Nationalities in Europe: the risk of war and medical responsibility.

War is often considered to be a way of solving political or economic problems. On the psychological level, war and acts of war are correlated with fear and guilt. In dealing with fear and guilt projection is a common defence mechanism, whereby others are scapegoated as the cause for one's own problems. This article presents an analysis of the relations between socio-political and economic problems, fear and guilt, and armed conflicts and wars. An alternative strategy is described, whereby people accept responsibility for the situation and work out solutions, based on a mature identity and by democratic processes. Conditions to promote this strategy are discussed. In the introduction some consequences of the last world war and of the work of the National Institute for the Victims of War in the Netherlands are described.