The psychology of the lone terrorist: Identification with the aggressor in individuals and in societies

Professor Dr. med. Klaus Hoffmann, born in 1954, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Since 1997, he has worked as medical director of the forensic hospital in Reichenau, Germany, and since 2002, he has been head of the Institute of Psychoanalysis Zürich-Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, a member institute of the IFPS. He has been since 2008 a lecturer in the psychology department of Konstanz University, since 2000 a member of the IFPS executive committee, and since 2012 regional editor of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis for Central Europe. His publications deal mainly with psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed patients, history of psychoanalysis and transcultural psychiatry.
Correspondence: Klaus Hoffmann, Reichenau Mental Hospital, Institut für Psychoanalyse Zürich-Kreuzlingen, Feursteinstrasse 55, D-78479, Reichenau, Germany. Tel: +49 7531 977 418. E-mail: