1st Edition

Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat Clinial and Theoretical Studies

Edited By Howard B Levine, Daniel Jacobs Copyright 1988
304 Pages
by Routledge

304 Pages
by Routledge

304 Pages
by Routledge

The analytic literature has heretofore been silent about the issues inherent in the nuclear threat.  As a groundbreaking exploration of new psychological terrain, Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat will function as a source book for what, it is hoped, will be the continuing effort of analysts and other mental health professionals to explore and engage in-depth nuclear issues. This... Read more
Introduction, Levine, Simon  I. Theoretical Section  1. Freud's Fearful Symmetry: Further Reflections on the Life and Death Instincts, Gifford  2. Silence Is the Real Crime, Segal  3. Apocalyptic Thinking in the Nuclear Age, Ostow  4. A Short Essay on the Apocalypse, Chasseguet-Smirgel  5. Impending Nuclear Disaster: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Meissner  6. Nuclear Weapons and the Need to Have Enemies: A Psychoanalytic Perspective, Volkan  7. Gender Differences and the Nuclear Threat: Preliminary Reflections, Notman  8. Strategists, Psychoanalysts, and Nuclear Deterrence, Steinberg  II. Clinical Section  9. Love, Work, and Survival: Psychoanalysis in the Nuclear Age, Jacobs  10. The Threat of Nuclear War in Clinical Work: Dynamic and Theoretical Considerations, Mack  11. Further Clinical Considerations of the Psychological Fallout of the Nuclear Threat, Wangh  12. Psychoanalytic Explorations of the Impact of the Threat of Nuclear Disaster on the Young, Parens  13. Melancholia, Mourning, and the Nuclear Threat, Rubin  14. Hiroshim and Denial, Taketomo   

Biography

Howard B Levine, Daniel Jacobs, Lowell J. Rubin

"This remarkable collection of essays is essential and urgent reading for all those who have any therapeutic responsibilities.  The nuclear threat is examined in relation to oneself and to those outside.  One central and lasting result of reading these essays is of being left with the awareness that the response of helplessness is a private, intrapsychic state, and that to 'do nothing' cannot and must not be viewed as the real answer to a most dreadful possibility.  The contributors very carefully discuss psychoanalysis and the nuclear threat clinically and within the context of one's social responsibility.  They do not preach; instead they add dimension to our understanding that must be listened to.  Whether in agreement or not with the views expressed in this important collection, professional colleagues, parents, policy makers, and young people should know the contents of this vital book."

- Moses Laufer, Chairman, International Psychoanalysts Against Nuclear Weapons 

"At a time when the interest and concerns of the general population as well as of scientific groups center about the risk of nuclear warfare, the voices of psychoanalysts have been unusually quiet.  Individual psychoanalysts may join with their colleagues of other scientific groups or as individual citizens, but the psychoanalytic literature has not addressed the issues involved from a psychoanalytic perspective.  The work presented in this volume begins to fill this void.  Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat is an important contribution both to psychoanalysis itself and to the understanding of the nature of the nuclear threat as it is encountered in all clinical situations.  It should be seriously considered by all psychoanalysts as well as others interested in what psychoanalysis can contribute to our understanding of the most serious social and political issues of our generation."

- Edward D. Joseph, M.D., Past President, International Psychoanalytic Association