On Being a Psychoanalyst in the Nuclear Age

Bibliographic Data

ID9022271
AuthorsJohn E Mack (Center of Psychological Studies in the Nuclear AGe, 1493 Cambridge Street,Cambridge, MA 02139., corresponding author), Jane C Redmont
Year1989
Volume29
Issue3
Pages338-355
Publication date1989-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Humanistic Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-1678 • E-ISSN: 1552-650X
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0022167889293004
OpenAlexW2066172188
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited5

The threat of nuclear war has become a pervasive reality in our lives and in the lives of our patients. This article explores the role and responsibility of the analyst and the psychotherapist in the nuclear age. The nuclear threat may seem an inappropriate topic of discussion for the treatment hour because of its social and political ramifications; like the topic of sexuality in the 19th century, it is still cloaked in denial and fear. Yet both we and our patients have identities and responsibilities in the broader human community. The nuclear threat challenges us to examine these identities and responsibilities and to rethink our methodologies and perhaps even aspects of clinical theory in response to the new situation in which we find ourselves. A fuller discussion of these questions appears as a chapter, "The Threat of Nuclear War in Clinical Work: Dynamic and Theoretical Considerations," in wLevine, Jacobs, and Rubin (1988). This chapter was edited and rewritten for JHP by Jane C. Redmont, M. Div. Since the research mentioned in the article is John Mack's research, the word "I" in the text refers to him

Denial · Epistemology · Nuclear weapon · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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