Peter Pomerantsev courageously draws attention to the relevance of psychoanalysis if we wish to understand what might be called the “Putin phenomenon”, but Freud’s “death instinct” explains little (“What lies behind Russia’s acts of extreme violence? Freudian analysis offers an answer”, Comment).
The Putin phenomenon is an example of what David Astor, former editor of the Observer, called “the scourge”, that is, a perverse morality that imposes on those who subscribe to it the moral or religious duty to clean up society and liquidate those who pollute it. In Nazi Germany, the Jews and others were singled out as the chief agents of corruption, while for Putin they are “neo-nazis” and those who espouse the decadent values of the west. He and his supporters see themselves as embarked on a moral crusade.
Astor organised the funding of an institute to study “the scourge” and the Institute for the Study of Collective Psychopathology began life at Sussex University in 1966 under the leadership of the historian Norman Cohn. Cohn pioneered an inter-disciplinary approach and, amonge other initiatives, sponsored a study by the psychiatrist/psychotherapist Henry Dicks, deputy director of the Tavistock Clinic, of the psychology of former Nazis concentration camp guards convicted of killing en masse. Dicks was uniquely qualified for this work because, among other things, he had held psychiatric responsibility for Rudolf Hess during the war. He published an account of his research, Licensed Mass Murder, in 1972, but nowhere in it does he make any use of the death instinct. Instead, he tells us that the psychological model he employed was that of Ronald Fairbairn’s theory of schizoid states, the demonisation and dehumanisation that characterises them, and their psycho-social origins.
More recently, James Gilligan, head of studies in violence at Harvard, has described how violence in patriarchal authoritarian societies originates in inequality and is triggered by humiliation, mockery, ridicule – by being disparaged or “dissed”, and the fear that if one does not retaliate or “get even”, one is gay. The psychology of “schizoid states” and Gilligan’s research complement each other and are much more useful in understanding Putin and his supporters than Freud’s outmoded death instinct.
Dr Michael Briant
Cambridge
For centuries in the west, rationality has been the air we breathe. We have taught ourselves to reason, seek dialogue, understand: in particular, to understand evil and its perpetrators.
So, as the Ukrainian novelist Oksana Zabuzhko writes: “It is difficult to imagine that next door there also exists an ancient culture in which people only breathe under water and have a banal hatred for those who have lungs instead of gills.” Russia, which has shelled maternity hospitals and every sort of civilian target since the start of the war, and has now committed ecocide at Nova Kakhovka, cannot be reasoned with. Why? Because Russian state terror – which is not just its foreign policy, but part of the ideology of the Soviet Union and later Putin’s Russia – has been the norm for four generations. It can only be accepted, as propaganda-washed Russians do, or defeated.
Putin will lose the war because Ukraine has written a book of its own stories and become a nation, and because a generation hasn’t grown up thinking the all-powerful state and its terror are normal. They will not succumb to Putin’s lure of death. They are ready to defeat him. Which is why we in the west must give them everything they ask for to do it.
Julian Evans
Bristol
Same-sex NHS care is vital
In response to Sonia Sodha’s article (“How did NHS body get the law so badly wrong over its rules on same-sex care?”, Comment), I am a sexual abuse survivor. It took me many years to summon the courage to have my first smear test and each subsequent one has required similar efforts and distress. A recent breast cancer scare (thankfully a false alarm) also caused similar distress. At all times I have been able to request female healthcare professionals to conduct my care. The NHS has always been understanding and professional in this regard and I cannot fault the care I have received.
When I heard about the new NHS guidelines, my heart sank. I know that I am not alone; many members of sexual abuse support groups I am involved with have expressed their concern regarding their future care. Being able to request a female healthcare professional is essential if we are to receive the care we need – smear tests and mammograms, for example, save lives. I have trans family members and, as a member of the LGBT community myself, I absolutely support the rights of everyone to live their authentic lives. But protecting the health and lives of survivors of sexual violence must be paramount.
Name and address supplied
Is breast really best?
I wasn’t surprised to see the report on breastfed babies growing up to be more academic. Nor was I surprised to read the article by Catherine Bennett (“Breast is best if you want top marks for your children? You’ve got to be kidding”, Comment).
I absolutely accept that mothers seem to be required to carry around a knapsack of guilt which is constantly being added to. My own guilt started with my inability to feed my first baby because I got tonsilitis (I was only 18). Later, a report said that children of mothers who were given pethidine during labour went on to become drug addicts. Great! Thanks for that.
I was a lot luckier with my second baby and fed him for the best part of a year. The only way I was able to do this was with the support of my husband. Breastfeeding takes a lot out of you. I got no support from anyone else. My own mother used to say: “If only you weren’t feeding him, we could look after him for you” and other female relatives were always offering bottles.
Breast is best where possible but it’s not for everyone. We all know that, so when a woman we know decides to try, please can we do all we can to support her?
Jane Napier
Titchfield Common, Fareham, Hampshire
As someone who recently completed a thesis on “Breast is best” discourse, in which I followed as many up-to-date studies as I could regarding breastfeeding’s “superiority”, I would like every mother to know that the single biggest factor in a child’s physical health and cognitive development is the mother’s IQ. That’s it. How you feed your baby may be the first thing you do, but it is not everything you do.
Cait Sim
Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Change the AI conversation
We create our own anxieties about artificial intelligence by believing the technologists and failing to ask the questions that matter (“Fantasy fears about AI are obscuring how we already abuse machine intelligence”, Comment).
One critical question is to examine what AI can do. There are very few examples of it making a judgment call. For example, few self-driving cars can make a turn across oncoming traffic. Doctors treating cancers will usually make decisions based on the patient and their social context, not just on the medical aspects of the tumour. AI specialises most often in making a binary choice (that is a cancerous tumour; that is another car), whereas people are specialised in detecting familiarity.
A second critical question is what we do with the output of AI systems. Most often, the debate is predicated on the assumption that we must accept the AI system’s binary output. We need to change the conversation to one where we use AI as input to human processing, instead of a substitute for it.
David Gilmore
Angmering, West Sussex
The pill transformed my life
The pill always gets a bad report, and the headline of your article doesn’t help (“The pill’s effects on women can be devastating. We need better information, now”, News). Why not mention the progestogen-only pill (desogestrel)? It has changed my life. Since the age of 13, I put up with nauseating cramps, heavy periods and serious mood swings. After 16 years, I felt something had to change.
I talked to my GP, and it was decided I start the mini-pill. I gave it a go and, after three months of adapting to it, a new chapter of my life began. My periods stopped. No more bleeding, cramps or extreme mood swings. I felt like I did as a child again. Free from worry and of having to plan my life around my period. My primary reason to take this pill was to lighten/stop my periods and it’s been so effective.
I have long-term mental health conditions, and it has taken off the edge because of the lack of hormonal fluctuations. My only regret is that I didn’t start it in my teens.
Vicky McClelland
Lincoln
