James Hollis

Dr. James Hollis is an American Jungian psychoanalyst, author and public speaker based in Washington, D.C. His work draws on the depth psychology of Carl Jung to ask how a person can live a more considered life, find meaning in the second half of life, and trust what he describes as the wisdom of nature.

Hollis was born in Springfield, Illinois. He earned a BA from Manchester College in Indiana in 1962 and a PhD from Drew University in 1967. He spent the first 26 years of his career teaching the humanities at colleges and universities, and between 1977 and 1982 he trained as a Jungian analyst at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zürich. He has been Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston and of the Jung Society of Washington (until 2019), a Senior Training Analyst, and Director of Training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute. He is Vice-President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation, and he continues a private practice in Washington.

He has written many books, including The Middle Passage, Swamplands of the Soul, The Eden Project, Why Good People Do Bad Things, Hauntings, Living Between Worlds and A Life of Meaning. His most recent work, Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, and Other Grievances, looks at the brevity of a human life, at personal responsibility, and at freeing oneself from societal and cultural scripts.

Hollis lectures widely to Jung societies and institutes, and speaks in podcast conversations about depression, dreams, the difference between purpose and meaning, and what it means to grow up. His videos and courses include a short film on what depth psychology is and a course on Jungian ideas such as complex, archetype, persona, shadow and anima/animus as they appear in daily life. He is also working with filmmaker Jose Enrique Pardo on Soulheal, a documentary about the state of the contemporary masculine psyche.