Applying psychiatric knowledge to the Holy Land

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON DAILY NEWS

Every time men and women are prosecuted because of their race, religion, or political group, that place and time becomes the center of the universe.

-Eli Wiesel

In Monday’s first column on the Middle East crisis, we discussed some of the basic and traditional ways in which psychiatry can help. Perhaps there are other options that could be considered and tried in a more innovative and experimental way. After all, these conflicts and aggressive behaviors fundamentally reflect our human nature. As Freud knew very well, humans are capable of extreme violence and cruelty, and can even have a death wish (Thanatos). However, we also have the potential to cognitively circumvent and adapt to these destructive tendencies if our basic psychiatric understanding of individuals and their care can be applicable to crises of such magnitude.

Perhaps here is some psychiatric information that might be helpful.

–Expert getting worse before he gets better. As in psychodynamic psychotherapy, suffering often worsens before it improves.

–Expect the unexpected and imagine the unimaginable. As in clinical care where innovation is often required to meet the unique needs of an individual patient, imagine the worst that could happen for Social Security.

–Use the knowledge and power you have before it’s too late. Delaying necessary psychiatric treatment often results in the need for hospital care, not to mention the risk of suicide and homicide.

–Cry first, then find meaning later. We know that adequate grieving is necessary before we can take necessary action, whether for an individual or for a society.

–Groups can regress just like individuals. As Bion presented in his work on basic assumptions about groups, under threat, groups can also regress from their higher functional behavior.

–Prevention is better than cure. Avoid or abandon chronic and ineffective social policies.

–If you want to know someone’s heart, know what breaks it. What causes them to cry when faced with a social or individual challenge?

–Watch out for the law of unintended consequences. Appropriate and useful relationships may turn out to be inappropriate over time.

All of these suggestions should be seen as possibilities to help resolve major social conflicts and dangerous regressive group behaviors, but they may be worth a try.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist specializing in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry, and is now retired and in retirement as a pro bono private community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has written a weekday column, Psychiatric Views on the Daily News, and a weekly video, Psychiatry & Society, since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was selected to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the unique Hero of Public Psychiatry designation from the President of the APA Assembly in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally ill in 1991. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is currently editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, Christianity, and Now Eastern religions and spirituality. He serves on the editorial board of Psychiatric time.