Nancy Furlotti: Dream Interpretation and Amplification in Jungian Psychoanalysis

Psychotherapist, Nancy Furlotti, is coeditor and contributing author of, The Dream and Its Amplification, a collection of insights into Carl Jung’s method of dream interpretation known as amplification. Amplification is a psychoanalytic method of uncovering the deeper, multiple meanings of symbolic images in dreams. The book is a valuable text for working with dreams. It is available for preorder on Amazon.com

According to Jungian psychoanalysis, a dream reveals features of the individual’s internal and external life through the symbolic images presented in the dream drama. For example, a dream about one’s mother would not necessarily only represent the dreamer’s actual mother. Rather, “mother” could symbolize the feminine aspect of the psyche or evoke the biological aspects of human nature, as well.

The method of dream amplification focuses on elements of a dream with which the dreamer has no personal associations. These more collective elements are recognized as symbols. The Jungian analyst’s role is to interpret these symbols within the contexts of collective knowledge such as mythology, folklore, or religion. Amplification is the process of uncovering the full meaning of the symbol or image while continually relating its meaning back to the dream and the dreamer.

In addition to her scholarly work, Nancy Furlotti has a private psychology practice in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara California, and is an active member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.

The Jungian Center of South Florida

The Dream and Its Amplification, by Nancy Swift Furlotti and Erel Shalit (Eds.)
Fischer King Press

Amplification means seeking parallels. “In the case of a word which you have never come across before, you try to find parallel text passages… where the word also occurs… If you make the new text a readable whole, you say, ‘Now we can read it.’ That is how we learned to red hieroglyphics and cuneiform inscriptions and that is how we can read dreams.” C. G. Jung, The Tavistock Lectures

The Dream and Its Amplification unveils the language of the psyche that speaks to us in our dreams. We all dream at least 4-6 times each night yet remember very few. Those that rise to the surface of our conscious awareness beckon to be understood, like a letter addressed to us that arrives by post. Why would we not open it? The difficulty is in understanding what the dream symbols and images mean.

Through amplification, C. G. Jung formulated a method of unveiling the deeper meaning of symbolic images. This becomes particularly important when the image does not carry a personal meaning or significance and is not part of a person’s everyday life.

Fourteen Jungian Analysts from around the world have contributed chapters to this book on areas of special interest to them in their work with dreams. This offers the seasoned dream worker as well as the novice great insight into the meaning of the dream and its amplification.

Contributors to this edition include: Erel Shalit, Nancy Swift Furlotti, Michael Conforti, Thomas Singer, Nancy Qualls-Corbett, Christian Gaillard, Naomi Ruth Lowinsky, Kenneth Kimmel, Gotthilf Isler, Monika Wikman, Henry Abramovitch, Kathryn Madden, Ron Schenk, and Gilda Franz.

For preorder on: www.amazon.com and www.fisherkingpress.com Due out June 15, 2013

Nancy Furlotti: Carl Jung Perfected Word Association Test

First developed by Victorian polymath Francis Galton as a means to determine intelligence quotient, word association gained prominence in the field of psychology after further investigation by Carl Jung. He used this experiment to test for the presence of complexes in his subjects. It was this test that led him to develop the theory of complexes which are the unconscious “feeling-toned” factors that break through into consciousness making us react in ways outside of our normal ego functioning. This important work helped him explain the reactions he was observing in his psychotic patients while working at the Burgholzli Mental Clinic in Zurich. The test generally encompasses 100 words revealed to the subject by the administrator; the subject responds with the first word that comes to his or her mind. Each response is timed and any deviation in response indicates the presence of a complex connected to the meaning of the given word. Jung, himself, showed eleven complexes when given the test.

Word association tests provide information that allows the administrator to undertake additional forensic testing for such conditions as schizophrenia, depression, and obsessive-compulsion, to name a few. It also indicates the presence of neurosis, which is where the personality is split. In addition to observing the response times and gestures in the answers to each word, Jung used a galvanometer to chart changes in heart rate. This test, as he designed it, continues to be used to this day as the lie detector test.

Nancy Furlotti has lectured nationally and internationally on many Jungian subjects, as well as published articles. Her newest book, The Dream and Its Amplification, is due out June 15, 2013, and is available for preorder through Amazon.com. It is co-edited with Dr. Erel Shalit with whom she has worked to ensure the upcoming publication of the Carl Jung- Eric Neumann Correspondence.

Upcoming Publications from the Philemon Foundation

In addition to practicing as a Jungian analyst in California, Nancy Furlotti has taken an active role in supporting the dissemination of C.G. Jung’s theories. As co-president of the Philemon Foundation, she helped make possible the publication of Jung’s Red Book. Nancy Furlotti also sits on the National Board of the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism and once served as president of the board of directors at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.

Since putting out the Red Book, the Philemon Foundation has continued to publish Jung’s work. Upcoming publications from the Foundation include the correspondence between Jung and the German-Israeli Jungian Analyst, Erich Neumann, Jung’s correspondence with Mircea Eliade, Heinrich Zimmer, and Wilhelm Hauer, and Jung’s Black Books. The ETH project is progressing and now being edited by Ernst Falzeder and Martin Liebscher.