Can Analytic Skills Cool World’s Hot Spots?

How do you bring diplomats from two enemy countries together? You fly them to a neutral place; divide them into small groups; tell them that you, the analysts, are in charge; and then say: “Tell us what is on your minds,” Volkan advised.

If a diplomat from one country claims that he or she knows what the other country wants, kindly tell that person to stop speaking for the other country, Volkan added.

Do not try to get diplomats from hostile countries to be too “lovey-dovey” with each other because it is too artificial and will backfire, he said. It is better when a psychological border remains between the two groups before they sign an agreement.

Every large group has had, at some time, a traumatic event—say, a loss of land or a loss of prestige, Volkan explained. This loss leads the group to feel humiliated, shamed. If the group does not properly mourn this loss, it may pass its feelings about it onto future generations, and the trauma becomes the group’s “chosen trauma.” A chosen trauma not only solidifies the group’s identity but may be used by the group to resist negotiations with its enemy.

Regression in an individual involves a return to some of the psychological expectations from an earlier stage of human development. It is a response to stress or trauma. “Imagine going home after a hard day at work, sitting in front of a fire on a cold night, and ‘expecting’ to be taken care of the way your mother took care of you as a child (regression). . . . In a sense, regressing gives us psychological nutrition. . . . Regression and progression are part of normal daily life for most of us. It is only when regression becomes stubborn and long lasting that we speak of psychological difficulties.”

Regression can also take place in a large group when the group feels anxious or traumatized, Volkan continued. These are some of the signs of large-group regression: the group rallies blindly around the leader; the group creates a sharp “us and them” division between itself and the enemy; the group blurs reality and engages in magical beliefs (for example, some Germans under Hitler thought that he was a reincarnation of Siegfried, the heroic figure of ancient German literature); the group becomes preoccupied with minor differences between itself and the enemy .

“We can. . . say that bin Laden and his organization were in a regressed state when they committed the attacks of September 11, 2001,” he said.

In general, well-functioning democratic societies are nonregressed, and totalitarian societies are regressed, Volkan asserted. However, societal regression can occur in democratic societies as well—for example, after a massive trauma.

After 9/11, there were some signs of regression in American society, Volkan explained. For example, Americans rallied around their leader, as evidenced by the extraordinarily high approval ratings accorded President George W. Bush; some Americans engaged in magical thinking, viewing the attacks as divine punishment for sinful acts; and some Americans viewed all Muslims, not just bin Laden’s group, as the enemy.

On the whole, though, regression did not reach a pathological level, Volkan pointed out. And President Bush’s appeal to American youngsters to donate money to Afghan children probably helped keep them from viewing Muslims as the enemy.

Nonetheless, when government leaders take an “us versus them” stance or focus on “evil countries,” it could be construed as a symptom of regression, Volkan declared. “This is unfortunate,” he added, “because a different approach, one that acknowledges and addresses the complexity of world affairs (while still realistically protecting Americans), would increase human values and promote civilization itself.”

Finally, a regressed large group can move out of its regression under the guidance of a good leader, Volkan concluded. Signs of progress include valuing freedom of speech, a fair legal system, halting the devaluation of women, re-establishing family ties as more important than political ties and the personality of the leader, and raising a new generation of children with basic trust.

Barbara Young, M.D., of Philadelphia was one of the psychoanalysts who heard Volkan’s presentation. “What I came away with,” she told Psychiatric News, “was the impression that he and his colleagues were able to use psychoanalytic principles to understand the conflict that pervades at the negotiating table and thus can help to discharge or at least diminish it. . . . I found his presentation both interesting and hopeful in that perhaps there is a way to make progress in the many difficult situations worldwide. Perhaps this can be one of the valuable contributions that applied psychoanalysis can offer at this time.” ▪