Is There More To You? What Depth Psychology is and How it Works
Have you ever had the sense that you’re living just a fraction of your potential? That something essential lies just beneath the surface—out of reach, but alive?
Maybe it shows up as a vague dissatisfaction that doesn’t go away, even when everything in your life looks “fine.”
A repeating relationship pattern.
A recurring dream.
Or maybe it’s louder: anxiety, burnout, creative block, symptoms that won’t shift, no matter how hard you work on yourself.
In depth psychology, we see these not as problems to be pathologised and quickly dealt with, but as messengers—symbols of something within you, trying to get your attention.
More Than Meets the Eye: Introducing the Unconscious
Depth psychology, rooted in the work of Carl Jung and other early psychoanalysts, is built on the idea that much of who we are is unconscious.
This doesn’t mean we’re broken or hiding things on purpose—it means there are parts of our personality, history, instincts, and potential that have simply never been brought into awareness. Some parts were never safe to express. Others have never been given a language.
While the idea that a great deal of our mental activity takes place outside of conscious awareness has been floating around in the psychoanalytical world for over a century, modern neuroscience researchers have “rediscovered” this notion.
Although there don’t appear to be brain correlates to the unconscious mind, from a depth psychology perspective, the unconscious shows itself in metaphors: in your dreams, your symptoms, your body sensations, your slips of the tongue, the images you’re drawn to, and the emotions you find difficult to control.
It’s not linear. It doesn’t always speak in words.
But it’s always trying to communicate.
The Shadow: The Parts of You That Got Left Behind
Many people have encountered the term “shadow work” in pop psychology, but few know how deeply it’s grounded in Jung’s original ideas. He hypothesised that some aspects of us get tucked away, deep down in the unconscious, in what he called the shadow—herein lie the qualities we reject, deny, or don’t even know we have. The shadow isn’t just comprised of “dark” traits like anger or envy. It can also hold your boldness, your creativity, your desire, your wildness—parts of you that were never welcome in your childhood or culture.
When we ignore aspects of our shadow, they don’t disappear. They come out sideways—through projection, conflict, shame, or self-sabotage.
Working with the shadow isn’t about perfection or control. It’s about reintegrating lost parts of the Self (more on the Self shortly) so that more of you is accessible—for your relationships, your work, your purpose, your joy.
Meeting the Inner Figures: Your Inner Cast of Characters
Depth psychology also explores your inner figures—autonomous voices or presences within your psyche that have their own perspectives. You might recognise these as the inner critic, the wounded child, the wise guide, the rebel, the caregiver.
These parts aren’t “just in your head.” They’re meaningful. They often carry the imprint of past relationships, cultural roles, or deep instincts.
Instead of pushing them away, we get curious.
What is this part trying to protect?
Where did it originate?
What would happen if I listened to it—not blindly obeyed, but truly heard it?
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy—now supported by growing empirical evidence—works with a similar idea: that we are made up of multiple parts, each with its own voice, role, and history. Schema therapy also works with a parts model, describing different ‘modes’—such as the Vulnerable Child or the Punitive Parent—that echo Jung’s idea of inner figures.
When we make space for these figures, the psyche begins to reorganise. Patterns loosen. Energy returns.
Symbols and Dreams: The Soul Speaks in Image
One of the most beautiful aspects of depth work is its reverence for symbolism.
The soul doesn’t speak in spreadsheets or self-improvement checklists. It speaks in images—dreams, fantasies, synchronicities, artwork, symptoms that “don’t make sense.”
Jung argued that these symbols aren’t random.
He argued that they’re expressions of the Self—the deeper (often unconscious) intelligence within you that is always moving toward wholeness.
And now, research into dream work and meaning-making has found links between symbolic processing and emotional integration, and even post-traumatic growth.
In therapy, we learn to sit with symbols, explore them, follow their threads. Not to decode them like a formula, but to enter into a relationship with them—allowing them to open something in us that words alone can’t touch.
Healing Through Wholeness, Not Perfection
Depth psychology doesn’t aim to make you “normal” or polished. Its sole aim is not even to make you “well”.
It invites you into a deeper relationship with yourself—not just the parts you’ve polished for the world, but the raw, contradictory, wounded, and wise parts that make you whole.
It’s not a quick fix. It’s a descent and a return.
A spiral. A slow remembering. A re-weaving of your story from the inside out.
So if you feel like there’s more to you than you can access…
You’re right.
And there are ways in.
Ready to Explore?
At Soul Clinic, we work with people ready to go beneath the surface—through dreams, imagination, symbolic work, and embodied presence. If you’re curious about what’s waiting within, reach out for an introductory consultation.
