War on the Couch

The emotional state of war-affected populations has become a central concern for international policy-makers in the last decade. Growing interest in war trauma is influenced by contemporary Anglo-American emotionology, or emotional norms, which tends to pathologize ordinary responses to distress, including anger related to survival strategies. The article critically analyses the ascendancy of a therapeutic security paradigm in international politics, which seeks to explain the prevailing political, economic and social conditions in terms of cycles of emotional dysfunctionalism. The article contends that international therapeutic governance pathologizes waraffected populations as emotionally dysfunctional and problematizes their right to self-government, leading to extensive external intervention. However, international therapeutic governance may be detrimental to postwar recovery as well legitimizing a denial of self-government

Anger · Corporate governance · Denial · Development economics · Dysfunctional family · Economics · Government (linguistics · Intervention (counseling · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Psychological resilience · Psychotherapist · Sociology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Psychosocial Interventions and the Demoralization of Humanitarianism

  Open Access•Vanessa Pupavac•Journal of Biosocial Science•2004

  Incluir item

• Negotiating languages of suffering in northern Uganda

  Open Access•Lars H Williams•Qualitative Studies•2021

  Incluir item

• Mediating Emotion

  Brenton J Malin•Technology and Culture•2009

  Incluir item

• The Care of the Witness

  Open Access•M Givoni•Care of the Witness•2016

  Incluir item

• The Social Psychology of Trauma

  Open Access•Orla T Muldoon•Social Psychology of Trauma•2024

  Incluir item

• Electrifying Speeches

  Brenton J Malin•Journal of Social History•2011

  Incluir item

• Arendt and the politics of theory and practice

  Open Access•Denis Sindic•Theory & Psychology•2013

  Incluir item

• Why sociology needs optimism, especially in troubled times

  Open Access•Mary Holmes, M S Holliman W Holmes•Dialogues in sociology•2026

  Incluir item

• Managing affects and sensibilities

  Open Access•Nadia Fadil•Social Anthropology•2009

  Incluir item

• Risk, Suffering and Competing Narratives in the Psychiatric Assessment of an Iraqi Refugee

  Open Access•Pauline Savy, Anne-Maree Sawyer et al.•Culture Medicine and Psychiatry•2008

  Incluir item

• Mental Health System Reform in Contexts of Humanitarian Emergencies

  Open Access•Hanna Kienzler•Culture Medicine and Psychiatry•2019

  Incluir item

• The group as liminal space

  Open Access•Gina Donoso•International Review of Victimology•2026

  Incluir item

• Theorizing emotions in world politics

  Open Access•Emma Hutchison, R Bleiker•International Theory•2014

  Incluir item

• Reason, emotion, and the problem of world poverty

  Open Access•Renée Jeffery•International Theory•2011

  Incluir item

• New Visions, Critiques, and Hope in the Post-Liberal Age? A Call for Rethinking Intervention and Statebuilding

  Pol Bargués, Maria Martin De Almagro et al.•Journal of Intervention and…•2023

  Incluir item

• Narrative Therapy and Peacebuilding

  Emily Pia•Journal of Intervention and…•2013

  Incluir item

• Ethnographic Contributions to Method Development

  A Leander•International Studies Perspectives•2015

  Incluir item

• Building an Ecology of Resilience through Religious Practice and Community in Northern Uganda

  Lars H Williams, Lars Williams•Civil Wars•2022

  Incluir item

• The Power of Narratives in Conflict and Peace

  Open Access•Moritz Ehrmann, Gearoid Millar•Civil Wars•2021

  Incluir item

• The politics of ‘whataboutery’

  Open Access•Adrian Little, Juliet Rogers et al.•The British Journal of Politics…•2016

  Incluir item

• Ah lef ma case fo God”

  Gearoid Millar•Peace and Conflict Journal of…•2012

  Incluir item

• Self-Defense or Undermining the Self? Exploring the Possibilities and Limitations of a Novel Anti-Rape Technology

