Working towards a liberatory psychiatry? Radicalizing the science of human psychology and behavior

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511543678.002

1 - Working towards a liberatory psychiatry? Radicalizing the science of human psychology and behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 August 2009

Carl I. Cohen

Edited by

Carl I. Cohen and

Sami Timimi

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Carl I. Cohen: Affiliation:
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, New York, NY, USA, Email: [email protected]
Carl I. Cohen: Affiliation:
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Sami Timimi: Affiliation:
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Trust

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Summary

My family has the revolution blues. My grandparents wondered why there were no radical political changes in the aftermath of World War I. My parents were certain that the Great Depression would spark political revolution. I believed that the 1960s would lead to dramatic transformations in society and culture. And my children wonder why there aren't progressive revolts throughout the developing world. Although radical political change is not easy, it seems that many times there were conditions that made change possible, but nothing happened. Moreover, when “revolutions” occurred, too often these systems reverted to another form of oppression, and the opportunity for liberation was lost. Woody Allen satirized this phenomenon in Bananas when, after the revolutionary leader assumed power, his first act was to require everyone to speak Swedish and to wear their underwear on the outside.

In the years after the end of World War I theorists began to examine more seriously whether psychological factors might impede revolutionary change. Specifically, they were interested in whether there were unconscious elements that worked against rational conscious thinking and perpetuated oppression and domination. Despite various problems with Freud's theory, including its conservative elements, many progressives turned to Freud, since at that time, his work provided the only systematic analysis of unconscious processes (Robinson, 1969; Wolfenstein, 1993). These theorists believed that psychoanalysis could be radicalized and that it provided a complement to Marx's analyses of the political and economic system.

Type: Chapter
Information: Liberatory Psychiatry
Philosophy, Politics and Mental Health
, pp. 9 - 34

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543678.002 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

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