Dennis Merritt, Ph.D.
Jungian Analyst, Ecopsychologist
Sandplay Therapist, LCSW, MA, SC

The Integral Psychology Center
1619 Monroe Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
Tel: (608) 255-9330 ext.5

Fax: (608) 255-7810

The Cambridge Group

6110 N. Port Washington Road

Glendale, WI 53217
(Milwaukee County)

Tel: (414) 332-7400 ext. 114

Fax: (414) 963-6866

E-mail: DLMerritt@cal.berkeley.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Welcome to the web site of Dennis Merritt, Ph.D., Jungian psychoanalyst, therapist/psychotherapist and ecopsychologist. I have been in private practice in Madison and Milwaukee,Wisconsin since l983 working with individual adults across the spectrum of mental disorders and life's difficulties. Dream work and use of the I Ching in analysis are my fortes, and I incorporate sandplay therapy as a subtle yet powerful form of active imagination (see topics listed below). I integrate elements of psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, brief therapy and Winnicott into a Jungian ecopsychological perspective.

Ecopsychology can be described as the psychology of ecology and the ecology of psychology. The model of the individual in relation to the unconscious is similar to a human in relation to other humans and to the environment. My concept of Jungian ecopsychology incorporates the scientific understanding of the human niche in nature and attachment theory as defining elements in relationships at all levels. Application of complexity theory to the symbolic realm inhabited by humans describes the deep transformations undergone in the psychoanalytic process. The goal and the process is encapsulated by the Chinese ideogram for the Sage, "The ear listening to Inner King".

I discovered Carl Jung while working on my Ph.D. in Insect Pathology (microbial control of insects) in Berkeley in the late ‘60s. After getting an M.A. in Humanistic Psychology from Sonoma State College in California, I literally followed my dreams and went on to train at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. My Zurich thesis, "Synchronicity Experiments with the I Ching and their Relevance to the Theory of Evolution,” was an attempt to integrate science and Jungian psychology. “Big Dreams” led me back to Wisconsin, Madison in particular (see Dreams and a Sense of Place). I’ve combined my scientific and Jungian sides through week-long “Spirit in the Land” conferences and a book soon to be completed, The Dairy Farmer’s Guide to the Universe: Jung, Hermes and Ecopsychology. Participation in Native American ceremonies through a connection to the Rosebud Lakota Sioux has had a profound affect on my worldview and analytic practice.

I do dream interpretation and I Ching consultations in person or by phone. I have been working with the I Ching since 1975 and my article, “Use of the I Ching in the Analytic Setting", has been translated into Chinese and published in Quadrant in 2001. Besides using the I Ching in analysis I help individuals in a single three-hour intensive process or a four-hour process with couples using the yarrow stalk method. See the last paragraph of the Bob Dylan article for the I Ching's guidance for the United States post September 11 and "Dance, Archetypes and the I Ching" for an archetypal perspective on a dance as illuminated by the philosophy and hexagrams of the I Ching. The latter article also describes the similarity between Jungian thought and Chinese philosophy as expressed in the I Ching. I conduct weekend workshops and give lectures throughout the country based on the Jungian Studies Program and topics listed under Lectures, Courses and Workshops.

An excellent expression of the holistic, ecopsychological dimensions of Jungian psychology at the social, economic, political and environmental levels is expressed in non-Jungian terms in the Earth Charter.

Dream Interpretation--a half-hour or more of dream work with a Jungian analyst

Dream Focused Case Consultations

I Ching Consultations with individuals

I Ching Consultations with couples

I Ching Workshop

Madison Jungian Studies Program

Courses, Lectures and Workshops

Sandplay Therapy

"A Vision for Psychology"

Jung and Ecopsychology

Dreams and a Sense of Place

"The Soul of Glacier Country": an ecopsychology article with a focus on the Midwest

Spirit in the Land, Spirit in Animals, Spirit in People: an ecopsychological approach to environmental education

"Jung and the Greening of Psychology and Education"

"The Earth Charter, Jung and Ecopsychology": talk presented at the Madison, Wisconsin Earth Charter Summit, October 11, 2003.

"Brief Psychotherapy: A Jungian Perspective"

"Use of the I Ching in the Analytic Setting"

Archetypes in the Arts and Politics

Ubu--Archetypes in Theater

Dance, Archetypes and the I Ching

"Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"--Imagery of Alienation in Music"

"Highway 61 Revisited, Again? Is Bush leading us down the wrong road?" Political letter to the editor.

Archetypes in Film: see page 2 in "Brief Psychotherapy: A Jungian Perspective" for archetypal figures in movies and "Film, Nature and Spirit" and page 9 of "Madison Jungian Studies Program".

PDF versions of the articles listed above can be found here.