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Vamik Volkan

The University of Virginia, Dept. of Psychiatry;Director CSMHI, Emeritus

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Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of Virginia
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Darejan Javakhishvili

Ilia State University

National Defense University

Santa Monica College

Emory University

University of Virginia

Sigmund Freud University

Università degli Studi di Torino

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Papers by Vamik Volkan

TRAUMA, PREJUDICE, LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS

TRAUMA, PREJUDICE, LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS, 2021

Escaping Nazi annexation of Austria, Sigmund Freud and his family left there in 1938 to live the ... more Escaping Nazi annexation of Austria, Sigmund Freud and his family left there in 1938 to live the rest of their lives in exile in the house now known as the Freud Museum in London. This paper is based upon the author's Holocaust Day Memorial Lecture delivered virtually at this museum on January 27, 2021, which marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Besides remembering those who were lost during World War II, the content of this paper includes a description of different types of massive traumas, with a focus on disasters at the hand of the Other, and their impact on individuals and large groups. Sigmund Freud's ideas about relationships between communities and countries with adjoining territories, as well as large-group psychology, are updated, and individuals' and large groups' needs to grasp onto large-group identities is explained and illustrated with case reports. An Unnamed Childhood Feeling About the Nazis On January 27, 1945, when Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Concentration Camp was liberated in Germany I was a 12-year-old son of Turkish parents living on Cyprus, which was then a British colony. At that time there were about 350,000 people on this Mediterranean island. Two ethnic groups, Greeks and, in lesser numbers, Turks lived in the same cities, towns and some villages, while in other villages only Greeks or Turks lived. There were also smaller numbers of Armenians, Maronites, Phoenicians and British.

Sixteen analysands' and large groups' reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic

VOLKAN 2019 LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY, WHO ARE WE NOW? LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS AND SOCIETAL-POLITICAL DIVISIONS

This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic ... more This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic processes and human rights issues in many locations around the world, including in the United States, and examines the role of leader-follower relationships related to such developments. The term "large group" describes hundreds, thousands or millions of people-most of whom will never see or even know about each other as individuals, but who share many of the same sentiments. This paper first describes how a child becomes a member of a large-group and how adults sometimes develop a second type of large-group identity. Looking at such phenomena provides the background data needed to examine the spread of the metaphorical question, "Who are we now?" worldwide, as well as to examine the evolution of present-day authoritarian regimes, extreme right-wing politics and rhetoric, wall-building, and societal-political divisions.

LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY, WHO ARE WE NOW? LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS AND SOCIETAL-POLITICAL DIVISIONS

This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic ... more This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic processes and human rights issues in many locations around the world, including in the United States, and examines the role of leader-follower relationships related to such developments. The term ''large group'' describes hundreds, thousands or millions of people-most of whom will never see or even know about each other as individuals, but who share many of the same sentiments. This paper first describes how a child becomes a member of a large-group and how adults sometimes develop a second type of large-group identity. Looking at such phenomena provides the background data needed to examine the spread of the metaphorical question, ''Who are we now?'' worldwide, as well as to examine the evolution of present-day authoritarian regimes, extreme right-wing politics and rhetoric, wall-building, and societal-political divisions.

Paper for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

REMEMBERING JIMMY CARTER AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ROLE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS IN WORLD AFFAIRS

In February 2023 98-year-old former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care and began spendin... more In February 2023 98-year-old former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care and began spending his remaining time at home with his family. This paper describes his personal, and The Carter Center's financial, support for applying psychoanalytic approaches to understanding and calming large-group conflicts in Estonia and Albania and helping to enrich psychoanalytic knowledge of large-group psychology.

Remembering Gorbachev article

Remembering Gorbachev

Since the middle of last century the so-called ‘‘rational actor’’ models in international and dom... more Since the middle of last century the so-called ‘‘rational actor’’ models in international and
domestic affairs (von Rochau, 1853) supported the assumption that a political leader’s decisionmaking is logical and unaffected by psychological factors. In 1993 eight psychoanalytically
oriented psychiatrists formed a team to study political leaders’ personality characteristics and
the psychodynamics of their decision-making processes. They met twice a year for five years
and studied political leaders with obsessional, paranoid, schizoid, narcissistic and depressive
personality organizations (Volkan, Akhtar, Dorn, Kafka, Kernberg, Olsson, Rogers, & Shanfield,
1998). Today academicians dealing with political issues are more aware that the personality of
a political leader plays a crucial role in his or her attempts to maintain a stable relationship with
his or her ‘‘followers’’ as well as in dealing with domestic and international issues. On February
2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s psychological issues in starting
this invasion already have been examined through psychoanalytic angles (Ihanus, 2022; Volkan
& Javakhishvili, 2022). On August 30, 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev died. A political leader with
Gorbachev’s personality would not start a new war, a new horrifying event with brutality
against civilians, children and innocent

