Damián Ruiz

I was born in Barcelona (Catalonia-Spain) in 1964.

I have a degree in Psychology and a postgraduate degree in Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis in the hospital setting and a Master in Analytical Psychology from the Ramón Llull University of Barcelona.

I am trained as a Jungian analyst, I am a member of the Institut Jung in Barcelona and of the IAAP (International Association of Analytical Psychology).

I have been an associate lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Barcelona and I am a lecturer on postgraduate and master’s degree courses related to analytical (Jungian) psychology.

During the thirty years of my therapeutic practice I have treated hundreds of patients and I have developed my own methodology for the treatment of obsessive disorders which, fundamentally, is an integration of the Jungian line, of theoretical principles based on ethology, especially primatology, and of other sources such as the theories of Millon and Lowen.

Addictions and especially cocaine addiction is another of my lines of work and I focus especially on getting the patient to reach a point of sufficient awareness to be able to quit without needing a strong will.

I deal with other psychopathological issues, such as depression or personality disorders. In reality, I am only interested in disorders with a certain level of complexity or severity from a therapeutic perspective, even from a very early age.

My training is mainly theoretical. I am interested in Jungian theory, primatology, brain evolution, anthropology, the different theories and clinical practices in psychology that consider the unconscious as a key element in the therapeutic process, and biology. But I have also dedicated a lot of time to the study and reading of different mystical and religious traditions, from the Bible, the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas, the I Ching from its philosophical perspective, Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as Western philosophy, especially that of Nietzsche.

I have a transcendental view of existence, I believe more in genetics than in the environment and that the unconscious is much more powerful than the brain, which I see as a manager of everyday life driven by underlying inner psychic forces.

I have a rational and logical perspective on the mind and human existence, beyond reductionist scientism or speculative esotericism. I believe in science and I also believe in the knowledge prior to it that our ancestors developed in order to evolve throughout history.

I think that I combine a profound and analytical vision of the human being with a pragmatic approach that tries to be effective in the therapeutic processes of the patients with whom I work.