Abstract

The use of psychology for propaganda and warfare is well known. Its useful application to conflict resolution and peacebuilding is less appreciated. This seminar explores the psychological factors contributing to the two superpowers 1) shifting from a collaborative to competitive relationship, 2) seeing each other as enemies, 3) feeling increasingly threatened by each other, 4) failing to consider the heightened sensitivities arising from their respective historical traumatic past, 5) triggering the collapse of thinking and unleashing of uncontainable emotionality, and 6) escalating accidents to conflict, and conflict to war. The failure to consider these factors increases the psychological risks of war between these two countries. This seminar will discuss how to understand and manage such psychological risks from a psychodynamic perspective that pays particular attention to what is not easily apparent, forgotten or denied.

About the Speaker

Eugen Koh is a psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist based in, Australia; a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, and a Senior Fellow at the School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, and Visiting Professor, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan. He has for the past 30 years been working with traumatised individuals, communities and countries, especially in the context of conflict, violence and peacebuilding. Over the past decade, he has been working with traumatised communities recovering from the 30 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and co-convenes a rapidly growing network of academics and community leaders in Japan trying to address the impact of long-term traumatic effects of the Second World War, including their country’s difficulty in accepting responsibility for the war. He also co-convenes an international group of psychodynamically-informed experts in conflict and peacebuilding, assisting pre-existing channels and mechanisms to prevent war between United States and China. His recent publications include The Impact of Trauma on Peace Processes and The Healing of Historical Collective Trauma.