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This paper examines the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, through the lens of several theories of evil. It applies frameworks from Christopher Bollas, Ruth Stein, Sue Grand, Robert J. Lifton, and Aner Govrin to explore the psychological underpinnings of this act of terror. The study employs an interpretative approach to analyze the attacks, considering the perpetrators’ backgrounds and the sociopolitical context. Key concepts explored include Bollas’s ‘killed self’, Stein’s analysis of religious justification for violence, Grand’s ‘malignant dissociative contagion’, Lifton’s theory of totalism, and Govrin’s prototype of evil perception. The paper discusses how these theories illuminate the role of trauma, ideology, and psychological distortion in fostering extreme violence. It also considers the ethical implications of applying psychoanalytic theories to large-scale events and acknowledges the limitations of this approach. The analysis reveals common threads across theories, including the impact of psychological damage, disconnection from empathy, and the interplay of love and hate in acts of evil. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing suffering on all sides of the conflict while maintaining a clear moral stance against acts of terror. It calls for further interdisciplinary research to inform strategies for conflict resolution and prevention of future atrocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present what the current state of affairs in Israel concerning psychoanalytic psychotherapy. First, we present a succinct historical account of the unfolding of the psychoanalytic perspective (including psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy) in Israel, with a particular focus on its contentious relationship with other psychotherapy schools of thought. We then locate a two-decade-long developmental process, culminating with the hegemony of the psychoanalytic school within Israeli psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy, leading to strife and a political fight within the psychology profession to diffuse this hegemony. Somewhat paradoxically, that this fight succeeded eventually has led to the growth of Israeli psychoanalysis. The psychoanalytic school – and psychoanalytic psychotherapy – are now more accessible to applied psychology disciplines beyond clinical psychology (i.e., applied-developmental, educational, rehabilitative, and medical psychology), and psychoanalytic thought informs both the theory and practice of other, non-psychoanalytic schools of psychotherapy (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy/CBT). Psychoanalytic training programs are flourishing, and three research universities currently offer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychology also impact the political activism. Future concerns are also discussed, primarily the shrinking (but still very vibrant) representation of psychoanalytic psychotherapy within departments of psychology at research universities in Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that elaborating Winnicott's idea of "potential space" can provide a conceptual approach to psychotherapy across the cultural divide. The first part of the paper discusses the general problematic of intercultural psychotherapy. This is illustrated with an account of therapeutic work with Ethiopian Jews who have migrated to Israel. There is a significant gap between the Ethiopian cultural codes relevant to psychotherapy and those of the Israeli therapist, who is usually trained in the Western psychotherapeutic tradition. A meaningful and effective therapeutic process can take place if psychotherapist and client cocreate a "mutual creative space."

The vicissitudes of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1967 are analyzed using attitudes and related concepts where relevant. The 1967 war returned the two peoples' zero-sum conflict around national identity to its origin as a conflict within the land both peoples claim. Gradually, new attitudes evolved regarding the necessity and possibility of negotiations toward a two-state solution based on mutual recognition, which became the building stones of the 1993 Oslo agreement. Lacking a commitment to a final outcome, the Oslo-based peace process was hampered by reserve options, which increased avoidance at the expense of approach tendencies as the parties moved toward a final agreement. The resulting breakdown of the process in 2000 produced clashing narratives, reflecting different anchors for judgment and classical mirror images. Public support for violence increased, even as public opinion continued to favor a negotiated two-state solution. Reviving the peace process requires mutual reassurance about the availability of a partner for negotiating a principled peace based on a historic compromise that meets the basic needs and validates the identities of both peoples., (((c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).)

The need to establish a borderline between legitimate and illegitimate political trial is one of the central societal discourses. In this paper the author claims that the issues are complex and that a political trial can remain legitimate as long as it is not dealing with a confrontation with the symbolic order on which the society (and the court itself) is founded and as long as the subject (or action) it is dealing with does not threaten the symbolic order's (or the "Big Other") existence. When the symbolic order's existence is in danger, the court is bound to participate in an act of "sacrifice" that is intended to protect the "order." The author uses Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory of the "Big Other" (and its development to ideological-political terms) in examining three categories of sacrifice. Through these categories the author claims that in extreme cases of confrontation with the existence of the symbolic order, the court cannot remain objective and it would be difficult to justify the trial as legitimate (especially in historical perspective).

