Leonard Cohen’s Warning: An Introduction to “You Want It Darker”

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

I was trying to think of innovative ways to respond to our current intensifying political polarization when I suddenly got the chills with an unexpected connection. The renowned poet, singer, and songwriter, Leonard Cohen, died on Monday, November 7, 2016, at the age of 82. President Trump unexpectedly won his first term the next day, on Tuesday November 8, 2016.

So what? Maybe that connection between Cohen and Trump was just a coincidental one. Or was it serendipitous of greater spiritual and psychological meaning? Let’s try to see.

Leonard Cohen was the favorite artist of my best friend since childhood, the late Barry Marcus. Like “Lenny,” Barry was Jewish his whole life and Buddhist part of his adult life.

Not too long before he died, it was reported that Cohen opened his eyes and said: “I don’t think I’ll be able to finish those songs.”1 However, with his son’s help, his last recording “You Want It Darker” was released soon before he died, 18 days before that Election Day.

Artists are often prophetic, or at least on the cutting edge of commenting on societal changes. In this case, who is the “You” in the title? God? Us? Certainly, he is communicating about his own impending death. However, as he usually also commented about relationships and society, there likely were other layers of meaning for the future. That future is now.

The “Darker” could be the darkness in society as reflected in our recent Presidential races and the psychological darkness of our social psychopathologies, including sexism and racism. Interestingly enough, the voting of some of the socially disenfranchised changed unexpectedly.

The Democratic Party claims to not be planning to respond in the expected ways, per the New York Times article on November 16, 2024, “Democrats Draw Up an Entirely New Anti Trump Battle Plan.”1 Instead of the usual protests, they are intending to focus more on legal fights and state power.

In medicine, the first new collective response that I have seen is that of the Committee to Protect Health Care, with the goal of opposition to the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. There is concern about his view on the problems of anti-vaccination and the increase in autism, among other things. Yet, this is the traditional protest way. And we should know that extremely narcissistic leaders can feel humiliated with criticism and then respond with revenge.

Perhaps we in psychiatry should search for more innovative ways to contribute our knowledge and expertise about health and mental health. If anything, this social conflict reminds me some of patients who deny important problems and the clinician must find innovative ways to discuss and address them.

In ensuing columns, I will review many of the words in the title song. These words include, healers, demons, and paradox.

In psychiatry, there is a concept of repetition compulsion. Unconsciously, this refers to an attempt to symbolically or realistically repeat or relive past trauma in an attempt to gain control of them or achieve better results. Let’s see if that psychological process helps us to dig deeper into our liminal time after the election to make the future lighter and brighter, no matter who you favored in the election.

In the meanwhile, take a listen to the song if you have not already.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement 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.

Reference

1. Epstein RJ, Lerer L. Democrats draw up an entirely new anti Trump battle plan. The New York Times. November 16, 2024. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/16/us/politics/democrats-anti-trump-battle-plan.html