Slobodan Milošević and the Reactivation of the Serbian Chosen Trauma

CLIO PRESS, 2006

Remembering Slobodan Milošević during the anniversary of JULY 1995 The Srebrenica massacre, also... more

Totem and taboo in Romania: A psychopolitical diagnosis

Mind & Human Interaction, 1995

In “Totem and Taboo,” Freud (1913) wrote that one of the most puzzling, but at the same time ins... more In “Totem and Taboo,” Freud (1913) wrote that one of the most puzzling, but at the same time instructive, usages in complicated mourning is the prohibition against uttering the name of the dead person. The name is an essential part of a person’s personality—an important possession. Freud thought that openly referring to the dead person by name unconsciously invited his ghost’s return. During my two visits to Romania a few years after Ceauescu’s death, I noted a similar phenomenon. No one seemed to utter his name, as if he never existed. When attention was brought to this fact, the individual’s response would be either a statement of how pleased he or she was that the dictator was dead, or more often the reply was that, “I don’t want to remember.” Yet I could nevertheless see that Ceauescu’s ghost lived on in many people and places.

A "Vaccination" Against Political/Social Infections: Remembering Baltic States Independence

Enemies on the Couch, 2003

The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991. As the 30th anni... more The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991. As the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Independence of Baltic States is approaching I am sharing three chapters from my book, “Enemies on the Couch: A Psychopolitical Journey Through War and Peace” (Volkan 2013), to illustrate how the members of the University of Virginia’s Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI) helped the Baltic States work toward a peaceful “divorce” from the former Soviet Union and develop “new” large-group identities.

The “Kurdish Issue” in Turkey

From: V. Volkan's book: ENEMIES ON THE COUCH, 2013

The so-called Kurdish problem in present-day Turkey started in the mid-1980s, and since then an e... more

Chapter 20: The Carter Center: The Limitations of Logic

From: ENEMIES ON THE COUCH

The Atlanta-based Carter Center’s International Negotiation Network under the leadership of forme... more The Atlanta-based Carter Center’s International Negotiation Network under the leadership of former president Jimmy Carter is the focus of this chapter. It also describes the author's work at the Carter Center, his trip to Senegal with President Carter, and the beginning of collaborative project work in Estonia with the Carter Center. The author argues that unofficial dialogue is limited in its potential effects when it is too linear and fails to account for variability in human emotions.

Rituals that Bind People Together

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

Large-group rituals can be divided usefully into two general categories: 1) rituals that occur wi... more Large-group rituals can be divided usefully into two general categories: 1) rituals that occur within a society that do not involve an active relationship with a contemporary “other” large group and 2) rituals that occur through and depend upon the interaction with an opposing or enemy large group, usually a neighbor or an “unwanted” subgroup, such as a minority ethnic group within a state. In practice, however, it is difficult to make a definite distinction between the two types. Both are intensified or modified when large-group regression sets in, and thus provide the foundation of signs and symptoms of large-group regression.

Leaders as Teachers

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

I know of only two political leaders, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey and Julius Kambarage Nyerer... more I know of only two political leaders, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey and Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, who were officially called “teachers”—”muallim” and “mwalimu,” respectively. Both were, in fact, “virtuous” teachers who used teaching to elevate their followers’ emotional and physical conditions and provide self-esteem for their identity

Blind Trust -on leadership #2

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

A “successful narcissist” thinks he or she is superior to others but exhibits a false modesty: in... more A “successful narcissist” thinks he or she is superior to others but exhibits a false modesty: in reality, he or she values becoming “number one” in a group and being perceived and experienced by others as such. This person, if the external circumstances are favorable, is quite apt to become involved in politics and even to become a political leader

Force of Narcissism

Leaders as Teachers

Delivered at the International Conference in Commemoration of the 78 th Birthday of Yitzhak Rabin: Patterns of Political Discourse: Propaganda, POLITICAL PROPAGANDA AS A PSYCHOANALYTIC AND HISTORIC PHENOMENON

During recent decades, the collapse of colonialism and communism resulted in many conflicts whic... more During recent decades, the collapse of colonialism and communism resulted in many conflicts which can be identified as “large-group identity conflicts” mostly within the same state, and in which propaganda dealing with identity issues played a prominent role. Every type of propaganda influences, to one degree or another, large-group identity.

