Table Of ContentPSYCHOANALYSIS
and the
NUCLEAR THREAT
Clinical and Theoretical Studies
PSYCHOANALYSIS
and the
NUCLEAR THREAT
Clinical and Theoretical Studies
Editors
Howard B. Levine
Daniel Jacobs
Lowell J. Rubin
THE ANALYTIC PRESS
1988 Hillsdale, NJ Hove and London
Copyright © 1988 by The Analytic Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform,
retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Analytic Press.
Distributed solely by
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
365 Broadway
Hillsdale, New Jersey 07642
Set in Garamond type by
BookMasters, Ashland, OH
Printed in the United States of America by
Braun-Brumfield, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Psychoanalysis and the nuclear threat: clinical and theoretical studies / edited by Howard B.
Levine, Daniel Jacobs, Lowell Rubin.
Includes bibliography and indexes.
ISBN 0-88163-062-4
1. Nuclear warfare--Psychological aspects. 2. Psychoanalysis.
I. Levine, Howard B. II. Jacobs, Daniel. III. Rubin, Lowell.
U263.P77 1988
355' .0217'0 19-<icl9 88-26245
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
List of Contributors/ix
Acknowledgments/xi
Introduction! 1
Howard B. Levine
Bennett Simon
Theoretical Section/II
1
Freud's Fearful Symmetry/15
Further Reflections on the Life and Death Instincts
Sanford Gifford
2
Silence Is The Real Crime/35
Hanna M. Segal
3
Apocalyptic Thinking in the Nuclear Age/59
Mortimer Ostow
4
A Short Essay on the Apocalypse171
Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel
5
Impending Nuclear Disaster/89
Psychoanalytic Perspectives
W. W. Meissner
v
vi CONTENTS
6
Nuclear Weapons and the Need to Have Enemies/Ill
A Psychoanalytic Perspective
Vamtk D. Volkan
7
Gender Differences and the Nuclear Threat/131
Preliminary Reflections
Malkah T Notman
8
Strategists, Psychoanalysts, and Nuclear Deterrence/145
Blema S. Steinberg
Clinical Sectionll69
9
Love, Work, and Survival/173
Psychoanalysis in the Nuclear Age
Daniel Jacobs
10
The Threat of Nuclear War in Clinical Workll89
Dynamic and Theoretical Considerations
John E. Mack
11
Further Clinical Considerations of the
Psychological Fallout of the Nuclear Threat/215
Martin Wangh
12
Psychoanalytic Explorations of the Impact of
the Threat of Nuclear Disaster on the Young/223
Henri Parens
13
Melancholia, Mourning, and the Nuclear Threat/245
Lowell Rubin
CONTENTS vii
14
Hiroshima and Denial/259
Yasuhiko Tak£tomo
Afterwordl273
Author Indexl275
Subject Indexl281
List of Contributors
Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, Training and Supervising Analyst,
Paris Psychoanalytic Society; Vice President, International Psycho
analytic Association
Sanford Gifford, M.D., Director of the Library, Boston Psycho
analytic Society and Institute; Associate Clinical Professor of Psy
chiatry, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Jacobs, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Assistant Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Howard B. Levine, M.D., Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society.
and Institute; private practice of psychoanalysis
John E. Mack, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical
School; Academic Director, Center for Psychological Studies in the
Nuclear Age at Cambridge (MA) Hospital
W. W. Meissner; S.]., M.D., University Professor of Psychoanaly
sis, Boston College; Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psy
choanalytic Society and Institute
Malkah T. Notman, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst,
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Mortimer Ostow, M.D., Sandrow Professor of Pastoral Psychiatry,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America; Attending Psychiatrist,
Montefiore Hospital, New York
Henri Parens, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, Philadel
phia Psychoanalytic Institute; Research Professor of Psychiatry and
Director, Infant Psychiatry Section, Medical College of Pennsylvania
ix
x LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Lowell Rubin, M. D., Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and
Institute; Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Hwnan Be
havior, Brown University
Hanna M. Segal, M.B., Ch.B., F.R.C. Psych., Training and Su
pervising Psychoanalyst, British Psycho-Analytic Society; Executive
Committee International Psychoanalysts Against Nuclear Weapons
(IPANW)
Bennett Simon, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Blema S. Steinberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of
Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;
Advanced Candidate in Psychoanalytic Training, Canadian Institute
of Psychoanalysis (Q.E.), Montreal
Yasuhiko Taketomo, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Attending Physician, Monte
fiore Medical Center/The Jack D. Weller Hospital of the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Vamik D. Volkan, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst,
Washington Psychoanalytic Institute; Professor of Psychiatry and
Director, Division of Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Virginia
Medical School
Martin Wangh, M.D., Training and Supervising Analyst, New
York Psychoanalytic Institute; Professor Emeritus, Clinical Psychi
atry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Acknowledgments
The stimulus to create this book evolved slowly from a number of sources.
Several of the authors represented here spoke at the March 1986 Symposium
entitled "Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat," sponsored by the Boston
Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. We are grateful to the administra
tive staff and officers of the BPSI and to the members of the Symposium
Planning Committee for their support and assistance in what turned out
to be the first stage of this book project. We would also like to thank
Ms. Ann Menashi, Librarian at the BPSI, and the Physicians for Social
Responsibility for their help in assembling the bibliography that served
as background reading for the Symposium and for the editors, as we began
to study what had been previously written about the psychology of the
nuclear threat.
Finally, we are particularly grateful for having had the opportunity to
share and develop our ideas through continued exchange with a number of
colleagues. These include the members of the Workshop on The Psychology
of the Nuclear Threat held at the BPSI from 1986-1988; the Discussion
Group, "The Impact of the Nuclear War Threat on Adaptation, Develop
ment and the Psychoanalytic Process," held at the American Psychoanalytic
Association; and various members of the International Psychoanalysts
Against Nuclear Weapons (IPANW).
xi