  Open Access•D White, Gareth Rees•Violence Against Women•2014

  Incluir item

• International Therapeutic Peace and Justice in Bosnia

  Open Access•Vanessa Pupavac•Social & Legal Studies•2004

  Incluir item

• International criminal justice and the coloniality of therapeutic governance

  Caitlin Biddolph•Cambridge Review of International…•2025

  Incluir item

• The psychologization of humanitarian aid

  Open Access•Jan De Vos•History of the Human Sciences•2011

  Incluir item

• Therapeutic Vs. Political Frames

  Open Access•Anne Montgomery, Alesia F Montgomery•Sociological Perspectives•2008

  Incluir item

• A Critically Informed Perspective of Working with Resettling Refugee Groups in Australia

  P Westoby, Ann Ingamells•The British Journal of Social Work•2010

  Incluir item

• Beyond the securitisation of development

  Open Access•Jonathan Pugh, Clive Gabay et al.•Geoforum•2012

  Incluir item

• The power of uptake

  Open Access•Katrin Travouillon•Cooperation and Conflict•2023

  Incluir item

• An emotions agenda for peace

  Open Access•Katrin Travouillon, Nicolas Lemay-Hébert et al.•Cooperation and Conflict•2023

  Incluir item

• Social transformation and participatory planning in St Lucia

  Open Access•Jonathan Pugh•Area•2005

  Incluir item

• This Is Not Your Practice Life

  Open Access•Christine Lavrence, Kristin Lozanski•Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue…•2014

  Incluir item

• Personal and Political

  Open Access•Orla T Muldoon, Robert D Lowe et al.•Political Psychology•2021

  Incluir item

• Social Identity, Groups, and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder

  Open Access•Orla T Muldoon, Robert D Lowe•Political Psychology•2012

  Incluir item

• Coming in from the Cold

  Open Access•Andrew A G Ro, Andrew A G Ross•European Journal of International…•2006

  Incluir item

• Healing Past Violence

  Catherine Moon•Journal of Human Rights•2009

  Incluir item

• Between Western theory and local practice

  Open Access•Gearoid Millar•Conflict Resolution Quarterly•2011

  Incluir item

• Reconciliation and the Therapeutic State

  Michael Humphreys, Michael Humphrey•Journal of Intercultural Studies•2005

  Incluir item

• Moving Through the Future

  Open Access•Kim Cunningham•Culture Studies ↔ Critical…•2014

  Incluir item

• What One Sees and How One Files Seeing

  Open Access•Catherine Moon, Claire Moon•Sociology•2012

  Incluir item

• "Making Patients" in Postwar and Resource-scarce Settings. Diagnosing and Treating Mental Illness in Postwar Kosovo

  Open Access•Hanna Kienzler•Medical Anthropology Quarterly•2020

  Incluir item

• Victims or Madmen? The Diagnostic Competition over 'Terrorist' Detainees at Guantánamo Bay

  Open Access•Alison Howell•International Political Sociology•2007

  Incluir item

• Is promoting war trauma such a good idea

  Open Access•Costanza Torres, COSTANZA TORRE et al.•Anthropology Today•2019

  Incluir item

• Governing peacekeeping

  Carol Harrington•Economy and Society•2006

  Incluir item

• The Social Life of Psychiatric Practice

  Hanna Kienzler•Medical Anthropology•2012

  Incluir item

• A Psychology of Ghosts

  N Bubandt•Anthropological Forum•2012

  Incluir item

• Frustration and aggression.

