My story

My personal history is a reflection in microcosm of the struggle I see between our private and public experience — between the personal and the political.

For generations, my family spawned political leaders who believed it was their destiny and responsibility to lead. My great great grandfather Nathan Coombs founded the town of Napa, representing it in the Senate of one of California’s first state legislatures. My great grandfather Frank Coombs served both as a California state senator, US congressman, and US ambassador to Japan. Frank’s son Nathan, my great uncle, also served in the state Senate. My grandfather Dave Dunlap was the sheriff of Napa County. My father, John Dunlap, was a fourth-generation state senator as well as the first liberal in a long line of conservatives. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, my father sponsored legislation protecting endangered species and the environment, helping farm workers to unionize, and much more.

At first, I believed it was my destiny to follow in these footsteps: I planned to become my family’s fifth-generation state senator. I loved sharing in the energy of the political gatherings my parents hosted and attended. I participated in campaigns, ran for school office, was president of my junior high, and started a “George McGovern for President” club in junior high.

In college, however, my political identity disintegrated. As I faced suffering in my personal life, I stopped thinking of myself as someone with the capacity to influence political change. I turned inward, seeking solace and healing in psychotherapy and the study of psychology. My mother Janet, who studied to be a psychotherapist but did not complete her education, had helped to show me the value of psychological work; ultimately, I followed in her footsteps. Still, I felt ashamed of my failure to continue my family’s legacy of political leadership.

My retreat into self-absorption and private life echoed that of many in my generation. Facing the near-collapse of the idealism of the ‘60s and ‘70s alongside the election and re-election of Ronald Reagan, many liberals and progressives felt incapacitated.

At some point, I realized that therapy, while crucial for my personal development, had not helped me to reconnect with the world. My own therapists did not focus on what I now see as central issues in my life: my separation from my family history, my lack of connection with my community, and my profound sense of responsibility to both. I see now that my desire for community, as well as my need to express the values of environmental sustainability and social justice, were as important as any “private” psychological issues I had.

Fortunately, over the past 20 years, a new vision of my destiny has emerged. I am continuing my family’s legacy of political leadership in an entirely new direction. As a political psychologist, I focus on ways to develop and broaden the sometimes narrow focus of the progressive vision. My work in community leadership training allows me to use my skills as a psychotherapist to help citizens and leaders to become more effective in their civic efforts.

Further, as I help others to develop their capacity for leadership, I create my own political energy anew. While my psychotherapy practice continues to be important to me, my political practice has quickly become a critically important contribution I can make toward my local and global communities.

I uncovered my calling by finding a meaningful way to bring together my private and public experience. Today, I see a crucial need for us all to find ways to unite our private and public experience. By developing a public emotional intelligence, we can foster the connections and leadership capacity that will help us to become the leaders our world needs. In doing so, we can transform our fear into something vastly more useful: We can change it into a clear recognition of the horrors we face — recognition that helps us become ready to do something about the things we fear.

My experience

I have been working as a psychotherapist since 1990. My clinical experience covers a wide spectrum, including helping individuals and couples to cope with their suffering, find meaning in midlife, explore purpose-driven vocations, and undo depression, anxiety, and the other ways we suffer.

In my political practice, I strive to combine what works in psychotherapy with what works in our communities. The value of psychotherapy is that it brings thinking and feeling together, making us more emotionally intelligent and clear in our thinking. Applying this to community leadership is challenging but entirely possible. I help political and community groups to develop an effective combination of emotional intelligence and clear thinking to catalyze the leadership capacities that drive individual, organizational, and community change.

I’m a published author and frequent contributor to scholarly journals and books. I’m also a contributing author for Tikkun magazine. My blog reflects my most recent writing efforts.

I’m a passionate public speaker, and I frequently accept invitations to speak to professional organizations and other groups. I also lead workshops and seminars focused on the development of leadership capacities and public emotional intelligence.

My education

I earned my Ph.D. in Psychology from Meridian University. I also have a Masters degree in Psychology and a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from Sonoma State University. I hold license number 20120 as a psychologist, issued by the Board of Psychology in California.

What else?

Hometown: Napa, California

Favorite movie: The Candidate (1972), Lord of the Rings trilogy

Favorite TV shows: Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Sense8, Offspring

Favorite musicians: Oldies and groups like the Talking Heads, Pinback, The Decemberists, and Warpaint

Favorite vacation destinations: Any place there are mountains and hiking trails!

Hobbies: Working with stone and reading science fiction.

Personal heroes, philosophers, and poets: Barack Obama, John Dewey, Carl Jung, and Rainer Maria Rilke

Personal motto: I will make my way into the world and everyday will be my becoming.

Publications

Books

AS AUTHOR

Awakening our Faith in the Future: The Advent of Psychological Liberalism (link to purchase)

AS CONTRIBUTOR

Book chapter: “Jung’s Relationship to Science and His Concept of Psychocultural Development,” Jung and the Question of Science (see page 140)

Forthcoming book chapter: “Jung and Politics: Founding a New Type of Psychocultural Practice and Practitioner,” Routledge Handbook of Psychoanalytic Political Theory

Book chapter: “Founding a Distinctive Jungian Political Psychology,” Analysis and Activism: Social and Political Contributions of Jungian Psychology (link to purchase)

Book chapter: “What Jung and Teilhard Can Tell Us about Coming Together as a People,” Chardin and Jung: Side by Side (link to purchase)

Book chapter: “The Movement from Theoretical Reflection on Politics to Actively Forming Political Practices,” The Analyst in the Polis (link to purchase)

Book chapter: “The Unifying Function of Affect: Founding a Theory of Psychocultural Development in the Epistemology of John Dewey and Carl Jung,” Jung and Educational Theory (link to purchase)

Magazine articles

“Cultivating a Public Emotional Intelligence,” Tikkun magazine

“Peter T. Dunlap on Awakening the Left’s Moral Authority and Psychological Citizenship,” Tikkun magazine

“Awakening our Faith in the Future: Obama’s Renewal of Our Liberal Identity,” Tikkun magazine

Newsletter articles

“Political History Stories Help Us Remember that We Are a People,” Systems-Centered News

“Supporting an Obama Presidency through a Transformative Political Psychology,” Association of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychologies Perspective (see page 21)

Journal articles

“A Transformative Political Psychology Begins with Jung,” Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche (based on conference presentation “From Image to Institution,” International Association of Jungian Studies, Cardiff, Wales, 2009) (link to purchase)

“How Do We Transform Our Large-Group Identities?”, Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies (see page 126 — paper based on conference workshop Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, Santa Fe, 2016)

“Generational Attention: Remembering How to Be a People,” Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies (based on conference presentation by the same name for Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, New Orleans, 2012)

Book reviews

“Energies and Patterns in Psychological Types: A Book Review,” International Journal of Jungian Studies (review of John Beebe’s 2017 book Energies and Patterns in Psychological Types) (link to purchase)

“Depth Typology: A new valuation of consciousness,” International Journal of Jungian Studies (Review of Mark Hunziker’s 2017 book Depth Typology) (link to purchase)