Fundamentalism and the Paranoid Gestalt

Terman, David M.

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379655.003.0005

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…This figure of the traitor allows the persecuted person to find someone responsible for his failure or his weakness; it protects his megalomania. I here subscribe to the hypothesis upheld by Terman (), which he extracts from Harry Stack Sullivan (). In Breivik's case betrayal appears as a specialization or declension of the ideas of persecution which the megalomania elaborates.…”

Section: Concluding Discussion: a Very Freudian Case Of Persecutionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Several psychoanalysts (Rosenfeld, ; Terman, ) have questioned the fact that feelings of persecution can be a defence (through reversal and projection) against a feeling of homosexual love which the ego cannot admit. In this respect, the cases Rosenfeld () presents show the range of possibilities and the way in which a strong feeling of persecution can also exist in homosexual men.…”

Section: Concluding Discussion: a Very Freudian Case Of Persecutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Influenced by ego psychology and by Kleinian psychoanalysis, English‐speaking analysts have demonstrated the importance of the child's early relationship to the mother and a paranoid–oral stage of development (Rosenfeld, ), the ambivalence of sexual identifications or even the fixation to the anal–sadistic stage as motivating ideas of persecution. Quite recently in their collective study, Strozier, Terman and Jones () have underlined the importance of ‘narcissistic rage’ (Kohut, ) and of strong feelings of humiliation in the paranoia of fundamentalists. The study I propose of Breivik's case addresses the heart of this debate and will lead us to question the pertinence of the link between persecution and violence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deconstructing persecution and betrayal in the discourse of Anders Behring Breivik: A preliminary essay

Cotti

2015

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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On 22 July 2011, a 32-year-old Norwegian launched two planned murderous rampages claiming the lives of 77 victims. Shortly before his attacks, Anders Behring Breivik uploaded to the internet a self-styled compendium written in English in which he explained the motivation for his attacks. By deconstructing this text and the documentation contained in the first [court-ordered] psychiatric evaluation of Breivik, we can undertake to analyse his sense of persecution. In pursing this analysis, we start with Breivik's description of his personal concept of contemporary European history and politics, and then proceed to the autobiographical and phantasmic aspects of his discourse. The analysis reveals the transformation of love into hate, the original persecutor, the installation of a projection mechanism, notions of betrayal and their subsequent development into an ideology. With Breivik's conceptions thus revealed, we conclude by comparing different psychoanalytic hypotheses which deepen or challenge the Freudian thesis of a defence against a feeling of homosexual love in persecution, and which to the contrary favour the importance of the relationship with the mother, anal sadism or the 'narcissistic rage' behind the genesis of these ideas. We leave open the question of whether there is a constant relationship between feelings of persecution and the tendency to commit criminal acts.

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Section: Concluding Discussion: a Very Freudian Case Of Persecutionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Concluding Discussion: a Very Freudian Case Of Persecutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deconstructing persecution and betrayal in the discourse of Anders Behring Breivik: A preliminary essay

Cotti

2015

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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“…Volkan observed, “…I noted that knowledge gained from clinical psychoanalytic work, rather than the theoretical component of psychoanalysis, is of most value to policy analysts” (Volkan, , p.129). Kohut's work on narcissism (e.g., Kohut, ; Kohut, ) has been followed by important studies on self‐pathology, narcissistic rage, and the fundamentalist mindset (Strozier, Terman, & Jones, ; Terman, ), Terman's “paranoid gestalt” (Terman, ), and a large literature on shame, humiliation, and shame‐honor cultures (Kobrin, , ).…”

Section: Assets Liabilities and Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychoanalysis and public health: Potential for integration?

Holinger

Spira

Barrett

et al. 2020

Appl Psychoanal Studies

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Psychoanalysis and public health appear to have an important but uneasy and rarely discussed relationship. Both fields have made significant contributions to mental health, despite major differences in their concepts and methods. Although controversies exist, we suggest that there are important areas of overlap and potential integration, with benefit to both fields and the understanding of human development and mental health. In order to explore these issues, we will first examine some of the early connections between psychoanalysis and public health. Next, we will focus on various assets and liabilities of each field. Third, we will look at one example of this integration, namely, physical punishment and violence. Finally, we will explore the question of resistance to social activism in the two fields.

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“…The converse of that trend to inclusion and widening concern for larger groups is the phenomenon that I have labeled the paranoid gestalt (Terman 2010). Indeed, I wonder if there is an identifiable neurophysiological correlate of this psychological complex.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%