Some Psychiatrists Want to Give Peace a Chance

Psychiatry & Society

H. Steven Moffic, MD, discusses peace and psychiatry, a focus coming out of the 2024 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. Moffic sees the potential of psychiatry in promoting peace, using historical examples, such as the story of Einstein and Freud, as well as recent developments in the field, to demonstrate his point.

John Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) addressed societal divisiveness and psychiatrists' role in promoting peace. It is sung at the outset of the video by Moffic's wife Rusti and Debby Eisendrath, Rusti's younger sister and wife of the psychiatrist Stuart Eisendrath, MD.

Moffic suggests that interested mental health clinicians should get in touch about their work on peace, either directly or with the APA caucus on social determinants of health.

Moffic also discusses peace in articles such as:

• A Unifying Cultural Model at Ball State
• Why Do There Seem to Be No Joint Pro-Peace Rallies?
• World Peace Day and Psychiatry

Dr Moffic 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.