Psychoanalysis

'Tyrants Are Great Only Because We Are on Our Knees'

"Tyrants are great only because we are on our knees." This quote about individual and collective voluntary subjugation is attributed to Étienne de La Boétie, author of Discourse on Voluntary Servitude. Published in 1576, the text presents remarkably modern insights into the foundations of tyranny and the reasons for people's submission, ...

The War Within the Couple: A Reflection of Lebanon's War?

Testimony "Once, our apartment at Galerie Semaan was a peaceful haven. Now, it feels like a real pressure cooker. The atmosphere in our home has completely changed. My husband yells over the smallest things. I do too, actually. Yesterday, we argued simply because the kids were making too much noise while playing— as if noise could still bother ...

Shock and Survival: A Testimony of War and Trauma in Lebanon

Testimony
 "I live in a neighborhood not far from areas that are frequently bombarded. Every day, I am immersed in constant terror. The incessant shelling, the persistent drone hum in the sky, and the whistling of missiles create an exhausting state of hyper-vigilance, fraying our nerves. At the slightest noise, I jump violently, my heart ...

The Good and the Bad: Two Sides of the Same Coin

"The good only dream of what the bad actually do." This quote from Plato, later referenced by Freud, could be seen as an epitome of The Interpretation of Dreams, the cornerstone of Freud's theory that a dream is a disguised fulfillment of a repressed desire. For Freud, dreams, like fantasies, play a crucial role in the human unconscious. ...

Heraclitus: 'War is the Mother of All Things'

"War is the mother of all things, the queen of all things." Heraclitus's famous phrase, the ancient Greek philosopher, seems at first glance to praise violence and conflict. However, we will attempt to demonstrate that Heraclitus’s wisdom, in this quotation, aims to highlight the creative potential within any conflict. Far from glorifying war, ...

Can We Live with Our Traumas?

As we wrote in our previous article, trauma causes a psychic collapse, a shock that leaves a person unsteady, defenseless against the seismic breach and the abrupt rupture in their sense of continuity of existence. Lebanese people have been living for far too long in a trauma-inducing environment. The repeated situations of hot and cold wars, ...

‘An Inner Cataclysm’: The Ordeal of Survivors of Attacks and Wars

Simon Fieschi, former webmaster of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, was found dead on Thursday, October 17, 2024. The causes of his death remain unknown. He had been critically injured during the attack on January 7, 2015, in Paris.  His death brings back into focus the heavy psychological toll paid by survivors of attacks or wars, ...

At the Heart of Desire: Death

“The function of desire must remain in a fundamental relationship with death.” – J. Lacan Desire is always born from a lack, from an absence. It expresses the nostalgia for a lost wholeness, for an original state of satisfaction that we seek to rediscover throughout our lives. Yet, this desire is insatiable by nature, as its object is ...

Talking About War with Your Children: A Necessity, Not an Option

War has taken hold of our country, and it seems likely to go on, with its devastating consequences both collectively and individually. Our environment is saturated with the rumble of bombings, shell explosions, sonic booms and other terrifying sounds.  Everyone, whether near or far from the war zones, is experiencing the exhausting effects of ...