Nuclear Annihilation and the Mechanisms of Defense

Aside from denial and “psychic numbing,” defense mechanisms consistent with the individual's personality emerge in response to the threat of nuclear annihilation. In the psychotherapeutic situation, therapist and client frequently collude in mutual defensiveness. Defensive responses were obtained from a number of persons following the television film, The Day After. It is suggested that certain aspects of society provide a context for the reinforcement of defenses against the anxiety of nuclear catastrophe and, further, that this anxiety be considered as fear based in reality

Anxiety · Aside · Denial · Linguistics · Personality · Psychiatry · Psychic · Psychotherapist · History · Medicine · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Psychology · Social Psychology

• The analytic response to the threat of nuclear war

  Open Access•David Lotto•The American Journal of…•1986

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