Jung's Model of Aging: Individuation after 70 with Dr. Karen Evers-Fahey, Jungian analyst, University of Victoria

Jung said, “The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it.” Indeed, he is well known for his theory of adult development and his work on individuation in the second half of life. With this lecture I would like to propose a third phase of life after the first phase (building up a life structure) and second phase (developing a relationship with the inner world). This third phase is especially relevant now as many of us can expect today to live well past the 20th century life expectancy of 65 years old. I have chosen to talk about individuation after age 70 because I want to change this analytical focus on end of life for older adults as a time of preparation for death and instead talk about life and the new possibilities after 70. This phase is not a further continuation of the second half of life.

About the Speaker

Karen Evers-Fahey, PHD, is a Zurich trained Jungian analyst with over 30 years experience in individual psychotherapy and Jungian analytical practice. She is currently a training analyst with the international program of the CG Jung Institute Zurich. She taught analytical psychology and was a training and supervisory analyst in Zurich at ISAP as well as the Jung Institute Zurich for 10 years before returning to her native Canada in 2007 to continue her analytical practice and teaching/ training activities in Victoria, BC. Dr. Evers-Fahey was educated as a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Nurse Practitioner in the US (MSN 1982, Yale University) and is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor and Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Victoria School of Nursing. She received her PhD in 2004 from the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK. Dr. Evers-Fahey has lectured internationally on topics such as individuation and aging, suffering and healing, and dreams.