2nd Annual ISPS Hellas Conference
War, Psychosis and Shame
The link between psychosis and shame, especially as manifested under the extreme conditions of war, (Psychotic States of Mind in Trauma and War) was the subject of the very successful 2nd Conference of the Greek branch of the International Society for the Psychological Treatment of the Schizophrenias and other Psychoses (ISPS Hellas) held on 1 & 2 December 2007 at the Amalia Hotel in Athens. The guest speaker, Dr Ivan Urliæ, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Split in Croatia, group analyst and distinguished academician, through his excellent presentations, succeeded in ensuring the unabated attention of a large audience for two days.
Masterfully combining psychoanalytic theories with clinical material from the recent war in Serbia, Dr Urliæ delved deeply into a subject which international psychoanalytic thought has hitherto barely touched upon. His lectures focused on the original view that particularly in times of war – both military and family conflicts – the survivor’s feelings towards the dead are primarily feelings of shame, not guilt. Shame becomes encapsulated in the personality in such a way that it is always ready to break out in the form of shame at the subject’s very existence, leading him or her to psychosis and possibly suicide. To avoid such an eventuality, private but especially group psychoanalysis has proved to be effective. It is our earnest hope that this important research, on a subject from which human thought has so much to learn, will continue.
Dr Anastassios Koukis
President of ISPS Hellas