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Meet Me

I am a Jungian analyst and psychotherapist and hold an MA and a PhD in Jungian Psychology. My dissertation presents Erich Neumann's writings as a relational and developmental theory, which I present and teach around the world.

I am also certified in Infant Observation, and during my younger years, I was a Doula and Breast-feeding advisor. Combined with my dissertation and practice, I am an expert in early life relationship.

I was born during the late 60's in Israel and grew up in a middle-class family in Tel-Aviv. After graduating with an engineer, I gave up career to be a stay-at-home-mom for over 15 years.When my children grew older, I was

Dr. Lidar Shany

called to embark on my professional path,which naturally stemmed from being a mother, and after a long walk, I became a psychoanalyst. I am working in-person and online with adults searching for meaning, depth, healing relationship, and old trauma. I also help women suffering postpartum depression, and work with children and infants, mainly in dyadic form. 

Since Oct 7th, I work with survivors of the massacre, adults, children, parents and caregivers, and thus currently in Israel. 

I love teaching, and work as core faculty in a Jungian psychology program in Israel, and present Neumann's early life theory around the world. 

Dr. Lidar Shany 

Dr. Lidar Shany and Erich Neumann
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Erich Neumann and me

My journey with Erich Neumann's writings, began in 2014. During the first five years, I was repulsed by his poetic and repetitive style. During the following five years, I fell completely in-love, with his poetic repetitive, creative, challenging, transcending and mind blowing ideas. What began as an attempted to use a small part of his writings in my planed dissertation research, turned out to be an in-depth doctoral dissertation research of the full volume of Erich Neumann's writings, and its crystallization into articulating the developmental theory emerging from these writings. My current work, theoretical and therapeutic, is rooted and grounded in Neumann's ideas. I see myself as walking the path he paved and teaching his theory of early life as well as its zenith, around the world, and currently in the process of publishing the dissertation edited as a book. Neumann’s formulations and descriptions of the psychological development, as it differs between men and women, and his theoretical framework which elaborates and amplifies Jung’s theory, serves as my guiding map in working with patients of all ages, and especially with mothers and infants. Times and again I am amazed and excited to find how extremely accurate Neumann’s theory is, to the lived experience of the mother and infant in their dyadic intimacy. Also, I am amplifying Neumann’s theory to suggest a description of the mother’s psychology in the dyad with her baby. This understanding supports my work with women after birth, and in cases of post-natal depression. From the many words I write about Erich Neumann, I present here, the final words summarizing my doctoral dissertation: When I started my research, I thought I would cover only the part of the theory that describes early life development. Soon I was completely hooked and wanted to read and understand more. The more I researched and realized the extent of Neumann’s theory, the more I found myself thinking of therapy in terms of his formulations. I was astonished both by the potential of the theory to promote psychological understanding of therapeutic meaning and by the neglect of his writings in the current Jungian world. Of course, there are many Jungian writers; nevertheless, Neumann had the concrete potential to realize a school of thought of his own, a“Neumannian” branch in Jungian Psychology. Writing this dissertation has been a long and lonely journey. Spending the time in my study with Erich Neumann, I came to know him in a very intimate way, and although I have no idea of him as a person, I have a strong sense of him as a theoretician and a deep appreciation. I hope that this dissertation will be a fresh breeze blowing on his old pages, a spring bloom to his theory, and the feminine spirit he so called for.

Dr. Lidar Shany 

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