HELSINKI LECTURE by VAMIK VOLKAN- # III TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT OF NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION AND MALIGNANT NARCISSISM

HELSINKI LECTURE by VAMIK VOLKAN--# I: A case of malignant narcissism

Narcissism, Malignant narcissism Narcissistic Personality Organizations Treatment of Narcissistic... more

TRAUMA, PREJUDICE, LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS

TRAUMA, PREJUDICE, LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS, 2021

Escaping Nazi annexation of Austria, Sigmund Freud and his family left there in 1938 to live the ... more Escaping Nazi annexation of Austria, Sigmund Freud and his family left there in 1938 to live the rest of their lives in exile in the house now known as the Freud Museum in London. This paper is based upon the author's Holocaust Day Memorial Lecture delivered virtually at this museum on January 27, 2021, which marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. Besides remembering those who were lost during World War II, the content of this paper includes a description of different types of massive traumas, with a focus on disasters at the hand of the Other, and their impact on individuals and large groups. Sigmund Freud's ideas about relationships between communities and countries with adjoining territories, as well as large-group psychology, are updated, and individuals' and large groups' needs to grasp onto large-group identities is explained and illustrated with case reports. An Unnamed Childhood Feeling About the Nazis On January 27, 1945, when Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Concentration Camp was liberated in Germany I was a 12-year-old son of Turkish parents living on Cyprus, which was then a British colony. At that time there were about 350,000 people on this Mediterranean island. Two ethnic groups, Greeks and, in lesser numbers, Turks lived in the same cities, towns and some villages, while in other villages only Greeks or Turks lived. There were also smaller numbers of Armenians, Maronites, Phoenicians and British.

Sixteen analysands' and large groups' reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic

VOLKAN 2019 LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY, WHO ARE WE NOW? LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS AND SOCIETAL-POLITICAL DIVISIONS

This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic ... more This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic processes and human rights issues in many locations around the world, including in the United States, and examines the role of leader-follower relationships related to such developments. The term "large group" describes hundreds, thousands or millions of people-most of whom will never see or even know about each other as individuals, but who share many of the same sentiments. This paper first describes how a child becomes a member of a large-group and how adults sometimes develop a second type of large-group identity. Looking at such phenomena provides the background data needed to examine the spread of the metaphorical question, "Who are we now?" worldwide, as well as to examine the evolution of present-day authoritarian regimes, extreme right-wing politics and rhetoric, wall-building, and societal-political divisions.

LARGE-GROUP IDENTITY, WHO ARE WE NOW? LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS AND SOCIETAL-POLITICAL DIVISIONS

This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic ... more This paper aims to explore severe societal-political divisions and interferences with democratic processes and human rights issues in many locations around the world, including in the United States, and examines the role of leader-follower relationships related to such developments. The term ''large group'' describes hundreds, thousands or millions of people-most of whom will never see or even know about each other as individuals, but who share many of the same sentiments. This paper first describes how a child becomes a member of a large-group and how adults sometimes develop a second type of large-group identity. Looking at such phenomena provides the background data needed to examine the spread of the metaphorical question, ''Who are we now?'' worldwide, as well as to examine the evolution of present-day authoritarian regimes, extreme right-wing politics and rhetoric, wall-building, and societal-political divisions.

Paper for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

REMEMBERING JIMMY CARTER AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ROLE OF PSYCHOANALYSIS IN WORLD AFFAIRS

In February 2023 98-year-old former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care and began spendin... more In February 2023 98-year-old former President Jimmy Carter entered hospice care and began spending his remaining time at home with his family. This paper describes his personal, and The Carter Center's financial, support for applying psychoanalytic approaches to understanding and calming large-group conflicts in Estonia and Albania and helping to enrich psychoanalytic knowledge of large-group psychology.

Remembering Gorbachev article

Remembering Gorbachev

Since the middle of last century the so-called ‘‘rational actor’’ models in international and dom... more Since the middle of last century the so-called ‘‘rational actor’’ models in international and
domestic affairs (von Rochau, 1853) supported the assumption that a political leader’s decisionmaking is logical and unaffected by psychological factors. In 1993 eight psychoanalytically
oriented psychiatrists formed a team to study political leaders’ personality characteristics and
the psychodynamics of their decision-making processes. They met twice a year for five years
and studied political leaders with obsessional, paranoid, schizoid, narcissistic and depressive
personality organizations (Volkan, Akhtar, Dorn, Kafka, Kernberg, Olsson, Rogers, & Shanfield,
1998). Today academicians dealing with political issues are more aware that the personality of
a political leader plays a crucial role in his or her attempts to maintain a stable relationship with
his or her ‘‘followers’’ as well as in dealing with domestic and international issues. On February
2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s psychological issues in starting
this invasion already have been examined through psychoanalytic angles (Ihanus, 2022; Volkan
& Javakhishvili, 2022). On August 30, 2022, Mikhail Gorbachev died. A political leader with
Gorbachev’s personality would not start a new war, a new horrifying event with brutality
against civilians, children and innocent

Slobodan Milošević and the Reactivation of the Serbian Chosen Trauma

CLIO PRESS, 2006

Remembering Slobodan Milošević during the anniversary of JULY 1995 The Srebrenica massacre, also... more

Totem and taboo in Romania: A psychopolitical diagnosis

Mind & Human Interaction, 1995

In “Totem and Taboo,” Freud (1913) wrote that one of the most puzzling, but at the same time ins... more In “Totem and Taboo,” Freud (1913) wrote that one of the most puzzling, but at the same time instructive, usages in complicated mourning is the prohibition against uttering the name of the dead person. The name is an essential part of a person’s personality—an important possession. Freud thought that openly referring to the dead person by name unconsciously invited his ghost’s return. During my two visits to Romania a few years after Ceauescu’s death, I noted a similar phenomenon. No one seemed to utter his name, as if he never existed. When attention was brought to this fact, the individual’s response would be either a statement of how pleased he or she was that the dictator was dead, or more often the reply was that, “I don’t want to remember.” Yet I could nevertheless see that Ceauescu’s ghost lived on in many people and places.

A "Vaccination" Against Political/Social Infections: Remembering Baltic States Independence

Enemies on the Couch, 2003

The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991. As the 30th anni... more The Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991. As the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Independence of Baltic States is approaching I am sharing three chapters from my book, “Enemies on the Couch: A Psychopolitical Journey Through War and Peace” (Volkan 2013), to illustrate how the members of the University of Virginia’s Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction (CSMHI) helped the Baltic States work toward a peaceful “divorce” from the former Soviet Union and develop “new” large-group identities.

The “Kurdish Issue” in Turkey

From: V. Volkan's book: ENEMIES ON THE COUCH, 2013

The so-called Kurdish problem in present-day Turkey started in the mid-1980s, and since then an e... more

Chapter 20: The Carter Center: The Limitations of Logic

From: ENEMIES ON THE COUCH

The Atlanta-based Carter Center’s International Negotiation Network under the leadership of forme... more The Atlanta-based Carter Center’s International Negotiation Network under the leadership of former president Jimmy Carter is the focus of this chapter. It also describes the author's work at the Carter Center, his trip to Senegal with President Carter, and the beginning of collaborative project work in Estonia with the Carter Center. The author argues that unofficial dialogue is limited in its potential effects when it is too linear and fails to account for variability in human emotions.

Rituals that Bind People Together

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

Large-group rituals can be divided usefully into two general categories: 1) rituals that occur wi... more Large-group rituals can be divided usefully into two general categories: 1) rituals that occur within a society that do not involve an active relationship with a contemporary “other” large group and 2) rituals that occur through and depend upon the interaction with an opposing or enemy large group, usually a neighbor or an “unwanted” subgroup, such as a minority ethnic group within a state. In practice, however, it is difficult to make a definite distinction between the two types. Both are intensified or modified when large-group regression sets in, and thus provide the foundation of signs and symptoms of large-group regression.

Leaders as Teachers

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

I know of only two political leaders, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey and Julius Kambarage Nyerer... more I know of only two political leaders, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey and Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, who were officially called “teachers”—”muallim” and “mwalimu,” respectively. Both were, in fact, “virtuous” teachers who used teaching to elevate their followers’ emotional and physical conditions and provide self-esteem for their identity

Blind Trust -on leadership #2

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

A “successful narcissist” thinks he or she is superior to others but exhibits a false modesty: in... more A “successful narcissist” thinks he or she is superior to others but exhibits a false modesty: in reality, he or she values becoming “number one” in a group and being perceived and experienced by others as such. This person, if the external circumstances are favorable, is quite apt to become involved in politics and even to become a political leader

Force of Narcissism

Leaders as Teachers

Delivered at the International Conference in Commemoration of the 78 th Birthday of Yitzhak Rabin: Patterns of Political Discourse: Propaganda, POLITICAL PROPAGANDA AS A PSYCHOANALYTIC AND HISTORIC PHENOMENON

During recent decades, the collapse of colonialism and communism resulted in many conflicts whic... more During recent decades, the collapse of colonialism and communism resulted in many conflicts which can be identified as “large-group identity conflicts” mostly within the same state, and in which propaganda dealing with identity issues played a prominent role. Every type of propaganda influences, to one degree or another, large-group identity.

HELSINKI LECTURE by VAMIK VOLKAN- # III TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT OF NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION AND MALIGNANT NARCISSISM

HELSINKI LECTURE by VAMIK VOLKAN--# I: A case of malignant narcissism

Narcissism, Malignant narcissism Narcissistic Personality Organizations Treatment of Narcissistic... more

VOLKAN-2007 (TWO PAPERS) SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED MENTAL STATES REVISITED

On Schizophrenia: Two Austen Riggs Center Teaching seminars, 2007

In recent decades, psychoanalytic writings on schizophrenia and its psychoanalytic treatment in t... more In recent decades, psychoanalytic writings on schizophrenia and its psychoanalytic treatment in the United States have practically vanished. We can attribute this to a combination of things: advances in biological findings that attempt to explain schizophrenia, worries about malpractice suits, and changes in heath care coverage for psychoanalysis. These two presentations provide a historical review of studies on schizophrenia by psychoanalysts in the United States and offers a new look at the etiology of schizophrenia that develops in teenagers or young adults.

Some General Remarks on Psychoanalytic Treatment of Adult Schizophrenics

Psychodynamic treatment of schizophrenia, 2007

It goes without saying that the treatment of adult schizophrenics is a difficult process. At the ... more It goes without saying that the treatment of adult schizophrenics is a difficult process. At the present time most therapeutic attempts to treat them include a combination of approaches, such as psychotherapy, medication and interventions with family members (Tizon, 2004). Such approaches range from sophisticated understanding of the psychodynamics of the patients' internal worlds, to completely ignoring such psychodynamics. Often medications are used, especially in the USA, to satisfy the requirements of insurance coverage and protect the caregivers from legal suits. There have been occasions when the caregivers were sued by the patient's relatives whose lawyers charged that, by not giving anti-psychotic drugs to the patient, the therapist was responsible for improper treatment. On the other hand, there have been some impressive examples of sophisticated combinations of various treatment approaches. One example of this comes from Finland where Yrjo Alanen and his colleagues created a method called "need-adapted treatment" (Alanen, 1993) (For a most recent success report of this

VOLKAN-2007 SCHIZOPHERNIA # 1 (for AUSTEN RIGGS CENTER teaching Seminars-not published) SCHIZOPHRENIA AND RELATED MENTAL STATES REVISITED

Psychoanalytic ideas about Schizophrenia, 2007

In recent decades, psychoanalytic writings on schizophrenia and its psychoanalytic treatment in t... more In recent decades, psychoanalytic writings on schizophrenia and its psychoanalytic treatment in the United States have practically vanished. We can attribute this to a combination of things: advances in biological findings that attempt to explain schizophrenia, worries about malpractice suits, and changes in heath care coverage for psychoanalysis. This paper provides a historical review of studies on schizophrenia by psychoanalysts in the United States and offers a new look at the etiology of schizophrenia that develops in teenagers or young adults and its psychodynamic links to related conditions, such as the psychotic personality organization, in the hope of reigniting clinical interest in such mental states.

+Volkan- Childhood Sibling Rivalry.doc

Unconscious womb fantasies related to sibling rivalry may remain influential in the minds of adul... more Unconscious womb fantasies related to sibling rivalry may remain influential in the minds of adults and be crucial in the development of psychopathology. Such psychopathology may express itself with symptom formations (i.e. claustrophobia or compulsive seeking of enclosed spaces) or character traits (i.e. a woman behaving like a man as an habitual defense against pregnancy). I have described the diagnosis of several manifestations of such sibling-related unconscious fantasies in the clinical setting and reported how their influence can diminish when patients reactivate them in “therapeutic stories” and work through the associated conflicts.

CSIS---annual meeting, 1998 A Wrench in the Works: The Role of Ethnicity in Today's Diplomacy and Warfare

William Faulkner once said that “the past is never dead: it’s not even past.” We take his stateme... more William Faulkner once said that “the past is never dead: it’s not even past.” We take his statement further when we suggest that to address the political, military, and post-military challenges of today, we must study the past through a psychological lens. We must understand how the past is reactivated, how it causes people to obey and support a leader’s “malignant” directions, and how it creates group rituals that may be deadly. We must find ways to accomplish a “time expansion,” to lessen the poisoning power of the past and enable more realistic approaches to the present. Traditionally, psychoanalysis and diplomacy have been perceived as worlds apart, and even now may be considered strange bedfellows. But ethnic conflict and the need to understand the unseen power of ethnicity may yet get these fellows into the same room.

Presented at the Eighth International Conference on Health and Environment: Global Partners for Global Solutions BEYOND INDIVIDUAL PTSD IN SOCIETIES RAVAGED BY ETHNIC CONFLICT

My aim today was to provide you with a new means of seeing the social aftermath of ethnic, natio... more My aim today was to provide you with a new means of seeing the social aftermath of ethnic, national and/or religious conflicts. While ministering to individuals who suffer acutely from PTSD remains our primary task, it is important for NGOs to be aware that PTSD hinders the restoration of individual as well as societal processes. Indigenous caretakers of victims, such as mental health workers, are themselves victims and need outside intellectual, consultative and supervisory assistance, but, more importantly, they need help to work through their own emotional complications. Programs need to be developed in this regard.

Black and Caspian Sea Collaborative Research Program: Gender Issues and Family Violence: Public Awareness and Services to Victims (sponsored by IREX

This project aimed to draw profiles of victims and perpetrators of family violence in Turkey, Geo... more This project aimed to draw profiles of victims and perpetrators of family violence in Turkey, Georgia, South Ossetia (with references to similar situations in Armenia and Abkhazia) by the collaborative research of participants from the above- mentioned locations and experts from the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction, at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A.

BEYOND INDIVIDUAL PTSD IN SOCIETIES RAVAGED BY ETHNIC CONFLICT

My aim is to provide you with a new means of seeing the social aftermath of ethnic, national and/... more

harvard-stanford-University Club, VIENNA talk.docx

Members of the IDI [www.internationaldialogueinitiative.com], with eight large-group identities,... more

North Cyprus Mental Health

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NORTH CYPRUS COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM August 1981 A historical do... more

Sigmund Freud Foundation and Bruno Kreisky PSYCHOANALYSIS AND POLITICS- VIOLENCE-AGGRESSION-REGRESSION

In celebration of Freud's 150 th birthday this meeting brings psychoanalysts and diplomats togeth... more In celebration of Freud's 150 th birthday this meeting brings psychoanalysts and diplomats together to expand Freud's theory of group psychology. The meeting's focus is on large-group identity and regression.
Do collaborations between psychoanalysts and diplomats provide new ways to develop strategies for dealing with the current world affairs? What are the examples of such collaborations? What are the signs of large-group regression? What are the large-group identity issues in the EU? Do collaborations between psychoanalysis and diplomacy offer fresh insights about Islamist terrorism and the Western world's response to it? Questions such as these will be raised.

MYTHS ABOUT THE " SILENT ANALYST " : INFORMED MINDFULNESS DURING A TOTAL PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT

My motivation for writing this paper came from a recent incident that occurred while I was giving... more My motivation for writing this paper came from a recent incident that occurred while I was giving a series of seminars on psychoanalytic technique at a psychoanalytic institute. Some younger colleagues insisted that many psychoanalysts who practiced decades ago were “silent analysts.” I was surprised to note that they perceived older analysts—I am one of them—as if they were machines who had little or no human relationship with their patients

Die Anatomie der Vorbereitungen für das Symposium " Das Ende der Sprachlosigkeit? "

