This study employed a mixed methods design to examine Tarot as a symbolic and imaginal process operating within psychotherapeutic dialogue, with particular attention to how meaning emerges through engagement with archetypal imagery.
The research was grounded in Carl Jung’s analytical psychology and Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy. From a Jungian perspective, Tarot imagery was understood as an expression of archetypal patterns arising from the collective unconscious, capable of mediating dialogue between conscious awareness and unconscious material. Concepts such as individuation, the transcendent function, active imagination, and shadow integration informed the interpretation of symbolic content. Frankl’s logotherapy contributed an existential framework emphasizing meaning-making, values, and the human capacity to orient toward purpose in the context of psychological suffering. Together, these perspectives framed Tarot as a symbolic language through which psychological experience could be explored, reflected upon, and articulated.
A mixed methods approach was used to integrate quantitative assessment with qualitative inquiry. This design supported examination of changes in self-reported symptoms alongside participants’ narrative, emotional, and symbolic experience. Rather than isolating variables, the study emphasized process, context, and subjective meaning, consistent with depth psychological and phenomenological traditions within clinical research.
Quantitative data were derived from standardized self-report measures assessing symptoms of depression and anxiety across the study period. Qualitative material included session dialogue, participant journals, and researcher observations. These data were examined using thematic analysis informed by the study’s theoretical frameworks, with attention to recurring symbolic motifs, affective shifts, existential concerns, and reflective processes associated with individuation and meaning construction. Analysis emphasized interpretation over prediction