Negative inflation

1. Etymology

Negative inflation names an unrealistically low opinion of oneself, due to identification with the negative side of the shadow. Related: inflation (positive pole / possession structure).

2. Plain summary

Sharp treats negative inflation as the depressive twin of grandiose inflation—both are symptoms of psychological possession. Identification with the shadow’s negative face yields unrealistically low self-opinion. A sense of moral inferiority indicates not only a need to assimilate an unconscious component, but also the possibility of such assimilation.

Parent lemma inflation (already §5-folded) covers both poles: hypomanic uniqueness and depressive non-worth; Samuels pairs immense power with sense of non-worth under one inflation head. This leaf keeps the Sharp headword distinct while dual-stamping the parent.

Examples (exhaustive house list for this Index lemma — common negative-inflation motifs named across Jung’s essays and standard Jungian lexica; not a claim that Jung’s CW contains only these):
unrealistically low self-opinion; identification with negative shadow; moral inferiority as assimilation cue; depressive pole of inflation; possession structure shared with positive inflation; dual-stamp INFLATION-1–4.

3. Academic elucidation

In analytical psychology negative inflation is shadow-identification as depressive inflation—Sharp short lemma; CW 7 ¶218. Descent Press keeps Sharp in §4; Samuels under parent inflation (pp. 81–82). §5 holds sample NEGINF-1 + dual INFLATION-1–4.

4. Lexicon

Sharp (1991)

Negative inflation. An unrealistically low opinion of oneself, due to identification with the negative side of the shadow. (See also inflation.) Whenever a sense of moral inferiority appears, it indicates not only a need to assimilate an unconscious component, but also the possibility of such assimilation.

(Sharp, 1991) — cites CW 7 ¶218 in Sharp’s lemma.

Samuels, Shorter & Plaut (1986) — no dedicated negative inflation head; dual under inflation pp. 81–82 (parent verified on inflation):

inflation … disorientation accompanied either by a feeling of immense power and uniqueness or a sense of non-worth and being of no account. The former represents a hypomanic state; the latter, depression.

(Samuels, Shorter, & Plaut, 1986/2013, pp. 81–82)

5. CW concordance — sample, not exhaustive

The sense of moral inferiority always indicates that the missing element is something which, to judge by this feeling about it, really ought not be missing, or which could be made conscious if only one took sufficient trouble… Whenever a sense of moral inferiority appears, it indicates not only a need to assimilate an unconscious component, but also the possibility of such assimilation.
(Jung, 1928/1966, CW 7, pp. 188–189, ¶218)

Dual-stamp inflation INFLATION-1–4 (already folded — no rewrite): CW 12 ¶563 1944/1968; CW 7 ¶110 1917/1966; CW 7 ¶227 / ¶260 1928/1966. See inflation.

See also: inflation; shadow; identification; ego; self; depression; mana-personality (soft).

References

Jung, C. G. (1966). The relations between the ego and the unconscious. In H. Read, M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Eds.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) (2nd ed., Vol. 7, pp. 188–189, ¶218). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1928)

Samuels, A., Shorter, B., & Plaut, F. (1986). A critical dictionary of Jungian analysis. Routledge.

Sharp, D. (1991). Jung lexicon: A primer of terms & concepts. Inner City Books.