Carl Jung on the Psyche and Carcinoma
To Rudolf Jung
Dear Cousin, 11 May 1956
Your views on the origin of a carcinoma seem to me largely correct.
I have in fact seen cases where the carcinoma broke out under the conditions you envisage, when a person comes to a halt at some essential point in his individuation or cannot get over an obstacle.
Unhappily nobody can do it for him, and it cannot be forced.
An inner process of growth must begin, and if this spontaneous creative activity is not performed by nature herself, the outcome can only be fatal.
At any rate there is a profound disability, i.e., the constitution is at the end of its resources.
Ultimately we all get stuck somewhere, for we are all mortal and remain but
a part of what we are as a whole.
The wholeness we can reach is very relative.
Just as carcinoma can develop for psychic reasons, it can also disappear for psychic reasons.
Such cases are well authenticated.
But this does not mean that it is amenable to psychotherapy, or that it could be prevented by a particular psychic development.
With best greetings,
Carl ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 296-297.
