We are a research group investigating Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) as a potential therapeutic site.

In an era marked by cultural uncertainty and psychological fragmentation, many are seeking new ways to reconnect with meaning, imagination, and inner life. Drawing on Jungian ideas, such as the individuation process and symbolic engagement, we are exploring how VR and AR game spaces might offer oppertunities for this reconnection.

We approach virtual reality as a site of therapeutic value, a space for creative expression, reflection, and psychological growth. This ongoing research project aims to deepen our understanding of the experiential dimensions of VR/AR and explore its potential implications for theory and applications in clinical practice.

Who we are

Prof Kevin Lu
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Kevin Lu, PhD, is Professor of Applied Psychoanalysis and Head of Department (Practice) at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. He is the former Head of the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies and was Director of the MA Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies between 2009 and 2022 (University of Essex). Kevin’s interest in gaming specifically and technology more generally began at a young age, when his parents bought a Nintendo Entertainment System. He has fond memories of playing Anticipation with his family and beating his sister at Blades of Steel (although, once, she beat him, which he didn’t like at all). Kevin graduated to frequenting the grungy arcades of Toronto, honing his skills at Streetfighter II. While he eventually grew up, he remained fascinated by gaming and technology and began thinking more deeply about how his new passion -- analytical psychology -- could both elucidate and be impacted by this unique form of play and emerging, immersive technologies. He was fortunate enough to meet and work with some amazing students – including professional game designers, artists, and Practice-based researchers – who cultivated his interest in this area. He is delighted to be part of such a talented team and is looking forward to developing, pursuing, and collaborating on a number of exciting projects at the intersection of analytical psychology, VR, AR, and gaming.

Rupert Tower
Society of Analytical Psychology

Rupert Tower is a senior member of the Society of Analytical Psychology. He studied psychology, worked in the Arts, and was an applied social psychologist and director of an international qualitative cross-cultural research consultancy prior to becoming a Jungian analyst in mid-life. He teaches and supervises across Jungian organisations and has published articles on social psychology, market research, and Jung’s concept of the Shadow in organisations. He co-edited Jung’s Shadow Concept: The Hidden Light and Darkness within Ourselves, published by Routledge in May 2023. He lives and works in Hampstead.

Dr Andrew Howe
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, University of Essex

Andrew Howe is a psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist PhD student in analytical psychology at the University of Essex. He has published articles and papers on analytical psychology and contemporary psychiatry, with a particular focus on hallucinations. His interest in virtual environments, their therapeutic and psychological potential, began with a paper on the mythology in the legend of Zelda series and its significance in a case of psychotherapy. Andrew has enjoyed immersing himself in video games with rich mythology’s, stories and worlds from an early age such as the legend of Zelda series and Baldurs Gate. He has a particular loyalty to Nintendo, with the N64 being an essential part of his childhood. Andrew excited to explore the potential of virtual reality in relation to psychology and psychotherapy.

Dr Briony O Clarke
Lillian Studio

Dr Briony O Clarke is an artist, game designer, and researcher. Her practice based PhD, Animate Being: Extending a Practice of the Image to New Mediums via Speculative Game Design (2023), develops a methodology for engaging the unconscious through digital spatiality, symbolic image-work, and artifical systems. Mobilising Jung’s method of active imagination as image work within digital space Briony explores how game worlds can function as liminal spaces for psychic expression and transformation. Drawing on Jungian theory, posthumanism, and ecological thought, her work positions digital space particularly games and immersive environments, as vessels for psychic process: sites where archetypal material, technological mediation, and nonhuman agency converge. She is the founder of Lillian, a game design studio exploring how contemporary technologies, mediate, reflect, and potentially extend psychic life.

Reasearch and Events

The Jung Club London
May 2025

This research event held at The Jung Club in London brought together arts practitioners, therapists, and academics to explore how immersive virtual reality (VR) environments might open up new dimensions for psychological and symbolic experience, particularly in relation to the numinous, the uncanny, and the unseen aspects of the psyche.

Research Team: Professor Kevin Lu (RCSSD), Rupert Tower (SAP), Dr Andrew Howe (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, University of Essex), Dr Briony O Clarke (Lillian)

The Jungian Shadow in Virtual Reality
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
January 2025

This research event brought together arts practitioners, therapists, and academics to investigate how immersive virtual reality (VR) environments might serve as new mediums for psychological exploration, particularly through the lens of analytical (Jungian) psychology.

Together, we asked: Can VR become a space in which archetypal images and shadow material are encountered, animated, and integrated?

Research Team: Professor Kevin Lu (RCSSD), Rupert Tower (SAP), Dr Andrew Howe (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, University of Essex)
, Dr Briony O Clarke (Lillian), Dr Nic Abraham (RCSSD)

This event was made possible thanks to the generous support of the International Association of Analytical Psychology (IAAP) Outreach Working Party.

Contact Us

We welcome inquiries, collaborations, and conversations.

If you're interested in our work, would like to attend future events, collaborate on a project, or explore the psychological and symbolic potential of immersive technologies, please get in touch here

The Virtual Unconscious

The
Virtual
Unconscious