Jungian Therapy, Jungian Analysis, New York

Affect

from Jung Lexicon by Daryl Sharp

Affect. Emotional reactions marked by physical symptoms and disturbances in thinking. (See also complex and feeling.)

Affect is invariably a sign that a complex has been activated.

Affects occur usually where adaptation is weakest, and at the same time they reveal the reason for its weakness, namely a certain degree of inferiority and the existence of a lower level of personality. On this lower level with its uncontrolled or scarcely controlled emotions one . . . [is] singularly incapable of moral judgment. [The Shadow, Aion, CW9ii, par. 15.]