Case Material: Nikolai

From the Editors

In a letter dated January 30, 1961, written to Mr.William G.Wilson, known as ‘Bill W.’, in his role as the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Jung noted:

‘You see, Alcohol in Latin is “spiritus” and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison. The helpful formula therefore is: spiritum contra spiritum’.

C.G. Jung, letter to William G. Wilson (‘Bill W.’), January 30, 1961

In the four months since Nikolai contacted me we have had only 12 sessions. Our work, having started very cheerfully, began to slow down and slow down until he cancelled the last four meetings, referring to his work having fallen off. His statement that he needed to accompany his wife to the maternity hospital was the reason for his last cancellation.

Nikolai, a 42-year-old-man, came with an unusual request: his son was due to be born soon and he was worried whether he could be a good father for the boy. He has a daughter, now 12, born during his first marriage. He said he knows how to be the father of a girl, but is lost and worried when he imagines that he has only his own father as a model of fatherhood, a man who did not cope with this role very successfully. I can say here that after initially stating this concern, he has not touched on his worries about his future fatherhood again.

In his first session he talked about his low self-esteem and problems of selfconfidence, which he felt had ‘at times fallen compared to previous years’. In addition, he has come to therapy to figure out what to do and how to be: he does not understand what to do with his work - he has worked in large corporations since the age of 21, when he graduated from university, but in this last year he felt that he couldn't continue working in a large company; he has grown tired of communicating with senior management, cannot adapt to a change in management style, and worries that he cannot find a common

language with the