• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.129-183
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• 2024

This study is an attempt to get closer to the psychological truth of alcohol addiction. After reviewing previous related studies, the experiences of Korean alcoholics were examined, encompassing both the conscious and unconscious aspects. In order to approach the unconscious, the researcher paid attention to the series of dreams that the patients reported, from the perspective of Jungian dream analysis. Working with dreams brought considerable benefits in increasing patient's involvement in the therapeutic process and fostering therapist-patient alliance. It also helped to understand patients' conscious and unconscious aspects further. The results were as follows. On the conscious level, patients showed a long-standing alienation from their true emotional needs, a lack of sufficient experience in genuinely expressing and being accepted with one's own emotion, resulting in the need for emotional re-experience, along with the intense longing for maternal affection. This also meant that they were in need for maternal re-experience, and at the same time, for the associated paternal re-experience. Furthermore, the researcher identified that certain powerful archetypal complexes had been activated in the patient's unconscious in response to their conscious situations, triggering the destructive shadows to emerge and exert a strong influence on their conscious lives. The series of reported dreams shows how the unconscious always properly and diligently compensates, modifying the perspective and attitude of the conscious and gradually opening the doors to healing, even for alcoholic patients. This indicates that the unconscious carries out a specific and consistent guidance role so the conscious can realize and adequately respond to it, and that it also provides the creative force for transforming the conscious life. These findings suggest that alcohol addiction is a psychological condition that can jeopardize one's life by allowing the powerful energy of the unconscious to penetrate the conscious, but at the same time, have the purpose and direction to urge the creative transformation of one's conscious life. From these results, it can be concluded that the first step towards true recovery is for the individual to turn their attention towards the psychological truth occurring within themselves. In this regard, the therapist's role is crucial. This also suggests that various attempts in the field of addiction treatment will blossom their real values when they contribute, directly or indirectly, to the development of one's self-awareness since as long as one continues to turn away from the psychological truth and persist in craving for false objects, their creative healing properties in the unconscious could rather have negative and destructive impacts on their life.