The Training Complex: Shattering of the Coniunctio, Boundary Violation, and Sibling Turbulence on the Horizontal Plane

Abstract

This paper explores what is happening, for a trainee, when an ethical boundary violation occurs by the analyst with a fellow peer in training. I am approaching this through the Jungian concept of the alchemical vas as I attempt to make meaning of a catastrophic collapse of the analytic work. The boundary edges have shifted, catapulting the analyst and patient—from something reliable—into an altogether darker and more inexplicable experience. There has been a trespass, and something has been stolen. The author explores how the destructive forces at play are reminiscent of the envy and hatred located in sibling dynamics. Furthermore, the internal chaos is also about how trainees may experience their “sibling” peers in everyday ways. The author describes these as chaotic forces and what unfolds within a training organization, as it responds and deals with subsequent reverberations, “The Training Complex”, suggesting that the symbolic representation of siblings in this complex is that of opposites.