In this research, the Rorschach Affective Ratio, a measure for frequency of response elicitation, was used to examine the affective dimension of response elicitation data. The purpose of this study was to apply the Rorschach Affective Ratio to an examination of the psychodynamic roots of political behavior. This measure compares the number of responses to colored cards, considered as emotional stimuli, with those revealed by the other (black and white) cards of the test. Israeli undergraduates (N = 26) completed a questionnaire composed of 20 questions about peace. Participants who were more supportive of the peace process in the Middle East were found to have a lower Affective Ratio than those who were less supportive. This result suggests that measurable affective aspects may be as important as cognitive aspects of response elicitation in understanding an individual's political attitudes.

This paper addresses the issue of the antithetical meaning of primary words, and, in particular, it considers the primary word and concept, 'the breast'. The authors point out that many languages convey some aspects of the complicated, convoluted and contradictory significance of 'the breast'. But none does so better than Hebrew, which is a central member of the Semitic group of languages. Consequently, the authors have chosen to explore the diverse significance of the term 'breast', by tracing the derivations of the Hebrew bilateral root for breast which is, 'shahd'. In doing so they show that the many linguistic transformations discussed are clearly in line with Freud's discussion of dream processes as well as his interest in the reversal and reduplication of root words. Perhaps, even more importantly, the paper demonstrates that by understanding the development of primary words it is possible to gain a closer, multidimensional appreciation of reality.

The psychological foundations of Judaism are a major challenge to psychoanalytic theory. This (selective) literature review focuses on post-Freudian work on this question. Freud described Judaism as a father religion, within the Oedipal framework of all religions and cultures. Over the years other notions have become dominant, and we can observe the changes from the Oedipal to the pre-Oedipal and towards more attention to maternal projections. Jewish mythology is a major topic, and the attention given to it bears no relation to its role in living Judaism. Many psychoanalytic contributions which aim at interpreting Judaic mythology demonstrate mostly their authors' inability to separate mythological narratives and history, as they accept without criticism the biblical account of supposedly ancient events, and then continue with speculations about mythological personages and events. The literature we have reviewed is certainly psychoanalytic, but one question is its relationship to Freud's work on religion. What emerges is that in many cases there is no attempt to follow Freud in the sense of accepting his assertions, but there is continuity in terms of interpretive temperament. Freud's writings have served as stimulus and inspiration, not as dogma to be upheld.

The neglected issue of teaching psychoanalysis to non-practitioners, specifically in the university setting, is addressed and a model is put forward, which recognises the many difficulties that are inevitable to such an undertaking. Evolved in the course of two decades of teaching psychoanalysis at the university, the model is based on the recognition of certain essential parallels, alongside evident differences, between the teaching and learning of psychoanalysis and the analytic process itself. As in analysis, the inevitable difficulties encountered in the teaching-learning process are treated in this model as integral to the process rather than as interfering with it. The analyst teaching psychoanalysis in accord with the model uses his/her skills to create an atmosphere in which the analytic stance is pervasive, which encourages the student to learn in an experientially-near way. Major features of the model are discussed, and ways of examining, evaluating and refining it put forward.

It is within the context of the parent-child relationship--through the processes of attachment, loss, separation and individuation--that we grow and develop interpersonally and intrapsychically (Bowlby 1969, 1980; Mahler et al. 1975; Pollock, 1989). Most developmentalists agree that changes in the parent-child relationship continue to influence both parents and children throughout the life cycle (Cohen et al. 1984; Colarusso and Nemiroff 1982). While there is a vast body of literature devoted to discussing changes that occur in the parent-child relationship during the "formative years," little has been written about what happens to that relationship after the children leave home to start families of their own. Moreover, most researchers investigate the processes of attachment, loss, separation and individuation in terms of the child's development. Little is known about how the child's quest for independence affects the psychological development of his/her parents. Those writers who have addressed the issue of individuation in later life tend to focus on the adult child's continuing struggle to separate and individuate from his/her real or imagined parents (Levinson, 1978).