The Grief of the Anima
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Mourning of the Anima explores a form of affective loss that can arise even when a formal relationship between two people has never existed. From a perspective inspired by Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology, the text proposes understanding this experience as a mourning process associated with the recognition and withdrawal of the Anima projection onto a real woman. The document describes how a person can become the depository of meanings, expectations, ideals, and unconscious contents that belong, in part, to the inner world of the one who projects them. When that person's reality comes into conflict with the constructed psychic image, a loss appears that is not limited to the other's absence, but implies the collapse of a symbolic and emotional universe. Through this reflection, the author distinguishes the mourning of a conventional relationship from the mourning of a figure invested with archetypal meaning. Finally, it proposes that the recovery of what was projected can become an opportunity for psychic integration, autonomy, and the process of individuation. The text also warns about the risk of confusing symbols with reality, underlining the need to recognize the value of symbolic experience without losing contact with external reality.
Author: Juarez Garcia, Christian
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225638535
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: