Terrorism, our world and our way of life.

Abstract

In this article, the author touches on a variety of threads relevant to a psychoanalytic approach to terrorism. He begins with a personal September 11 recollection, and then goes on to share some thoughts about terrorism from the vantage point of a citizen who retired from active military duty a little over a year ago. He then speculates about a possible psychoanalytic understanding of terrorists and their motivation, while acknowledging that terrorists too are individuals, and that no hypothesis can apply to an entire group, across the border. To illustrate his points, the author shares some vignettes from literature, biography, and philosophy. He then reflects on our post-September 11 roles as psychoanalysts or psychodynamic psychiatrists, but also as Americans.