Dissociation, Chaos and Transcendent Function

Abstract

Abstract Psychological findings described in original Janet’s formulation of dissociation, Jung’s complex theory, Putnam’s theory of discrete behavioral states and nonlinear dynamic principles of brain and cognitive processes suggest interesting principles for understanding dissociative processes on levels of competitive neural assemblies and their mental representations. In this context, Jung’s term transcendent function that enables integration of dissociated states might be related to nonlinear chaotic processes that could represent its neurophysiological correlate. In these self-organizing systems “linear causality” is replaced by “circular causality” that represents a concept useful for describing multilevel interactions on the level of neurons as well as on the level of consciousness related to archetypal intentional action and images in the mind during process of formatting complexes from the pre-existing archetypes as ordering factors of chaotic fluctuations. From the point of Jungian theory these selforganizing psychophysiological processes may be understood as a source of mental images of psychological wholeness mainly as images of circles and symmetric arrangements that could underly brain functions as well as rules of the human psyche that are connected to experienced union of psychological opposites that integrate dissociated states.