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The paper consists of the online discussion of Nancy Hollander's ‘Psyche, Ideology, and the Creation of the Political Subject’, summarized. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the influence of socioeconomic and ideological factors on the psychological reactions to the terror of the September 11 attack. The article argues that the public response to the terrorist attacks is paradoxical as they were experienced as cataclysmic and causes the shocking loss of innocent lives. On the other hand, the attacks could also be seen as a relief from the deepening division among individuals in the U.S. that seemed to disappear in the wake of the shared pain, terror and loss.

This paper shows how in an interdisciplinary context psychoanalysis can illuminate the interface between ideology and mental states that produces citizens' identification with repressive political trends. It argues for a socially conscious clinical psychoanalysis that includes an awareness of and respectful exploration of the social as well as the psychic origins of patients' deep anxieties and conflicts. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]