Papers by Era A. A Loewenstein, Ph.D.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Oct 1, 1994
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Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2023
The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising ele... more The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising election of Donald Trump. Along with many fellow Americans, I also woke during the early hours of Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, the morning after the US election, to the shocking news that Donald J. Trump was elected to be the President of the United States. Upon hearing this news, I felt disoriented. Like numerous election pundits, journalists, and colleagues, I also expected Hillary Clinton to win this election. In previous months, I, along with many American urban voters, paid little attention to the election campaign of the candidate Trump, viewing him as a rather marginal and buffoonish character who is unlikely to be taken seriously by voters. Trapped in my own social and psychic reality, regretfully, I neglected to register the external reality, that is, the deep division in contemporary American society. I was also unaware, at the time, of the universal seductive power of authoritarianism, seduction that has led to a global antidemocratic swing. I still remember, as if it happened yesterday, the heavy feelings and the disbelief I experienced that morning. It was as though the previous night there was a coup, and my adoptive country has been taken over, hijacked overnight, by unknown and ominous forces. The idea of inviting various psychoanalytic authors to contribute to an issue exploring fascistic and populist states of mind began to germinate in my mind during the summer of 2020, toward the end of the Trump presidency. As several authors in this issue have observed, fascistic and populist states of mind contain a manic element. Fascistic and populist political regimes, likewise, often ascend as quickly as they later disappear. It took me a couple of years to reach a state of mind in which I could begin to understand what was transpiring in the US and earlier that year, during Brexit in the UK. Throughout the initial years, especially from 2016 to 2018, the rapid changes felt like a constant bombardment of concrete beta elements that were obstructing the capacity to think clearly. Remember the first week after the inauguration when Mr. Trump, surrounded by his entourage, signed ceremonially, one executive order after the other at a frenzied speed? Donald Trump signed 15 executive orders within the first week of his administration. This time it was not the Jews or the Roma people who needed to be banned, as in Nazi Germany of the 1930s. This time it was the Muslims who were unwanted. Very soon after the Muslims it was the turn of the Mexicans. Then came the turn of the Dreamers. Later some 50,000 Hondurans, whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowed them to live in the United States after Hurricane Mitch ravaged their country in 1998 were stripped of their TPS status. The US political landscape has indeed been changing since 2016 at a frenzied pace, a pace that made it hard to follow, integrate, think, and comprehend the meaning of the rise of proto-fascistic states in the political and social landscapes. Our country has become increasingly deeply split between Red and Blue America. This split has been widening, leading, according to Marc Fisher, a Washington Post senior editor, to a broad range of voices including Republican and Democratic politicians, historians who study civil strife, and extremists on both ends of the spectrum, to accept the idea that civil war in the US is either imminent or even necessary (Fisher, 2022). Before describing the various contributions to this issue, I would like to address what we mean when we talk about "a state of mind." A state of mind, whether it is democratic, perverse, narcissistic, addictive, fascistic, or populist, is a psychological state that includes a set of characteristic affects, several dominant anxieties and defenses that are mobilized to deal with these anxieties. A "state of mind" also contains a number of predominant unconscious fantasies.
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Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2023
Elaborating on Adorno’s observation that fascist propaganda is psychoanalysis in reverse the auth... more Elaborating on Adorno’s observation that fascist propaganda is psychoanalysis in reverse the author demonstrates that psychoanalytic praxis and ethics are diametrically opposed to fascist propaganda and to fascistic states of mind. The article demonstrates how Fascist states of mind rely on inventing enemies and on using massive projective identification to lodge hated aspects of the Self in these enemies who are then attacked and destroyed. The inclination to rush into action instead of reflection, the proclivity to create false certainty and remove any traces of doubt in fascistic states is examined. The attack on truth and complex thinking in these malignant states is also explored. Using Trump’s rhetoric and the rhetorical devices employed by American ultra-right-wing agitators during the Roosevelt administration, the author demonstrates that the very practice of psychoanalysis can be viewed as a form of a steady, thoughtful and a peaceful resistance to the destructive seduction of fascistic states of mind.
