Program Description
For thousands of years individuals have gone through different rites of passage to become warriors who fight and protect those whom they love. Individuals who choose to become warriors in the United States join one of five branches of military service, and may serve anywhere in the world, each experiencing a variety of environments and challenges. The United States has been consistently involved in overseas conflicts since 2001, making this the longest period of consistent warfare activity in the country’s history (Bandow, 2019). Though many people are familiar with the physical demands experienced by military personnel, as a global society we are only beginning to understand the long-term psychological impact of military training and service.
This course uses the alchemical metaphor to explore the psychological challenges United States military veterans face as they attempt to reintegrate into civilian society. The arc of the course tracks a military member’s progression from Basic Training to the transition back into civilian life, and pinpoints the psychological harm inflicted by the collective consciousness of the military on the individual psyche. We will examine the process of military training from the perspective of a Jungian understanding of the psychological stages of alchemy, illuminating the process that presents each military member with profound difficulties related to identity, the ability to engage in a vibrant relationship with the Self, and the ability to reenter civilian life.
This Course is Ideal If:
- You want a deeper understanding of the impact the military enculturation process has on the individual psyche.
- You are interested in learning how each stage of basic training works to psychologically and somatically enculturate military members.
- You want to better understand the impact of collective consciousness on the individual psyche, to include the creation of a contaminated internal mixture.
- You are interested in exploring the use of the alchemical lens to view the process of individuation through active examples.
- You want to learn about the challenges that returning military members face, including alienation, loss of identity, moral injury, and suicide.
- You want a deeper understanding of where and how military veterans find refuge and hope in civilian society.
- You work with active-duty military or military veterans and want to better understand their experiences.
- You are a military veteran and want to gain knowledge around your own experiences of enculturation and transition by viewing them through a Jungian alchemical lens.
About the Teacher
Adrian Campbell, PhD, CPC
Dr. Adrian Campbell is a Certified Professional Coach, an Independent Research Scholar, and U.S. Coast Guard Veteran, with Undergraduate and Graduate degrees in Electrical Science and Psychology, and a Doctorate in Somatic Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Her professional accomplishments in Learning and Development span more than 18 years across various technical industries. Her experience at Pacifica brought her back to her military roots and encouraged her to explore veteran dis-ease through the lens of somatic depth psychology. Since then, she has worked with organizations like Veterans Yoga Project, Team RWB, and the Veterans Administration to bring a somatic depth psychological viewpoint into their work with veterans.
Dr. Campbell currently maintains a private holistic wellness practice, hosts the podcast “The Energetic Psyche”, and presents internationally on the importance of human connection, veteran and first responder well-being, and the experience of loss and grief as trauma.
You can learn more about her at www.EnergeticPsyche.com