A Group Reading of Raina Telgemeier’s Guts: Applying Jungian concepts to a narrative about anxiety with Craig Stephenson, Jungian Analyst, New York City 

In the New York Times, reviewer Scott Stossel describes Raina Telgemeier as the J. K. Rowling of adolescent graphic novels. About her third book, Guts, he praises "the accuracy and vividness with which she conveys the phenomenology of anxiety. No other book I have read on the subject has captured with such brilliant economy and psychological acuity what a severe phobia or panic attack is like.”

Participants should purchase a copy of Telgemeier’s graphic novel, Guts, before the workshop.

We will read aloud together as a group the graphic novel, taking parts, to bring her narrative into the present. Then we will employ Telgemeier’s portrayal of anxiety as a case narrative, examining her adult insights into the suffering of her younger self and registering our responses. Finally, we will apply Jungian concepts to the narrative to evaluate how analytical psychology might contribute additional insights to the case. 

About the Presenter

Craig Stephenson 

Canadian by birth, Craig Stephenson has practised and lectured internationally as a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist before moving to New York City. He earned his professional diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C. G. Jung Institute, Zürich, Switzerland, and his doctorate from the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex. In addition, at the Institute for Psychodrama, Zümikon, Switzerland, he completed a training in Group Psychotherapy, Sociometry, and Psychodrama. Craig worked in private practice in Paris, France for twelve years. He served on the ethics committee and the executive committee of AGAP (Association of Graduate Analytical Psychologists) and on the board of directors of the Philemon Foundation. As an academic scholar interested in the history of psychological disciplines, Craig has published books and articles, and he has edited original unpublished work by C. G. Jung for Princeton University Press. Most recently, he worked as Director of Training of the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association (JPA). Craig has a private practice as a Licensed Psychoanalyst (LP) and certified Jungian analyst in New York City. He is also a member of CAPT (Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy) and he is qualified to work in Canada as a Registered Psychotherapist under the Ordre des Psychologues du Quèbec and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO).