal mediators of divine power and the eventual reestablishment of a new kind of ego functioning the ego now being the servant of the Divine no longer its betrayer the emergence of divine power the light which has emerged from within the wound can

lead to Identity Crisis and confusion the birth of a new self oriented in the Divine not disconnected but part of the universal whole has stages of immense suffering The Dark Knight of the Soul conding psychosis the surfacing of trauma activation of the inner eye can all be further conflated with Madness or mental health disorders interfering with this process almost all spiritual Traditions East and West contain examples of divine Madness Socrates breaks down Divine Madness into four categories each associated with a specific God prophecy the gift of Apollo mystical Revel a and purification the gift of

dionysis poetic inspiration the gift of the muses and The Madness of love the gift of Aphrodite and iros the central Paradox of the Wounded healer is risking Madness to discover sanity if the person suffering and the support network around them stays true to the course without pathologizing or numbing meeting the struggle with Compassion Care and patience spiritual rebirth and transformation can occur the divine within the madness May imbue life with a new sense of divinity and meaning fortunately the path is paved thanks to a unique perspective on a mythological Journey known so well in the

Western World whatever you believe about the life of Jesus Christ the power of His archetypal narrative is undeniable evoking a strong emotional and spiritual response for Millennia Christ's martyrdom in embracing his crucifixion and allowing himself to be wounded as a selfless Noble sacrifice transcends victim and savior Hood to reveal a higher purpose to open the door to a new level of Consciousness interestingly the wounded healer Shadow polarities can attach to the blueprint of the latter stages of the story fixation on the crucifixion amplifies the sense of victimhood and purposeless suffering fixation on the resurrection amplifies

the sense of Savior by spiritually bypassing the required descent which is essential for both humility and wholeness what is missing is what happens between the crucifixion and Resurrection referencing Rudolph Steiner's greatest spiritual event of our time in his book and dreaming matio author and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner Paul levie highlights how mirroring the shamanic Journey between Christ's crucifixion as symbolic of the recognition of suffering and Resurrection as symbolic of the integration of wholeness there was a descent into the underworld in this archetypal domain the wounded healer comes face to face with the duality of light and

dark Heaven and Hell good and evil Christ's confrontation with his polar opposite the Antichrist was essential for his transformation it's perhaps no coincidence that evil is live backwards Levy explains this as a call to action which when embraced activates transpersonal forces although at first glance this encounter can be fear inducing the redeeming quality is the realization that the darkness is inferior to the force of light be that of awareness compassion love or curiosity Christ story is an enduring reminder that although now used as a cynical cliche love and light is a blueprint etched into the

fabric of the cosmos the medicine required to overcome hatred and the perception of Darkness indeed Christ's archetypal Journey may be the only way to overcome what Native Americans called wio a contagious psychospiritual disease of the Soul currently being acted out on mass on the world stage via an Insidious Collective psychosis of Titanic proportions this mind virus covertly operates through the unconscious blind spots in the human psyche random ing people oblivious to their own Madness and compelling them to act against their own best interests the collective psychosis of wio is the polar opposite of divine Madness

rather than a gift of the gods that fuels inspiration or service wio is a life- suffocating impulse that gravitates towards fear isolation and regression often defending consensus reality even when its deviance is plain to see for us we don't have to reenact the story of Christ in its extremes but understand it archetypally K young young phrased this another way when he said the hero's main feat is to overcome the monster of Darkness it is the long hoped for an expected Triumph of Consciousness over the unconscious we can embark on this hero or heroine's journey by

recognizing our suffering as a signal of an underlying sense of Separation a wounded experience from our p past that remains unintegrated inquiring into the suffering to meet our fears and recognize the dismembered and fragmented parts of self which have become distorted while hidden in the shadow being willing to give up an old identity belief ideology relationship long-established goals or even basic Comforts to embrace and reintegrate these parts into a new constellation of wholeness we can look to another archetype for help the Midwife the French word for midwife wife s fem translates to wise woman the

wounded healer is a psychic Midwife who Embraces the wisdom of the feminine deep intuition and sense in to embrace and transform one's own suffering once sufficiently familiar with birthing new self the wounded healer a psychic Midwife can support others through a similar process while continuing to work on themselves in short the wisdom of her wounded experience and healing is her medicine to integrate the wounded healer archetype balance must be found between owning one's gifts and highest possibilities without to coming to delusions of grandeur between confronting wounds responsibly without being overwhelmed or overidentified with those wounds

as you embrace the Healer within one step at a time allow yourself to gaze up at the night sky to be inspired by the noble cause of helping others never forgetting the importance of helping yourself never forgetting each of us has the ability to heal never forgetting the wound is where the light enters you [Music]