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Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Feb 17, 2023
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Psychoanalytic Inquiry
The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising ele... more The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising election of Donald Trump. Along with many fellow Americans, I also woke during the early hours of Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, the morning after the US election, to the shocking news that Donald J. Trump was elected to be the President of the United States. Upon hearing this news, I felt disoriented. Like numerous election pundits, journalists, and colleagues, I also expected Hillary Clinton to win this election. In previous months, I, along with many American urban voters, paid little attention to the election campaign of the candidate Trump, viewing him as a rather marginal and buffoonish character who is unlikely to be taken seriously by voters. Trapped in my own social and psychic reality, regretfully, I neglected to register the external reality, that is, the deep division in contemporary American society. I was also unaware, at the time, of the universal seductive power of authoritarianism, seduction that has led to a global antidemocratic swing. I still remember, as if it happened yesterday, the heavy feelings and the disbelief I experienced that morning. It was as though the previous night there was a coup, and my adoptive country has been taken over, hijacked overnight, by unknown and ominous forces. The idea of inviting various psychoanalytic authors to contribute to an issue exploring fascistic and populist states of mind began to germinate in my mind during the summer of 2020, toward the end of the Trump presidency. As several authors in this issue have observed, fascistic and populist states of mind contain a manic element. Fascistic and populist political regimes, likewise, often ascend as quickly as they later disappear. It took me a couple of years to reach a state of mind in which I could begin to understand what was transpiring in the US and earlier that year, during Brexit in the UK. Throughout the initial years, especially from 2016 to 2018, the rapid changes felt like a constant bombardment of concrete beta elements that were obstructing the capacity to think clearly. Remember the first week after the inauguration when Mr. Trump, surrounded by his entourage, signed ceremonially, one executive order after the other at a frenzied speed? Donald Trump signed 15 executive orders within the first week of his administration. This time it was not the Jews or the Roma people who needed to be banned, as in Nazi Germany of the 1930s. This time it was the Muslims who were unwanted. Very soon after the Muslims it was the turn of the Mexicans. Then came the turn of the Dreamers. Later some 50,000 Hondurans, whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowed them to live in the United States after Hurricane Mitch ravaged their country in 1998 were stripped of their TPS status. The US political landscape has indeed been changing since 2016 at a frenzied pace, a pace that made it hard to follow, integrate, think, and comprehend the meaning of the rise of proto-fascistic states in the political and social landscapes. Our country has become increasingly deeply split between Red and Blue America. This split has been widening, leading, according to Marc Fisher, a Washington Post senior editor, to a broad range of voices including Republican and Democratic politicians, historians who study civil strife, and extremists on both ends of the spectrum, to accept the idea that civil war in the US is either imminent or even necessary (Fisher, 2022). Before describing the various contributions to this issue, I would like to address what we mean when we talk about "a state of mind." A state of mind, whether it is democratic, perverse, narcissistic, addictive, fascistic, or populist, is a psychological state that includes a set of characteristic affects, several dominant anxieties and defenses that are mobilized to deal with these anxieties. A "state of mind" also contains a number of predominant unconscious fantasies.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2023
The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising ele... more The impetus to explore the nature of fascistic and populist states of mind was the surprising election of Donald Trump. Along with many fellow Americans, I also woke during the early hours of Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, the morning after the US election, to the shocking news that Donald J. Trump was elected to be the President of the United States. Upon hearing this news, I felt disoriented. Like numerous election pundits, journalists, and colleagues, I also expected Hillary Clinton to win this election. In previous months, I, along with many American urban voters, paid little attention to the election campaign of the candidate Trump, viewing him as a rather marginal and buffoonish character who is unlikely to be taken seriously by voters. Trapped in my own social and psychic reality, regretfully, I neglected to register the external reality, that is, the deep division in contemporary American society. I was also unaware, at the time, of the universal seductive power of authoritarianism, seduction that has led to a global antidemocratic swing. I still remember, as if it happened yesterday, the heavy feelings and the disbelief I experienced that morning. It was as though the previous night there was a coup, and my adoptive country has been taken over, hijacked overnight, by unknown and ominous forces. The idea of inviting various psychoanalytic authors to contribute to an issue exploring fascistic and populist states of mind began to germinate in my mind during the summer of 2020, toward the end of the Trump presidency. As several authors in this issue have observed, fascistic and populist states of mind contain a manic element. Fascistic and populist political regimes, likewise, often ascend as quickly as they