Integrating Shadow: Authentic Being in the World

Since its inception, the notion of shadow is recognised as one of Jung’s major contributions to the world of psychology. Shadow traits are often unconsciously felt to be threats to our self-image, so we use defence mechanisms, such as repression and denial, to dismiss its existence and place it on to others, either in the personal or collective sphere. Although there exists considerable overlap between the strands, dividing the shadow into three constituent parts, personal, collective, and archetypal, helps to fully explore its impact on the world. The personal shadow is usually viewed as the base, inferior part of personality, although it can also include positive aspects, but it needs to be acknowledged and incorporated to make an individual whole. The collective shadow is found in many dark periods of history: witch hunt trials, religious wars, the Holocaust, and Rwandan genocide to name but a few; in today’s world, it is spread at the speed of light by mass media. The archetypal shadow emanates from the realm of the collective unconscious and may be equated with evil. Alongside shadow is the inextricably linked concept of persona, the outer face that is presented to the world, which is also explored in detail, as well as the role of the shadow in the act of scapegoating and within the professional sphere, and Jung’s links to the social sciences, in particular anthropology and sociology.

Shadow is a theme that Ann Casement returned to many times in her decades-long career, always finding new ways to explore and explain it. Integrating Shadow: Authentic Being in the World brings together these many years of presentations and research to present a multi-layered and rich discourse on the meaning, importance, and consequences of the shadow in all our lives.

Ann Casement, LP, (1938–2025), was an honorary professor at the Oriental Academy for Analytical Psychology; senior member of the British Jungian Analytic Association; associate member of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association (New York); New York State licensed psychoanalyst; member of the British Psychoanalytic Council; member of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (New York); member of the British Psychological Society; founder member of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Association; and patron of the Freud Museum in London. She worked for several years in psychiatry from the late 1970s; chaired the UK Council for Psychotherapy (1997–2001); served on the Executive Committee of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (2001–2007), and the IAAP Ethics Committee (2007–2016), becoming its chair in 2010. For two years from 1999 she conducted research working with Lord Alderdice and other stakeholders in the profession on a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Lords on the statutory regulation of the psychotherapy/psychoanalytic profession. From 2015 to her death in 2025, she taught and lectured in China, at the initial invitation of Professor Heyong Shen.

She lectured and taught in many countries around the world, including the UK, China, Japan, Russia, USA, Canada, Israel, Lithuania, Switzerland, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, and in several countries in Europe. She contributed to The Economist, and to psychoanalytic journals worldwide, being on the editorial board of some. She served on the Gradiva Awards Committee (New York) in 2013; gave the Fay Lecture in Texas in 2019; was a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute; a fellow of The Royal Society of Medicine; and was a member of the Council of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She produced many articles, reviews, and several chapters for books. Her published books are: Post-Jungians Today (Routledge, 1998), Carl Gustav Jung (Sage, 2001), Who Owns Psychoanalysis? (Karnac, 2004) nominated for the 2005 Gradiva Award, The Idea of the Numinous (Routledge, 2006) with David Tacey, Who Owns Jung? (Karnac, 2007), Thresholds and Pathways Between Jung and Lacan (Routledge, 2021), Jung: An Introduction (Phoenix, 2021), and Integrating Shadow: Authentic Being in the World (Karnac, 2025.)