Carl Jung Letter regarding Tuberculosis [TB]
Letters of C. G. Jung: Volume 2, 1951-1961
Dear Mr. Campbell:
Thank you so much for your kind letter and the programme of your conference. I fully realize that Catholic analysts are faced with very particular problems which, on the one hand, are an aggravation of the work which is difficult in itself already, yet on the other hand, am asset, since you start within a world of thought and feeling based upon archetypal realities.
I have had a number of TB patients in my time and some really excellent results with psychotherapy, but it is true that the average somatic case generally has a resistance to the psychological approach, particularly the TB patients, since TB is, in a way “pneumatic” disease, that is, affecting the life-giving breath. It is in such cases as these as if the patient had a pride and obstinacy in defending the achievement of a somatic answer to an insoluble psychological problem.
With every good wish for Christmas and the New Year, I remain,
Yours cordially, C.G. Jung [Letter dated December 19, 1952.]
Notes:
- Paul Campbell was a Catholic analytical psychologist in Glasgow.
- A tuberculosis specialist had referred several cases to Mr. Campbell believing in the value of analysis in effecting a cure.