The term ‘physical’ occupies a strikingly heterogeneous conceptual space within the depth-psychology corpus. At one pole, Simondon deploys it with rigorous ontological precision: ‘physical individuation’ names the process by which metastable systems resolve their pre-individual tensions into structured, energetically determinate beings — crystals, particles, fields. Here the physical is neither mere matter nor mere extension but a regime of becoming, a dimensional threshold at which information is received and amplified into form. This usage resonates with Pauli’s insistence that classical and quantum physics stand in a relationship of limiting cases, not mutual cancellation. At an opposite pole, depth-psychological authors treat the physical as the somatic register against which psychical processes must be distinguished but with which they remain entangled: von Franz maps the instinct-archetype axis precisely along the boundary between physical reaction and inner representation; Bosnak coins ‘quasi-physical’ to capture the dreaming image’s bodily insistence; Aurobindo carefully separates the physical mind from the subtle planes it overlays. A third cluster — exercise-science studies on substance-use disorders — treats the physical pragmatically as a domain of measurable intervention. Across all clusters, the central tension is ontological: is the physical the ground of the real, a limiting case of a wider continuum, or one pole in a psychosomatic dyad that depth psychology exists precisely to hold in productive tension?
pure non-living physical would only begin on the supra-molecular scale; it is at this level that individuation puts forth the crystal or the mass of protoplasmic matter
Simondon locates the threshold of the genuinely physical at the supra-molecular scale, below which reality is ‘pre-physical and pre-vital,’ establishing physical individuation as a dimensional rather than a substantial category.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
the individual corresponds to a certain dimensionality of the real, i.e. to an associated topology and chronology; the individual is an edifice in its most current form
Simondon argues that the physical individual is not an absolute substance but a topology-and-chronology-bound equilibrium, grounding physicality in relational structure rather than fixed matter.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
Physics does not reveal the existence of a pre-individual reality, but it shows that there are geneses of individualized realities based on standard states; a photon is a physical individual in a certain sense
Simondon uses the photon as an exemplary case to argue that physics reveals the genesis of individualized realities from standard states, making the physical domain the model for a broader ontology of individuation.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
the wave-corpuscle duality would not at all be the apprehension of two ‘complementary facets of reality’ … but instead the apprehension of two realities equally and simultaneously given in the object
Simondon rejects Bohr’s complementarity in favour of a view in which wave and corpuscle are simultaneously real physical quantities, redefining what counts as a physical individual.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
physical movement a manifestation of instinct … these contents of the unconscious have a kind of physical aspect, and also a somatic and psychological aspect, sometimes something which should go through the psychological aspect switches over into the physical
Von Franz maps the instinct-archetype axis onto the boundary between physical reaction and inner representation, identifying the physical as the somatic pole of a spectrum that can shift into the psychological.
, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, 1980thesis
if we contemplate microphysical reality directly, an interpretation of individuation based on the phenomena of structural change would aim to consider becoming as essentially linked to the
Simondon proposes that microphysical reality demands an interpretation of individuation centred on structural change and becoming, displacing substance-based accounts.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020thesis
We definitely don’t know the nature or limits of the physical. Physics may tell us a great deal about the structure of physical reality … but it seems that it can’t tell us anything about the intrinsic nature of reality
McGilchrist, citing Strawson, argues that physics captures the structure but not the intrinsic nature of physical reality, opening space for a psychophysical monism against both reductive materialism and dualism.
, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021thesis
While dreaming, the environment presents itself as physical, though at the tail-end of dreaming … this physicality evaporates. Therefore the image is of a quasi-physical nature, presenting itself as if it were physical.
Bosnak introduces the concept of ‘quasi-physical’ to describe the dream image’s bodily insistence, positioning the dreaming environment as a liminal category that illuminates the boundary between physical and imaginal reality.
, Embodiment: Creative Imagination in Medicine, Art and Travel, 2007thesis
valid proof of a supraphysical fact is irrational and illogical; it is an irrelevant attitude of the physical mind which assumes that only the objective and physical is fundamentally real
Aurobindo critiques the ‘physical mind’ for treating the physical as the sole criterion of reality, arguing that supraphysical facts follow their own order of evidence.
