11/13/2025
The paradox of the wounded healer lies in the mystery that our capacity to heal can be born out of our suffering. Jung wrote, “It is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal” and recognised the importance of the wounds of the physician (1). He drew from the ancient Greek myth of Chiron, a wise and compassionate centaur struck by a poisoned arrow, that could not die as he was immortal and so endured unending pain. In this suffering, however, he discovered a gift for the healing arts (2).
The wounded healer’s ability does not come from immunity to suffering but from having encountered, endured, and worked it through. Those who embody this archetype have faced their own despairs, heartaches, angers, and disillusionments, and despite the smothering nature of these darker times have found a way to face it and live on. Their capacity to help others who suffer does not arise from avoiding their feelings, but from the humility that comes from knowing these difficult yet deeply inherently human experiences.
In psychotherapy, the patient often begins by perceiving the therapist as the one who holds the cure. Yet as the work deepens, something more reciprocal develops. Both therapist and patient participate in an unfolding dialogue between the wounded and the healer within each of them. The therapist’s task is not to stand superior and detached as the wise counsellor, but to meet the patient in their pain with genuine presence and compassion, to suffer the painful experiences with them. Daniel Stern recognised these “moments of meeting” as having deep healing potential (3). For it is here that the therapist invites a space for the patient’s own inner healer to step forward and begin to act.
The wounded healer, then, is not some mythic being of divine strength and endless compassion, but a deeply human one. Their gift lies in the courage to remain present to the suffering of others, open to how it resonates with their own. In this shared human encounter, healing becomes less a cure than a deepened participation in the fullness of life itself.
~ Post written by Austin Smith, Clinical Psychologist and Jungian Analyst
Image credit: ‘Chiron and Achilles’ by John Singer Sargent (circa 1922–1925)
References:
1. Jung, C. G. (1951). Fundamental questions of psychotherapy. In The Practice of Psychotherapy (Vol. 16, pp. 116–117). Princeton University Press
2. Whan, Michael. (2002). Chiron's wound: Some reflections on the wounded-healer. 53-61.
3. Stern, D. N., Sander, L. W., Nahum, J. P., Harrison, A. M., Lyons-Ruth, K., Morgan, A. C., Bruschweilerstern, N., & Tronick, E. Z. (1998). Non-interpretive mechanisms in psychoanalytic therapy: The ‘something more’ than interpretation. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 79(5), 903–921.
