Headline Psychiatric Views on the Weekend’s News: Pearl Harbor, Rebellions, Notre-Dame, and Wicked

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

Because of our presidential election a little more than a month ago, this weekday’s column has conveyed that we are in a liminal time and place of uncertainty. Perhaps, then, it should be no great surprise that this past weekend has been filled with issues of social psychiatric importance. Here are some of them to note and to consider for relevant action.

The Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony

Commentary: The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was proclaimed “a day which will live in infamy” by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and, it has: ultimately leading to the incarceration of innocent Japanese individuals in America, the atomic bombing and surrender of Japan, and the defeat of Nazi Germany, all of which contributed to concurrent grief and posttraumatic stress disorder as well as the ongoing intergenerational transmission of trauma.

The Rebellions in Syria and South Korea

Commentary: We know that mental health is generally better in democracies, so it is hopeful that the surprise overthrow of 53 years of the authoritarian Assad family government in Syria and the attempted imposition of military law in Korea will lead to more resilience and democratic processes.

The Reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris

Commentary: The celebration of its repair from a fire 5 years ago has much impact and spiritual meaning, including that such disasters can be overcome with human will and goodwill.

Seeing the Movie “Wicked”

Commentary: My wife and I saw the movie and loved it, especially its complementary and comprehensive multiculturalism, which even included a concern for speciesism.

On related listservs, psychiatrists have been passionately discussing these and other social psychiatric challenges and, it seems to me, with some ethical collegial respect.

May this psychiatric processing continue!

Dr Moffic (he/him/his) is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry, and is now in retirement and refirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.