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After the panel on terrorism at the June 2003 meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, it was concluded that a new panel on large-group psychology would promote interest in the value of psychoanalysis applied to world affairs. The idea was accepted by the Program Committee.
Vamik Volkan, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and founder of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction at the University of Virginia and Emeritus Training and Supervising Analyst of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, chaired the panel. Joining him were Norman Itzkowitz, Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern Studies at Princeton University and an Advisory Board member of the Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction, and Nancy Hollander, Professor Emeritus of Latin American History at California State University and a faculty member of the Psychoanalytic Center of California.
Volkan presented an introduction using an elegant PowerPoint presentation. The central questions he addressed were: (1) Is there a large-group psychology in its own right? (2) What is a large-group identity? (3) Do neighboring or enemy groups become involved in definable group rituals? (4) What happens to cause a large group to regress? What are the signs and symptoms of such a regression? (5) How do a political leader's internal-world processes intertwine