, The Life Divine, 1939thesis
For a physical system, the fact of having a given structure involves the possession of an energetic determinability … potential energies linked to a structure can only be transformed and unleashed by a modification of the conditions of stability
Simondon links physical structure to latent energetic potential, arguing that structural stability and its transformation — not substance — define what it means for a system to be physical.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020supporting
The dreams of the physical mind are an incoherent jumble … in the former the mind proper and subtle is at work liberated from the immixture of the physical mentality
Aurobindo distinguishes the ‘physical mind’ — bound to sensory and brain-based dreaming — from the subtle mind freed in yoga, treating the physical as a layer of mental functioning rather than a separate substance.
, The Synthesis of Yoga, 1948supporting
the study of individuation, which grasps the discontinuous qua discontinuous, has a very profound ontological and epistemological value: it invites us to ask how ontogenesis is accomplished based on a system bearing energetic potentials
Simondon argues that the study of physical individuation — foregrounding the discontinuous — carries deep ontological significance, modelling how structured beings emerge from energetic systems.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020supporting
Intimacy involves being noticed by others, including in physical ways … overcoming the phobia of physical and emotional feelings … emphasis is now placed on physical self-care and enjoyment of the body
Van der Hart treats the physical body as a site of trauma-related avoidance and ultimate reintegration, framing physical self-care as inseparable from psychological healing in Phase 3 trauma work.
, The Haunted Self Structural Dissociation and the Treatmentsupporting
we can still control our overt behavior — our physical actions — at times when we can’t control how we are feeling … we help people to separate their physical actions from their emotions
Harris distinguishes physical actions from emotional states as a clinical lever in ACT, using this dissociation as a therapeutic resource rather than a metaphysical claim.
, ACT Made Simple: An Easy-To-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, 2009supporting
what conditions a physical individual, whose genesis has been determined by a polarization corresponding to a structure characterized by a certain type of symmetry, can produce a phenomenon that presents a determined polarization
Simondon uses the piezoelectric crystal as a concrete model for how a physical individual’s structural symmetry determines its capacity to produce polarised phenomena, exemplifying his concept of physical individuation.
, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020supporting
physical exercise can be a good tool to improve physical conditions, mental health, quality of life and craving in drug-dependent persons
Giménez-Meseguer’s meta-analysis positions physical exercise as an intervention bridging physical and mental health in substance-use disorders, treating the physical domain as a pragmatic entry point into psychological recovery.
, The Benefits of Physical Exercise on Mental Disorders and Quality of Life in Substance Use Disorders Patients. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, 2020supporting
The building blocks of our theories are not particles but fields: continuous, fluidlike objects spread throughout space … The objects that we call fundamental particles are not fundamental. Instead they are ripples of continuous fields
McGilchrist, drawing on physicist Tong, argues that the fundamental stratum of physical reality is continuous fields, not discrete particles, aligning with Simondon’s privileging of the pre-individual over the already-individuated.
, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
The description … allows the presence or absence of physical characteristics. ‘Psychic’ suggests a range of psychological functions.
Sullivan notes that ‘psychic entities’ in early Greek thought may or may not carry physical characteristics, pointing to an ancient indeterminacy in the psyche–physical boundary that depth psychology later inherits.
, Psychological and Ethical Ideas What Early Greeks Say, 1995aside
the earlier stages are not simply declared null and void in consequence of later steps in the development, but merely that attention is directed to a limitation of the range of applicability
Pauli’s principle of historical continuity in physics implies that classical physical descriptions are not abolished but relativised as limiting cases, a methodological stance with implications for psychophysical theorising.
, Writings on Physics and Philosophy, 1994aside
People are healed, both physically and psychologically. Obstacles that impede inner growth are removed; life becomes richer and more complete.
Vaughan-Lee mentions physical healing alongside psychological transformation in a Sufi context, treating the physical and psychical as parallel registers of a single process of inner change.
, Catching the Thread: Sufism, Dreamwork, and Jungian Psychology, 1992aside