Nachfolgend möchte ich beschreiben, wie ich zu den Treffen von fünf deutschen Psychotherapeuten, ... more Nachfolgend möchte ich beschreiben, wie ich zu den Treffen von fünf deutschen Psychotherapeuten, den Organisatoren des Symposiums " Das Ende der Sprachlosigkeit? " , hinzugezogen wurde, während diese sich zu einer Kleingruppe und schließlich zu einer offiziellen Organisation entwickelten, die die psychologisch nachhaltigen Folgen des " Dritten Reiches " und des Holocaust für Deutschland zu erforschen sucht. Diese Gruppe begann als eine zwanglose Zusammenkunft von Psychotherapeuten, die bei der Erörterung ihrer Fälle festgestellt hatten, daß Patienten, die etwa in ihrem Alter (um 1950 geboren) waren, bezeichnenderweise ein gemeinsames Problem hatten. Wenn diese Patienten versuchten, über das Leben ihrer Eltern oder anderer Familienmitglieder im " Dritten Reich " zu sprechen, oder darüber, wie es war, im Schatten solcher Zeitläufte aufzuwachsen, dann wußte keiner von ihnen allzuviel über diese Zeit und erst recht keine präzisen und vollständigen Einzelheiten zu berichten. Als die Kinder dieser Generation heranwuchsen, war es meist nicht üblich, daß ihre Eltern über diesen Zeitabschnitt sprachen, und weder in der Schule noch in der Kirche oder anderswo wurde eingehend darüber gesprochen. Keiner erinnerte sich, als Kind genügend über die Nazis, das " Dritte Reich " oder den Holocaust gelernt zu haben. Als diese Therapeuten dann selbst darüber nachdachten und sich zu erinnern suchten, wurde ihnen bewußt, daß auch sie in ihrer Kindheit meistenteils auf Schweigen getroffen waren. Es war typisch, daß diese Personen – sowohl die Therapeuten als auch ihre Patienten – erst wesentlich später etwas über ihre Familiengeschichte während dieser Zeit, und was in den vierziger Jahren in Deutschland geschah, erfuhren; und selbst dann wurden auf Nachfrage nur dürftige Informationen herausgerückt. Wenn ein Kind auf dem Dachboden des Elternhauses zum Beispiel auf das Foto eines jungen Mannes in Uniform stieß und den Vater danach fragte, erhielt es im Zweifel die Antwort, das Foto sei von einem Bruder, der während des Krieges gefallen sei, oder es sei ein Foto " von mir " aus dem Krieg – weitere Einzelheiten wurden dem Kind jedoch nicht mitgeteilt. Die vielen ausgesprochenen oder unausgesprochenen Fragen des neugierigen Kindes trafen auf Sprachlosigkeit. Es war, als hätte es das " Dritte Reich " , den Zweiten Weltkrieg und den Holocaust nie gegeben. Dieses Dilemma hatte zunehmend die Neugier der Therapeuten geweckt, die dann intuitiv von der Theorie ausgingen, daß viele ihrer Patienten, auch wenn sie nicht direkt das Trauma von Hitlers Nazi-Regime, den Krieg oder Holocaust erlebt hatten, dennoch maßgebend davon betroffen und beeinflußt waren. Es gab natürlich viele geschichtlich orientierten Bücher über diese Themen, die man lesen konnte, wenn man sich mit diesen Dingen beschäftigte, sie gingen in der Regel jedoch nicht auf die eigene innere Welt, auf die persönlichen Erfahrungen und psychologischen Prozesse ein. Es gab nur wenige Stellen, an die Deutsche sich wenden konnten, um über solche persönlichen Fragen und die dadurch aufgeworfenen psychologischen Probleme zu sprechen. Die Gruppe von Therapeuten, die sowohl einen jüdischen als auch christlichen Hintergrund hatten, wollte sich dieses Bedürfnisses annehmen und wurde schließlich der Kern einer Organisation, des sogenannten Psychotherapeutischen Arbeitskreises für Betroffene des Holocaust, kurz PAKH genannt. Das Ergebnis ihres Interesses an diesem Thema war schließlich eine große internationale Konferenz, die im August 1998 unter dem Motto Das Ende der Sprachlosigkeit? in Düsseldorf stattfand.

ESTONIA Eastern Europe Psychoanalytic MEETING, 2011 Some remarks on persons with narcissistic personality organization

Narcissism is not a bad word. It is linked to self-preservation, it refers to love of self (Moore... more Narcissism is not a bad word. It is linked to self-preservation, it refers to love of self (Moore and Fine 1990), and in human psychological functioning, it is as normal as sex, aggression, and anxiety (Rangell 1980). Nevertheless, like sex, aggression, and anxiety it is subject to variation. It can be “healthy” or “unhealthy.”

The Power to Heal or Poison: Methods of Teaching Through Transference Used by Political Leaders

In speaking of political leaders as “teachers,” I will first narrow my focus to occasions when a ... more In speaking of political leaders as “teachers,” I will first narrow my focus to occasions when a leader gives information about a new concept or skill and publicly illustrates its application. Such occasions occur most often during periods of change for the large group or country. The leader engages in a “show and tell” type of activity that is widely publicized.

POLITICAL PROPAGANDA AS A PSYCHOANALYTIC AND HISTORIC PHENOMENON

__________________________________________________________________ In large-group identity confl... more __________________________________________________________________ In large-group identity conflicts, propaganda directly relates to enhancing and/or modifying the shared sense of sameness while hating and devaluing the identity of a neighboring group and creating a psychological distance between one's own group and the devalued neighbor. In some situations, the devaluation of the neighbor may reach the level of " dehumanization " When this happens, attempts to destroy the enemy neighbor without guilt feelings may emerge and an atmosphere for " ethnic cleansing " may be established.

