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An analyst or a therapist in a sick society suffering under totalitarian destructive forces, terrorism, or war experiences has some urge to represent a healthier variant. His or her uneasy task, scarcely consciously planned, but fulfilled more or less in the work with patients, consists of:
assuming mature (rational, empathic) attitudes to balance ‘wholesale individual regression’ (Gampel, 1992) which is the consequence of social violence or oppression;
keeping ethical standards against ethical confusion or marasmus (Puget, 1992), which develops mostly under totalitarian and war conditions;
protecting oneself from destructive powers of the outer social world;
controlling internal aggressive forces in aggressive social surroundings;
creating a safe space for both the patient and the analyst in the therapeutic setting.
In the following sections I will illustrate the above tasks of the analyst with some clinical material and explain my theoretical views.
To better understand the position of therapists in a society, one needs to know more about the cultural conditions, history, and