Carl Jung's Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
Letter by Carl Jung
On January 23, 1961, the co-founder of AA, Bill Wilson, wrote a letter to Dr. Carl Jung thanking him for treating one of his friends in the 1930s. In his reply dated January 30, 1961, the famous Swiss psychologist wrote:
"His craving for alcohol was the equivalent on a low level of the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, the union with God".
In Jung's letter, he recounts the difficulties he had treating Wilson's friend and other alcoholics. It's also here that Jung introduces the phrase spiritus contra spiritum — spirits against spirit.