8 March 2025: Brian Stevenson
Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali
Neurodiversity and Jung
ADHD and autism appear to be increasing. and pose challenges to the traditional methods of the psychotherapies. How do we make sense of what is happening? And how can analysts modify their approach to embrace this diversity effectively?
Psychiatry has typically seen these neurodivergencies as closely associated with learning disability, and psychoanalysis has focussed on the associated dynamic structures related to isolation. More recent perspectives are perhaps liberating us from the straight-jacket of these pathologizing perspectives, allowing a more balanced and optimistic view to emerge which can highlight the strengths that these conditions may bestow.
Based on his clients' and his own experiences, Brian will offer his own perspective on this area which has fascinated him in recent years, and try to dispel some of the associated fear and prejudice. His thesis is that analytical psychology (Jungian therapy) presents us with a ready-made perspective to help us grapple with understanding these conditions and in so doing may deepen our grasp of analytical psychology itself.
Dr Brian Stevenson was, from a young age, fascinated by the mystery of the physical world and of existence, and on leaving school studied to acquire his first degree in Physics, while at the same time avidly reading Jung. Having worked as a physicist and engineer for a few years (in the field of magnetic resonance) he studied medicine, and went on to specialise in psychiatry and worked in addiction psychiatry and pain management. He studied at the Jung Institute, Zurich, qualifying from the newly formed ISAPZurich in 2006. He left the NHS in 2015, and continues to work in private practice as a Jungian analyst. He is a member of IGAP (the Independent Group of Analytical Psychologists), and is a member of the executive committee of the Journal of Analytical Psychology.