1st Edition

Jung's Word Association Experiment Manual for Training and Practice

By John O'Brien, Nada O'Brien Copyright 2025
156 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

156 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

156 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This manual is the long-awaited definitive and essential guide to training, research and practice of Jung’s Word Association Experiment, both in clinical practice and beyond the consulting room.   Carefully redesigned by training analysts, examiners, and researchers at the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich in consultation with a multi-disciplinary group of international... Read more

1. Jung's Word Association Experiment 2. WAE training for student analysts and practitioners 3. Preparing for the AE 4. Taking the anamnesis  5. AE protocol  6. The context interview  7. Map of complexes  8. Building an interpretation hypothesis and therapeutic use of WAE  9. Behind words: Developmental perspective  10. WAE examination document: Example  11. The Word Association Experiment and the DSM / ICD categories  12. Research  13. Further thoughts

Biography

John O'Brien is an accredited training Jungian psychoanalyst engaged in lecturing, research, writing and supporting individuals, groups and the wider community through the processes of individuation.

Nada O'Brien is an accredited training Jungian analyst in private practice, working with individuals and groups. She is a lecturer, researcher and published author. 

‘Explicit awareness of psychological complexes can be liberating for the person, but also for those around them. In this volume, John and Nada O’Brien take the concept beyond the clinic to the reach of those in touch with wider audiences. This wonderful mission makes the WAE more accessible to researchers looking to unlock new insights from the empirical study of complexes and also to qualified professionals helping their clients to untangle the hidden psychological knots that bind them.’

Lance Newey, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Business Management at Queensland Business School and Jungian Executive Coach

‘The WAE has kaleidoscope properties. Like light, it illuminates existing realities, presenting fragments and clusters for (re)consideration. This manual shows in a unique and well researched manner how the WAE, as a professional tool, can guide and assist the practitioner in the discovery of new creative dimensions to assist the client to integrate reconfigured realities.’

Hanneke Frese, Executive Coach, Lecturer, INSEAD Executive Coaching (The Kets De Vries Institute and KornFerry).