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Roger Bretherton, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, University of Lincoln

Shadow work: why you should be cautious of the TikTok self-help trend

Melinda Nagy/Shutterstock

I doubt the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), in all his prescience, would have predicted that his work would one day fuel a TikTok trend called “shadow work”.

Life coaches and self-help gurus on the platform promote the exploration of shadow as a path to self-development. The exercises they recommend include thought experiments imagining parental rejection, journal exercises recalling a misunderstood talent that was neglected, and the accomplishment of perfect peace through radical self-acceptance.

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