PsychologyPersonalStatement.com
by Dr. Robert F. Edinger
* Helping Applicants Since 2005
drrobertedinger@gmail.com
Personal Statements of Purpose in Psychology, Professional Writing and Editing
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My name is Dr. Robert Edinger (PHD Social Ethics, USC, 1995). I help applicants to graduate school in psychology from all over the world. I only do my best, taking the time to reflect on your story and do internet research on your behalf. My service is quite different from other statement writing services for admission applicants in psychology and counseling for several reasons. I am the little guy on the web, not a big business like most of my competitors. You deal directly with me and I answer all of your questions completely free of charge. I am solely responsible for helping you to produce a statement that will get you accepted to a master's or doctoral program. If you send me your information and I accept you as a new client, I will go to work on your material within 24 hours. I usually draft an introductory paragraph at no charge or obligation so as to give you a better idea of how I can help. Let's get started! Please note that the examples on the web site are anonymous and at least three years old at the time of posting.
The conversations that I had with him were few, but I am grateful for those few special moments that we were able to share. He was a wicked chess player and after I resigned the game at 13, he turned the board around and beat me. Older, in my twenties, he would tell me that Jesus' suggestion that the Kingdom of God is "among you" or "within you" was entirely ambiguous, a matter of interpretation. He would chide me that for me it was "among you" and that for him, of course, it was "within you." The older I get the more I tend to agree with him. It is within you!
I miss you Uncle Edward.
I dedicate my service to my uncle, Dr. Edward F. Edinger, a leading Jungian analyst whose books on the interplay between symbols and psychology carried the concepts of Carl Jung to a new generation of American analysts. He died on July 17, 1998, at his home in Los Angeles. He was seventy-five. Colleagues said he was the most influential Jungian analyst in the United States from the 1950's until his death. I am his only nephew.
My uncle Edward believed that many neuroses were associated with the decline of religion and the dominance of science. He thought it was important for the afflicted to grasp elements of religion, philosophy, literature and even alchemy to heal and thrive. Edward F. Edinger systematized and extended Jung's interpretation of the Hebrew - Christian god image, particularly in his book Ego and Archetype. Noteworthy are sections on "Christ as Paradigm of the Individuating Ego" and "The Trinity Archetype and the Dialectic of Development".
I have recently noted that there is a significant amount of audio text available thanks to the Friends of Jung in San Diego. I am grateful for this and anticipate spending more time listening to him in the time that I have left, as I ever did while he was still alive. Both of us were born into and raised through the most formative years of our lives in a small mid-west town, into a family of Jehovah's Witnesses. They did more damage to me than they did to my uncle Edward, who was already reading higher criticism of Christianity and religion by the age of 13. It took me much longer, until my early twenties, to even get interested in such things. On the final occasions on which I did get to spend some time with my Uncle Edward, I had become something of a guerrilla historian working in Central America in the late 1980s. He told me quite frankly that he feared that I might get shot. I didn't.
Edward F. Edinger (1922–1998) was a pioneering American psychiatrist and one of the most influential Jungian analysts of the 20th century. He is best known for making Carl Jung’s complex ideas accessible and clinically relevant through his writings and lectures.
🧬 Early Life and Education
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Born December 13, 1922, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
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Earned a BA in Chemistry from Indiana University Bloomington.
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Completed his MD at Yale School of Medicine in 1946.
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Served as a military doctor in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, stationed in Panama.
🧠 Jungian Career and Contributions
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Began Jungian analysis in 1951 with Mary Esther Harding, a close associate of Carl Jung.
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Became a psychiatrist supervisor at Rockland State Hospital in New York.
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Co-founded both the C.G. Jung Foundation and the C.G. Jung Institute of New York, serving as president from 1968 to 1979.
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Moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and became a senior analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles, where he practiced for nearly two decades.
📚 Major Works and Themes
Edinger’s writings explore individuation, religious symbolism, alchemy, and mythology as pathways to psychological wholeness. His most notable books include:
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Ego and Archetype (1972): Explores the journey from ego to self.
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The Creation of Consciousness (1984): Interprets Jung’s mythic framework for modern psychology.
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The Bible and the Psyche and The Christian Archetype: Reframe biblical narratives through Jungian lenses.
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The Mysterium Lectures and The Aion Lectures: Deep commentaries on Jung’s most challenging texts.
🧭 Philosophical and Clinical Impact
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Edinger believed that modern neuroses stem from spiritual disconnection, and that healing requires reconnecting with symbolic and mythic dimensions of the psyche.
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He emphasized individuation as a sacred process of becoming whole, often using art, dreams, and religious imagery to guide clients.
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His work helped bridge Jungian psychology with Western religious and philosophical traditions, making him a central figure in American depth psychology.
🕊️ Legacy
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Passed away on July 17, 1998, in Los Angeles from bladder cancer.
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Honored posthumously in An American Jungian: Essays in Honor of Edward F. Edinger.
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His books remain essential reading for students of Jungian thought and transpersonal psychology.
