The Umwelt and Networks of Archetypal Images: A Jungian Approach to Therapeutic Encounters in Humanitarian Contexts* RENOS K. PAPADOPOULOS, Essex University ABSTRACT This paper attempts to develop a new framework within which to comprehend the interrelationship between the ‘inner’ and ‘external’ worlds, between the personal and social, and among the intra-/inter-/trans-psychic realms. It proposes the Umwelt as a heur- istic concept to grasp and formulate these interconnections. Then, it argues that if we expand the Jungian theory of archetypes by introducing the concepts of ‘network of archetypal images’ and ‘collective structures of meaning’, it is possible to develop a more coherent framework to address ‘therapeutic encounters’ in the context of humanitarian work. The pro- cess of ‘therapeutic encounter’ is distinguished from ‘doing therapy’. An example of such an encounter is offered and a new reading is suggested of processes and phenomena that are often examined through existing approaches. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: Umwelt, network of archetypal images, Jung, humanitarian work, adversity- activated development Any attempt to relate the psychological realm with the wider socio-political realities is fraught with difficulties that are not only due to their different epistemologies. Psychologizing the social and politicizing the psychological are common methodological errors in such endeavours. There is an increasing effort to develop apposite approaches that would enable more appropriate interrela- tionships between these two realms and this paper aims to articulate such an approach. Psychodynamic approaches find it particularly difficult to relate intrapsychic phenomena to the external world. It seems that in order to lay down the foundations of their theory, the founding fathers and mothers of these approaches had to concentrate on the minutiae of the intrapsychic processes (i.e., emphasizing the various facets of unconscious mechanisms) that constituted the very building blocks of their opus; consequently, any consideration about the ways these related to the external realities was of secondary importance. Inevitably, as their theories grew so did their aspirations to expand the range of the applicability of their ideas to include their connection with social dimensions. In effect, considerations about the Correspondence: Renos Papadopoulos, Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK. E-mail: renos@essex.ac.uk * This paper is a modified version of a paper that was published in Italian as ‘L ’Umwelt, Jung e le reti di immagini archetipiche’ in Rivista di Psicologia Analitica, 2009, Nuova serie n.26, Volume 78/2008: 93–128. Psychotherapy and Politics International Psychother. Politics. Int. 9(3): 212 –231 (2011) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ppi.252 Psychother. Politics. Int. 9: 212–231 (2011) Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/ppi