AREAS OF SUPPORT

The Susan Bach Foundation provides financial contributions for research projects dealing with psychosomatic problems, synchronistic phenomena and their creative expression.

The foundation board is responsible for assessing applications and awarding funding to research projects in the following areas:

Significance of constellating factors in the research of pathogenesis/disease management and resilience (use of creative strategies)
Influence of psychological factors on the progression of somatic diseases
Research into archetypal influences in the management of chronic diseases
Psychosomatics in palliative medicine
Trauma therapy in a Jungian context
Connections between quantum physics and depth psychology
Research into Jungian themes (e.g. theory of complexes, mindfulness and imagination, the inner child)
Research into topics of current relevance for society (environmental influences on the psyches of children, young people and adults, e.g. digitalisation, artificial intelligence)
Furtherance of current research into the effectiveness of psychotherapy

The foundation board defines research as all systematic investigation in pursuit of new findings, and the documentation and publishing thereof, in the above areas.

What we do not do:

Provide support for commercially oriented research
Provide funding to cover previously-incurred deficits
Respond to generic applications that are not personally addressed

In principle, rejected applications will not be reconsidered. As a general rule, decisions of the foundation board are not subject to appeal. There is no legal right to support from the Susan Bach Foundation.

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EXAMPLES OF SUPPORTED PROJECTS

(Selection)

Roesler, Christian (2022)

Roesler, Christian (2022) Traumdeutung und empirische Traumforschung. Kohlhammer.

Träume und ihre Bedeutung haben Menschen schon immer beschäftigt und erscheinen oftmals seltsam bedeutungsvoll. Aber hat der Traum Bedeutung? Stellt er eine Verzerrung seiner tatsächlichen Inhalte dar oder eher eine umfassende Selbstdarstellung der Situation der Psyche? Ist der Traum als ein neurotisches Symptom zu verstehen, oder haben Träume nicht vielmehr ein kreatives und problemlösendes Potenzial? Was bedeuten diese unterschiedlichen Auffassungen für die klinische Arbeit mit Träumen? Auf Basis der empirischen Erkenntnisse beurteilt der Autor die Gültigkeit unterschiedlicher Traumtheorien und legt eine zeitgemässe, forschungsbasierte Theorie des Traumes und seiner Funktion vor. Ein Fokus liegt auf dem Vergleich zwischen Freud und Jung, die gegensätzliche Auffassungen über den Traum und seine Bedeutung für die Persönlichkeit vertreten.

Daniel, Renate (2022)

Daniel, Renate (2022) Psyche and Soma. A Holistic Approach to understanding the Mind-Body Connection. Daimon Verlag.

The Complex Theory developed by Carl Gustav Jung, along with his insights on emotions, imagination and the creative power of the psyche have paved the way for current research on the effect of placebos and the interactions between the psyche and the immune system. Jung’s concept of the mind-body relationship helps overcome misconceptions about root cases, guilt, and blame. It is important to note that the prevention and treatment of physical diseases are impossible without embracing the human psyche, as exemplified by numerous case studies from psychotherapeutic practice that serve to illustrate the content of this book.

Heintz, Birgit (2021)

Heintz, Birgit (2021) Empathie auf vier Hufen. Einblicke in Erleben und Wirkung pferdegestützter Psychotherapie. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Welche Wirkungen können Pferde in einem tiefenpsychologisch fundierten, psychotherapeutischen Setting entfalten? Bewegende Gespräche mit Patientinnen und Therapeutinnen gewähren einen lebendigen Eindruck der faszinierenden Arbeit mit Pferden in der Psychotherapie. Die sehr persönlichen Perspektiven ihrer Gesprächspartnerinnen rahmt die Autorin mit aktuellen Erkenntnissen aus Neurobiologie und Säuglingsforschung sowie der Evolutionsgeschichte der Empathie. Resonanzphänomene und Einflüsse auf das Übertragungsgeschehen in dem Beziehungsdreieck Therapeutin-Pferd-Patientin beschreibt sie detailliert. Dieser fundierte Einblick in die Praxis pferdegestützter Psychotherapie ist eine Fundgrube für all diejenigen, die sich sowohl für die psychologischen Zusammenhänge als auch für das Wesen der Pferde interessieren.

Schuh, Claudia (2019)

Schuh, Claudia (2019). Darum. Warum? Grundlagen zur Entwicklung von Zeichnen und Malen. (Because. Why? The Fundamentals of Development of Drawing and Painting) ATHENA Verlag.

This book deals with the fundamental aspects of the development of drawing and painting in children. The stages of consciousness of children and young people and their effect on drawing and painting are explored. The book also examines what resources from childhood are available to adults. The theoretical basis presented in this book for the effect of psychological, intellectual and motor development and of perception on artistic creation is an area which has not yet been well researched but is of great interest. It comprises theories and research results from a variety of fields, as well as specific examples of drawings and pictures by children, young people and artists. The interdisciplinary work spans several subjects and links the relevant findings. In addition, the complete theory is reviewed and explained using practical examples. (From the foreword p. 9, translated from German.)