BIREYSEL KIMLIKTEN ULUSAL KIMLIGE

Son zamanlarda şiddeti gittikçe artan bir şekilde ulusal kimlik tartışılyor. “Biz kimiz” sorusunu... more

Childhood Sibling Rivalry and Unconscious Womb Fantasies in Adults

Unconscious womb fantasies related to sibling rivalry may remain influential in the minds of adul... more Unconscious womb fantasies related to sibling rivalry may remain influential in the minds of adults and be crucial in the development of psychopathology. Such psychopathology may express itself with symptom formations (i.e. claustrophobia or compulsive seeking of enclosed spaces) or character traits (i.e. a woman behaving like a man as an habitual defense against pregnancy). I have described the diagnosis of several manifestations of such sibling-related unconscious fantasies in the clinical setting and reported how their influence can diminish when patients reactivate them in “therapeutic stories” and work through the associated conflicts.

The "Crucial Juncture": The Intrapsychic Story of Integration in a Borderline Patient

We often speak of the "crucial juncture" in analysis, to identify the point where a borderline or... more We often speak of the "crucial juncture" in analysis, to identify the point where a borderline or narcissistic patient begins to pull together his opposing representational units, to create integrated units. This crucial juncture is reached when the patient becomes able to tame his exaggeration of aggression, which is invested in his "bad" self- and object representations, as well as his exaggeration of the idealization of "good" representations.

Borderline personality &Int.relations-Munich 2000.doc

A comparison of the splitting mechanism we see among borderline patients with the psychological g... more A comparison of the splitting mechanism we see among borderline patients with the psychological gap we notice between ethnic, national, or religious groups in conflict. I will try to illustrate that what we learn in the clinical setting about mending the internal splitting of a borderline patient, tells us a great deal about our understanding of peaceful efforts to create “co-existence” between enemy groups.

Refugees, Minority Groups, Mourning, Large- Group Identity and Response to COVID-19

Presented at: “Resilience during COVID-19: Psychological Effects on Internally Displaced Persons and Women” meeting on 22 December 2020--Georgian Institute of Public Affairs [On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development], Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia., 2020

My aim is to share some of my finding about immigrants, refugees and minority groups and focus on... more

on Mourning-COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.doc

Turkey A CHILDHOOD INJURY TO A PENIS OR A BODY PART THAT SYMBOLIZES A PENIS AND ACTUALIZED CASTRATION FANTASIES

This presentation tells the stories of three men who had actualized castration fantasies. Two ind... more This presentation tells the stories of three men who had actualized castration fantasies. Two individuals experienced injury in their childhood to a body part that symbolized a penis, one of their fingers were “accidentally” cut off. The third had direct injury to his penis when he was a child and again when he was going through his adolescence passage. I will illustrate how their castration fantasies were actualized. That is to say, they knew that they had penises, but they also behaved as if they did not have a functional sexual organ. These three individuals adjusted to life in different ways. The examination of the third case will illustrate how patients with actualized unconscious fantasies experience a “therapeutic play” to achieve inner structural change. Lastly, I briefly refer to circumcision due to religious beliefs and in the service of helping male children to adjust to their culture and get ready to enter manhood.

Donald Trump & Narcissistic Personality (some paragraphs fromVolkan, V. D. (2020). Large-Group psychology: Racism, Societal Divisions, Narcissistic Leaders and Who We Are Now. London: Phoenix Publishing.

Some paragraphs from: Volkan, V. D. (2020). Large-Group psychology: Racism, Societal Divisions, Narcissistic Leaders and Who We Are Now. London: Phoenix Publishing., 2020

A destructive type narcissistic leader’s grandiosity masks a covertly fragile self-esteem. Anythi... more

World War II Memorial-AWON

from: KILLING IN THE NAME OF IDENTITY , 2019

The story of the American World War II Orphans Network (AWON) and World War II Memorial in Washi... more

On Leadership #1-From Vamık Volkan's book BLIND TRUST-CHAPER SIX "A Decisive Trifle"

chapter from BLIND TRUST, 2004

When leaders’ internal worlds are agitated, their macropolitical decisions can become “personaliz... more When leaders’ internal worlds are agitated, their macropolitical decisions can become “personalized”—that is, leaders may unconsciously equate the political or diplomatic circumstances at hand with an unresolved personal conflict, or may otherwise be influenced by personal desires and inhibitions, strong emotions, and unconscious fantasies. Indeed, in certain critical moments, a single person’s psychological makeup can definitively shape historic decisions with long-ranging consequences.