Maltese clinical psychologist, Jungian analyst and Gestalt psychotherapist Laner Cassar has recently had a new book published by Routledge entitled Jung’s Technique of Active Imagination and Desoille’s Directed Waking Dream Method.
The book brings together for the first time Carl Jung’s active imagination and Robert Desoille’s ‘rêve éveillé dirigé/directed waking dream’ method (RED). It traces the historical development of these approaches in central Europe in the first half of the 20th century which influenced the development of both Jung’s and Desoille’s methods.
In the book, Cassar also attempts a broader theoretical comparison between the procedural aspects of both RED and active imagination by identifying commonalities and divergences between the two approaches. Consequently, he proposes an integrated framework of clinical practice named Imaginative Movement Therapy.
The book is an excellent contribution to analytical psychology given its impressive historical scholarship.
Training Jungian analyst Prof. Andrew Samuels described it as a “unique book” and “an excellent resource for academics, researchers and practitioners” interested in the use of imagination and mental imagery in analysis, psychotherapy and counselling.
Jungian academic and historian Dr Kevin Lu added that the book is “critical, engaging and highly original” and strikes a very good “balance between academic rigour and clinical utility”.
Cassar holds a PhD in psychoanalytic studies from the Centre of Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex, UK. He is president of the Malta Jungian Developing Group (IAAP) and the International Network for the Study of Waking Dream Therapy (INSWDT).