Archetypal and Embodied Approaches to Medical Practice: A Critical Analysis of Challenges to Biomedical Orthodoxy

Abstract

This article examines two distinct yet convergent critiques of contemporary biomedical practice: Alfred Ziegler’s archetypal medicine grounded in Jungian analytical psychology, and the concept of embodied medicine, integrating neurological, theological, and phenomenological insights. Both approaches challenge the mechanistic reductionism of modern medicine while proposing alternative frameworks for understanding illness, healing, and the therapeutic relationship. Through comparative analysis informed by medical anthropology, phenomenology, and critical medical humanities, this study evaluates the theoretical contributions, methodological implications, and practical limitations of both approaches. The analysis reveals significant convergences in their critique of Cartesian dualism and emphasis on meaning-making, while highlighting divergences in their relationship to conventional medical practice and epistemological foundations. The paper concludes by examining the contemporary relevance of these approaches within the broader context of calls for more humanistic, person-centered medical practice.