Reddit mentions of The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defences of the Personal Spirit (Near Eastern St.;Bibliotheca Persica)

>I might be wrong but I feel like theres a lack of books or discussion on this subreddit regarding the shadow in jungian psychology

I'd say not wrong, but maybe your perspective and feeling on it speaks more about something you're seeking or need that you perceive as lacking round these parts?

The shadow is a regular topic among a few repetitive subjects round here, particularly the personal dimensions of it; people are wrestling with it and discussing its manifestations in their lives fairly frequently. I think I even recall posts you've asked questions about aspects of it or shared your own personal experiences tackling it in threads dealing with it.

It is however a difficult subject and complex and/or archetype to deal with. Perhaps shame is a regulating factor in terms of some of its details and 'mapping' that dissuade in specificities and details in its appearance and descriptive recounting in the sub?

The collective aspect seems different. In personal experience this treads into contact with an unspeakable, impersonal palpable, consuming embodied horror and destructive something or quality of presence.

There's an immense pain lurking here that isn't individual.

This concerns subject terrain such as the abject and horror in particular.

>perhaps because of the great openness, and painfully truthfullness one has to express to make such a book.

Yeah, you're likely right.

Tentatively I'd suggest this is being explored and 'channeled' or possibly even sublimated, in both a Freudian and Jungian sense, (while possibly, again tentatively, largely unconsciously), in horror literature, weird fiction territory or crime writing and not necessarily in analytical psychological domains, but I may be wrong in my own current perspective (hence my provisional stance).

>So I was wondering if Jung or his prodigies wrote anything that goes into the deeper layers of the (collective) shadow. Similar to Aion but revolving around the shadow archetype instead of The Self.

None that I'm aware of without some digging, but a couple of fiction authors, one closer to Jung in terms of era, that come to mind are H.P. Lovecraft, and more contemporaneously Thomas Ligotti whose fiction, the little of it that I've encountered so far, seems to be dealing with the kinds of features of the shadow you're raising here.

Another fiction author but also journalist whose work strayed into extreme and dangerous undercurrents in his society (Sweden) that comes to mind is Stieg Larsson, but I've only read interviews or articles of his dealing with what could be called 'deep, dark, shadow' material in terms of the social activities he investigated in his journalistic capacities. His fiction though, apparently, draws on this and weaves into narratives that explore and map it. So maybe there is something there for you?

>Works regarding deviant sexuality and the source of fetishes and what type of complexes and archetypes their linked too would also be greatly appreciated. Or anything regarding the beast inside man

Some of what your raising in your OP concerns affect and trauma; the "darker depths of the shadow" are usually if not always going to involve trauma somewhere. In terms of the scale of its reach and commonality in human experience and roots of history there is so much untold and unresolved trauma that pertains to the "beast inside man".

A Jungian analyst whose work dives into trauma from a Jungian perspective is Donald Kalsched. His first book for instance The Inner World of Trauma describes case studies that are definitely in this territory. Kalsched maps it out according to a post-Jungian framework that discusses what this content may be serving psychologically and approaches to the healing of it. The deeper and darker aspects of the shadow breathe and are witnessed in these pages, it's a profound book.

Another reader in the sub recently mentioned this book, Meeting The Shadow. Perhaps there are essays there that are relevant?

Elsewhere, I'm aware of, but also only in a cursory manner, the work of a philosopher and neo-Freudian writer named Julia Kristeva. Part of her subject concerns focus on the abject, both it's social location, so its collective aspects, and its subjectivities. Though not strictly Jungian, her model is Lacanian, there may be content in her work that is relevant to your quest (?). However, her work is academic and very dense, so might not suit expediency in terms of being able to turn it over into useful, practical purposes, making sense out of it or time spent reading.

A good question jorn818.

Yeah, sorry, I got that; "instantly" was a bad word choice.

As for how to tell them, I think "lying" is describing how you've been coping (or trying to) rather harshly. It's the nature of trauma that we disconnect from ourselves, and you have been disconnected from yourself, so of course how could you be connected with them? There are always "layers" of truth and if you haven't been able to share all the truth about yourself with anyone, that's not your fault, it's a mark of how messed up you've been. So I wouldn't say "I've been lying to you all these years" because I don't think it's true!

With the family, I might start with something like "I haven't been able to talk about what's been happening inside me until now..."

With your counsellor, it's absolutely normal, especially in cases where there's trauma in the background, for the extent of self-revelation to increase gradually. A good counsellor wouldn't expect you to disclose the most sensitive things until you feel ready and able to trust them. So s/he should be expecting more and deeper "stuff" to come out over time.

As for what could help you, there are different things, but I might as well start with what helped me. Mostly it was finding the right therapist, someone who I really felt always truly had my interest at heart. Sometimes I violently disagreed with her suggestions, but she honoured and accepted my disagreement. Although I have to admit she always turned out to be at least mostly (and usually dead-on) right in the end. She was a Jungian analyst, but ymmv, there's lots of classic research to suggest that the individual is more important than the methodology. It took me a few years to realise that it was actually trauma that I was dealing with, and then (with my analyst's blessing) I also got some EMDR, which was a very helpful adjunct.

Some books that also helped me:

Invisible Heroes by Belleruth Naparstek

Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine

The Myth of Sanity by Martha Stout. She also wrote a book called The Paranoia Switch which is specifically about recovering from the collective/social trauma of 9/11 but as I am not American I have never got around to reading that one. But I very much admire her work in general. Her book "The Sociopath Next Door" led me to discover the truth that I had, in fact, been raised by a sociopath. And, btw, I can tell you with great confidence that you aren't one.

The Inner World of Trauma by Donald Kalsched. Kalsched is a Jungian analyst and he references some Jungian psychological concepts so if you're not familiar it might have a bit of a learning curve.

Sure, you can research David Emerson who's involved at Kripalu, or there's Bessel van der Kolk who is a badass, you can listen to a great interview with him from the show On Being. There's also Stephen Levine.

Here's a Kripalu article that quotes van der Kolk.

And there's psychologists that talk a lot about somatic holding, or at least subconscious holding patterns. An easier read would be stuff from Daniel Siegel(I know it kinda looks like pop psych but it's actually pretty good), one of my favorite authors on trauma is Donald Kalsched, which is a bit more dense and more about work through talk psychotherapy. But often I find myself applying his concepts in yoga classes as a way to understand what's going on inside mentally/emotionally that's connected to my physical experience. Also sheds some light on how I relate to other students and the teacher.

Then there's the bodywork stuff, cranial sacral therapy or somatic body work but there's too much misinformation for me to guide you. All I can say is that I have a yoga teacher that also gives me bodywork sessions that supplement my yoga practice, and the inner growth I've experienced has been profound.

Out of all of this, if you're going to research anything I would highly suggest the van der Kolk interview, which you can download and listen to.