later disappear. It took me a couple of years to reach a state of mind in which I could begin to understand what was transpiring in the US and earlier that year, during Brexit in the UK. Throughout the initial years, especially from 2016 to 2018, the rapid changes felt like a constant bombardment of concrete beta elements that were obstructing the capacity to think clearly. Remember the first week after the inauguration when Mr. Trump, surrounded by his entourage, signed ceremonially, one executive order after the other at a frenzied speed? Donald Trump signed 15 executive orders within the first week of his administration. This time it was not the Jews or the Roma people who needed to be banned, as in Nazi Germany of the 1930s. This time it was the Muslims who were unwanted. Very soon after the Muslims it was the turn of the Mexicans. Then came the turn of the Dreamers. Later some 50,000 Hondurans, whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) allowed them to live in the United States after Hurricane Mitch ravaged their country in 1998 were stripped of their TPS status. The US political landscape has indeed been changing since 2016 at a frenzied pace, a pace that made it hard to follow, integrate, think, and comprehend the meaning of the rise of proto-fascistic states in the political and social landscapes. Our country has become increasingly deeply split between Red and Blue America. This split has been widening, leading, according to Marc Fisher, a Washington Post senior editor, to a broad range of voices including Republican and Democratic politicians, historians who study civil strife, and extremists on both ends of the spectrum, to accept the idea that civil war in the US is either imminent or even necessary (Fisher, 2022). Before describing the various contributions to this issue, I would like to address what we mean when we talk about "a state of mind." A state of mind, whether it is democratic, perverse, narcissistic, addictive, fascistic, or populist, is a psychological state that includes a set of characteristic affects, several dominant anxieties and defenses that are mobilized to deal with these anxieties. A "state of mind" also contains a number of predominant unconscious fantasies.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Psychoanalytic Inquiry , 2023
Elaborating on Adorno’s observation that fascist propaganda is psychoanalysis
in reverse the auth... more Elaborating on Adorno’s observation that fascist propaganda is psychoanalysis
in reverse the author demonstrates that psychoanalytic praxis and
ethics are diametrically opposed to fascist propaganda and to fascistic
states of mind. The article demonstrates how Fascist states of mind rely
on inventing enemies and on using massive projective identification to
lodge hated aspects of the Self in these enemies who are then attacked
and destroyed. The inclination to rush into action instead of reflection, the
proclivity to create false certainty and remove any traces of doubt in
fascistic states is examined. The attack on truth and complex thinking in
these malignant states is also explored. Using Trump’s rhetoric and the
rhetorical devices employed by American ultra-right-wing agitators during
the Roosevelt administration, the author demonstrates that the very practice
of psychoanalysis can be viewed as a form of a steady, thoughtful and
a peaceful resistance to the destructive seduction of fascistic states of mind.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2023
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Psychoanalytic Inquiry
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The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1994
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Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2017
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Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1993
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Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2012
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Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1992
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Papers by Era A. A Loewenstein, Ph.D.
in reverse the author demonstrates that psychoanalytic praxis and
ethics are diametrically opposed to fascist propaganda and to fascistic
states of mind. The article demonstrates how Fascist states of mind rely
on inventing enemies and on using massive projective identification to
lodge hated aspects of the Self in these enemies who are then attacked
and destroyed. The inclination to rush into action instead of reflection, the
proclivity to create false certainty and remove any traces of doubt in
fascistic states is examined. The attack on truth and complex thinking in
these malignant states is also explored. Using Trump’s rhetoric and the
rhetorical devices employed by American ultra-right-wing agitators during
the Roosevelt administration, the author demonstrates that the very practice
of psychoanalysis can be viewed as a form of a steady, thoughtful and
a peaceful resistance to the destructive seduction of fascistic states of mind.
in reverse the author demonstrates that psychoanalytic praxis and
ethics are diametrically opposed to fascist propaganda and to fascistic
states of mind. The article demonstrates how Fascist states of mind rely
on inventing enemies and on using massive projective identification to
lodge hated aspects of the Self in these enemies who are then attacked
and destroyed. The inclination to rush into action instead of reflection, the
proclivity to create false certainty and remove any traces of doubt in
fascistic states is examined. The attack on truth and complex thinking in
these malignant states is also explored. Using Trump’s rhetoric and the
rhetorical devices employed by American ultra-right-wing agitators during
the Roosevelt administration, the author demonstrates that the very practice
of psychoanalysis can be viewed as a form of a steady, thoughtful and
a peaceful resistance to the destructive seduction of fascistic states of mind.