  John Dollard, Neal E Miller et al.•1939

  Incluir item

• The Romance of American Psychology

  Ellen Herman•Romance of American Psychology•1995

  Incluir item

• The invention of post-traumatic stress disorder and the social usefulness of a psychiatric category

  Open Access•Derek Summerfield•BMJ•2001

  Incluir item

• Disability Associated With Psychiatric Comorbidity and Health Status in Bosnian Refugees Living in Croatia

  Richard F Mollica•JAMA•1999

  Incluir item

• The rise and fall of project Camelot

  Irving Louis Horowitz•The rise and fall of project…•1974

  Incluir item

• Becoming Modern

  Alex Inkeles, David Horton Smith•Becoming Modern•1974

  Incluir item

• Anger

  Steven Mintz, Carol Zisowitz Stearns et al.•The American Historical Review•1987

  Incluir item

• Influences of weather-related parameters on the spread of Covid-19 pandemic – The scenario of Bangladesh

  Open Access•Tana Dineen, Md Arman Arefin et al.•Urban Climate•2021

  Incluir item

• The culture of lies

  Open Access•Dubravka Ugrešić•Index on Censorship•1994

  Incluir item

• Three Decades of Peace Education around the World

  Robin J Burns, Robert Aspeslagh•Three Decades of Peace Education…•2014

  Incluir item

• The crowd

  Gustave Le Bon•1908

  Incluir item

• The Spitting Image

  Mark D Van Ells, Jerry Lembeke•The Journal of Military History•2001

  Incluir item

• The Stages of Economic Growth

  Open Access•Walt Whitman Rostow•Stages of Economic Growth•1991

  Incluir item

• Tony Vaux, The Selfish Altruist

  Open Access•Tasneem Mowjee•Voluntas Revista Internacional de…•2001

  Incluir item

• The Struggle for Recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts

  Open Access•Thelma Mccormack, A Honneth•The Canadian Journal of Sociology•1997

  Incluir item

• Pathologizing Populations and Colonizing Minds

  Open Access•Vanessa Pupavac•Alternatives Global Local Political•2002

  Incluir item

• The Homeless Mind

  Jon Hendricks, Peter Berger et al.•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1975

  Incluir item

• The Spitting Image

  Thomas D Beamish, Jerry Lembcke•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1999

  Incluir item

• Politics and the Stages of Growth

  Wendell Bell, W W Rostow•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1972

  Incluir item

• Shook over Hell

  James M McCaffrey, Eric T Dean et al.•The Journal of Southern History•1999

  Incluir item

• Education in Occupied Germany

  Helen Liddell•International Affairs•1948

  Incluir item

• An Idea and Its Servants

  William Diebold, Richard Hoggart•Foreign Affairs•1978

  Incluir item

• Would You Tell Me Who Is Lyndon Johnson?’ - Alex Inkeles and David H. Smith

  Open Access•Martin Harrop•Government and Opposition•1977

  Incluir item

• The Harmony of Illusions

  Alma H Young, Allan Young•Harmony of Illusions•1996

  Incluir item

• How community mental health stamped out the riots (1968-78)

  Open Access•Kenneth Keniston•Trans-action•1968

  Incluir item

• The Minimal Self

  R Ehrlich, Richard M Ehrlich•Telos•1984

  Incluir item

• Rethinking the Trauma of War

  Open Access•Richard Matzopoulos, Richard G Matzopoulos•Social Science & Medicine•2000

  Incluir item

• Psychological Factors of Peace and War

  John Meany, T H Pear•The American Catholic Sociological…•1951

  Incluir item

• Therapeutic Governance

  Open Access•Vanessa Pupavac•Disasters•2001

  Incluir item

• Governing the Borderlands

  Open Access•Mark Duffield•Disasters•2001

  Incluir item

• Memory, Trauma and Genocidal Nationalism

  Open Access•L Ray•Sociological Research Online•1999

  Incluir item

• The Politics of Readjustment

  Seymour Leventman, Wilbur J Scott•Social Forces•1997

  Incluir item

• The Homeless Mind

  D Lerner, P Berger et al.•Social Forces•1974

  Incluir item

• Dismembering Yugoslavia

  Open Access•Bette Denich•American Ethnologist•1994

  Incluir item