The Wounded Healer: An Interview with Sharon Heath, Ken Larsen, and Christa Robinson

Abstract

This article is an edited transcript of a long-distance conversation with three elders in the Jungian community discussing a topic of vital importance to each of them: the wounded healer. Robert Henderson, Jungian psychotherapist from Glastonbury, Connecticut, interviews analysts Ken Larsen (Boston, Massachusetts), Sharon Heath (Los Angeles, CA), and Christa Robinson (Zürich, Switzerland). The interview explores the archetype of the wounded healer (as found in mythology, religion, and clinical practice), as well as how Carl Jung’s personal suffering led him to produce such invaluable and creative work. Limbic-oriented treatments to trauma such as EMDR, Brainspotting, and the use of active imagination and Eidetic Memory Reprocessing are also discussed. In addition, the analysts explore how their own personal wounds have impacted their understanding of the healing process, and enhanced their ability to help others through their clinical work.