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Jean BolenJean Shinoda Bolen, M. D, is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and an internationally known author and speaker. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women and of the International Transpersonal Association. She was a recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing’s “Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award” and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Bolen was in three acclaimed documentaries, the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film “Women - For America, For the World,” the Canadian Film Board’s “Goddess Remembered,” and “Femme: Women Healing the World.” The Millionth Circle Initiative (millionthcircle.org), was inspired by her book and led to her involvement at the United Nations. She is Permanent representative of Pathways To Peace and the initiator and the leading advocate for a UN 5th World Conference on Women (5wcw.org), which was supported by the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly on March 8, 2012.

Dr. Bolen is the author of thirteen books in over eighty translations: The Tao of Psychology, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, Ring of Power, Crossing to Avalon, Close to the Bone, The Millionth Circle, Goddesses in Older Women, Crones Don’t Whine, Urgent Message from Mother, Like a Tree, Moving Towards the Millionth Circle and Artemis:The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman. The 30th anniversary edition of Goddesses in Everywoman and the 25th anniversary edition of Gods in Everyman were published in 2014.

   Photo by Pauline H. Tesler


Private Practice

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.
655 Redwood Highway, Suite 336
Mill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 381-8331
Email Contact

Dr. Bolen maintains a private practice in the Shelter Bay Office Complex in Mill Valley. She draws from decades of work with individuals in Jungian analysis and the accumulated knowledge of people and the effect of family and culture, with an emphasis on individuation and meaning. She is a consultant to other professionals. After meetings in-person, FaceTime and Skype sessions are possible. It is unusual for her to have a regular time-slot openings in her practice, which means that some flexibility is needed to fit into cancellations until a regular time becomes available. However, it sometimes seems as if synchronicity and schedule will work together. She is on no insurance panels. First contact: best via email with your contact information, referral or self-referral and any other relevant information and/or questions.


Professional Background

Jean Shinoda Bolen is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a past Chairperson of the Council of National Affairs of the APA, a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, a former member of the Board of Trustees of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, and a former Board member of the International Transpersonal Association. She is an Analyst-member of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and the International Association for Analytical Psychology.  She is a past member of the Board of Governors of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, and past Chairperson of the Joint Certifying Board of the Northern and Southern California Societies of Jungian Analysts. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Ms. Foundation for Women.  She founded and co-chaired Psychiatrists for ERA, which was a major influence within psychiatry in the early 1980's, that evolved into the Association for Women in Psychiatry.

  Dr. Bolen attended UCLA and Pomona College prior to graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1958. She then entered the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco, receiving her M.D. in 1962, followed by a rotating internship at Los Angeles County General Hospital and a residency in psychiatry at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco. Her analytic training was done at the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco.

She brings an emphasis on the question for meaning and the need for a spiritual dimension in life to all aspects of her work, while also taking into account the powerful effects of archetypes within us and family and culture upon us. Her books are used as college and university texts in gender studies, women's psychology, mythology, spirituality, east-west philosophy, and psychology courses. She has been an advocate for women, women's issues, and ethics in psychiatry. With her former husband, she co-founded Psychic and New Realities magazines, publications about parapsychological, and mind-body-spiritual subjects. She is in the widely acclaimed documentary, "Goddess Remembered," the first of the Canadian Film Board's trilogy.


View Dr. Bolen's curriculum vitae