Across the depth-psychology corpus, 'solution' operates on at least three distinct registers that rarely converge but frequently illuminate one another. In the alchemical tradition recovered by Jung, Edinger, and Hillman, solutio names a fundamental operative stage — the dissolution of hardened psychic material into a fluid state preparatory to transformation. Edinger distinguishes a first solutio (reduction to prima materia) from a second, higher solutio in which body and spirit dissolve and consolidate simultaneously; Hillman adds the paradox that even salt — the principle of fixity — is necessary for every genuine solution. A second register, developed through Horney's typology of neurosis, treats solution as the characteristic defensive strategy by which a personality organizes itself against anxiety: the expansive, self-effacing, and resignatory solutions each represent a totalizing psychic orientation rather than a conscious choice. A third register, scattered across recovery literature and clinical pragmatics, uses the term instrumentally — as a named corrective to a named problem — a usage that is technically thin but culturally significant given its prominence in Twelve-Step and DBT frameworks. Simondon contributes a philosophical dimension: the individual is at once an element of the problem's data and an element of its solution, a circularity that makes every human resolution irreducibly personal. Von Franz issues the sharpest caveat: anticipating the solution through intellectual knowledge of depth-psychological theory is itself a resistance, a failure to live through the ego conflict that genuine solutio demands.
In the library
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the solution is one, yet in it there may be distinguished a first, and a second.... the second is that perfect solution of body and spirit at the same time, in which the solvent and the thing solved always abide together
Edinger demonstrates that the alchemical solutio contains an irreducible duality — a preliminary dissolution to prima materia and a higher conjunctive dissolution in which solvent and dissolved substance become inseparable, with simultaneous consolidation of spirit.
Edinger, Edward F., Anatomy of the Psyche: Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy, 1985thesis
Albertus Magnus declares: 'Salt is necessary for every solution.' ... a genuine solution must have the capacity to stabilize. It must su
Hillman argues that the alchemical solutio is not merely a softening but requires the stabilizing principle of salt, making genuine psychic dissolution paradoxically dependent on the very fixity it appears to overcome.
Knowing that the anima or some other figure of the unconscious will bring the solution is one of the greatest dangers with which students in Jungian psychology are faced... we anticipate the solution intellectually and say, 'I know the anima will bring me to the solution,' and we do not accept the fact that first the ego conflict must be completely lived through.
Von Franz identifies a characteristic resistance in depth-psychological students: intellectually pre-empting the solution forecloses the genuine transformative work because the ego conflict must first be fully inhabited.
von Franz, Marie-Louise, Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, 1974thesis
we can distinguish three major solutions from the aspect of the problems presented in this book: the expansive solution, the self-effacing solution, and resignation.
Horney frames neurotic character organization as a set of three strategic solutions to the problem of inner conflict, each representing a dominant direction in which the psyche identifies with its idealized image.
Horney, Karen, Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization, 1950thesis
Looking back at the three kinds of expansive solutions, we see that they all aim at mastering life. This is their way of conquering fears and anxieties; this gives meaning to their lives and gives them a certain zest for living.
Horney shows that the expansive neurotic solutions, despite their internal differences, share the same defensive aim — mastery of anxiety through triumphant self-assertion — distinguishing them functionally from the self-effacing and resigned orientations.
Horney, Karen, Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization, 1950supporting
the proper characteristic of the solution on the level of the individual resides in the fact that the individual plays a double role, on the one hand as an element of the data and on the other hand as an element of the solution; the individual intervenes twice in its problematic
Simondon argues that individuation itself constitutes a solution in which the individual is simultaneously the problem's datum and its resolving term, grounding every genuine solution in irreducible personal ontology.
Simondon, Gilbert, Individuation in Light of Notions of Form and Information, 2020supporting
the childlike solution would have canceled all reservations... But this is the unfortunate drawback constituted by childhood as a solution: every child wishes to grow.
Jung diagnoses regression to childhood as a deceptive solution to the threats of Eros and spirit — one that inevitably defeats itself because the child's own developmental drive undermines the regression.
Jung, Carl Gustav, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009supporting
These facts compel us towards a particular solution: we are forced to limit ourselves to the attainable, and to differentiate particular aptitudes in which the socially effective individual discovers his true self.
Jung identifies the socially conditioned solution to the problems of life's second stage as the differentiation of specific aptitudes, noting that this pragmatic resolution is acceptable but insufficient for genuine individuation.
Jung, Carl Gustav, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1960supporting
Jim Burwell's reliance on the group as his higher power, rather than the God described by Bill Wilson in 'There Is A Solution' or even something as vague as Hank Parkhurst's 'universal power,' marks a major turning point in the ongoing evolution of Alcoholics Anonymous
Schaberg traces how the solution framed in the AA chapter 'There Is A Solution' evolved to accommodate secular alternatives to theistic recovery, marking a decisive shift in the programme's theological range.
Schaberg, William H, Writing the Big Book The Creation of A A , 2019supporting
Janet Blair's observation that 'There Is A Solution' would read much better if the two parts of Rowland Hazard's story about visiting Dr. Carl Jung were consolidated in the back of the chapter certainly made the opening much less confusing.
Schaberg documents the editorial shaping of the AA chapter titled 'There Is A Solution,' noting how a professional editor's structural intervention clarified the narrative of Jung's encounter with Rowland Hazard.
Schaberg, William H, Writing the Big Book The Creation of A A , 2019supporting
the only solution is to separate himself from a drinking society? That is what the evangelists, the reformers, and the witch-burners have always said, but Bill reassures the alcoholic that it just isn't so.
Schaberg shows Wilson explicitly rejecting the Temperance movement's proposed solution of total social isolation from alcohol, positioning AA's spiritual solution in deliberate contrast to prohibitionist ideology.
Schaberg, William H, Writing the Big Book The Creation of A A , 2019supporting
Solution: Break skills down into manageable steps, and provide structured practice exercises. Encourage clients to start with one skill at a time and gradually build their skillset.
In the DBT clinical manual, 'solution' functions as a formulaic heading pairing named therapeutic obstacles with prescribed corrective procedures, exemplifying the instrumental rather than transformative use of the term.
Scott, Anthony, DBT Skills Training Manual: Practical Workbook for Therapists, 2021aside