Ammann, Ruth, Kast, Verena, & Riedel, Ingrid (ED.) (2018)

Ammann, Ruth, Kast, Verena, & Riedel, Ingrid (ed.). (2018). Das Buch der Bilder. Schätze aus dem Archiv des C.G. Jung-Instituts Zürich (The Book of Images. Treasures from the Archive of the C.G. Jung Institute Zurich) Patmos Verlag.

From around 1917 onwards, C.G. Jung encouraged his patients to produce pictures of their dreams and fantasies. Using the imagination, creating pictures, understanding images as symbols, as well as working therapeutically with pictures and healing splits in the psyche through symbolic image-making – these approaches are at the heart of Jungian theory and therapy. Jolande Jacobi, a close colleague of Jung, collected around 4,500 pictures done by C.G. Jung’s patients. Also in the archive, however, are around 6,000 pictures from her own patients. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Jung Institute, the publication of this book, which contains several of the pictures together with texts reflecting on them, brings the treasures of our archive to a wider audience. In addition, a selection of the pictures with a variety of themes were exhibited at the Museum Lagerhaus, Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut, in St. Gallen. The book therefore serves also as an exhibition catalogue.
(From the foreword p. 9, translated from German.)

Brutsche, Paul (2018)

Brutsche, Paul (2018). Creativity. Patterns of Creative Imagination as Seen Through Art. Spring Journal Books.

In his trenchant and all encompassing analysis of the emergence of autonomous imagination in the works of artists, Paul Brutsche lays out a theory of creativity that is deeply grounded in Western philosophy and contemporary Jungian thought.
(Murray Stein)

Paul Brutsche gifts us with a jewel of a book on the autonomous creative force that trespasses on intellectual and artistic skills, exerting its archetypal demands on the whole personality of the creator. In erudite and highly differentiated ways, drawing from manifold sources and decades of experience as a Jungian Analyst, Brutsche carefully leads us from painting to painting, inviting our participation in myriad and mysterious expressions of creative energy. A truly unique book that opens areas hitherto neglected in the literature on creative imagination. (Kathrin Asper)

Zoja Pattis, Eva, & Liturri, Liliana (2017)

Zoja Pattis, Eva, & Liturri, Liliana (2017). Träume im Klassenzimmer erzählen. Eine praktische Anleitung für die Traumstunden. (Telling Dreams in the Classroom. A Practical Guide for Dream Sessions) (Translated into German from the Italian by Elisabeth Zoja) Psychosozial Verlag.

Dreams show what is moving inside of us. Telling them to others builds bridges of empathy. Children in particular benefit from the cathartic effect of telling dreams. This book presents a project that can easily be implemented in primary schools and gives children direct access to their inner world. The “dream session” provides a counterbalance to the visual and virtual over-stimulation that many children of primary-school age are exposed to today, and encourages development of empathy. When a child tells or draws their dream, the other children are encouraged to approach the dream content in an open and non-judgemental way. The children learn to admire and respect their own and others’ interior worlds; their social skills, imagination and capacity for empathy improve as a result.

Wirtz, Ursula (2014)

Wirtz, Ursula (2014). Trauma and Beyond: The Mystery of Transformation. Spring Journal Books.

In Trauma and Beyond, Ursula Wirtz courageously and brilliantly undertakes the most truculent question: “wither the soul after soul-murder”? She summarizes the literature in the field, the range of methodologies, and provides numerous illustrations and case studies which demonstrate a realistic, hopeful, sequential approach to trauma integrating fragmented splinters. She illustrates the narrow passage between the necessity of ego-death, abiding a most difficult in-between, and attending the birth of an enlarged, more capacious ego state.

Trauma and Beyond is not only a contribution to the field, but has the makings of a classic study of the resilience of the soul in the face of even the most devastating traumata. (James Hollis)

Ammann, Peter, & Schönbächler, Georg (2011)

Ammann, Peter, & Schönbächler, Georg (2011). Heilen in zwei Welten - Erkenntnisaustausch zwischen traditionellen afrikanischen Heilern in Südafrika, Jungschen Psychotherapeuten und Wissenschaftlern. (Healing in two worlds – exchange of knowledge between traditional African healers in South Africa, Jungian psychotherapists and researchers.) Final report in private print-run.

The project took place from 2006 to 2010 and included various events on the topic: lectures and seminars at ISAP and at Collegium Helveticum, at the IAAP Congress in Cape Town, and various seminars in Johannesburg, Durban, London and Cape Town. Field research in Drakensberg and Clarens (South Africa).

Audiovisual documents, DVD: Living in Two Worlds – Communication between a white healer and her black counterparts. Vera Bührmann interviewed by Mario Schiess. Healing in Two Worlds – Jungian Psychotherapists encounter African Traditional Healers. XVII International Congress for Analytical Psychology IAAP, Cape Town 2007. Panel workshops moderated by Peter Ammann. The Bushmen and their Stories – Three lectures by Laurens van der Post. Produced and directed by Peter Ammann.