Abstract

MEYER, Luiz. Totalitarian mind. Rev. bras. psicanál [online]. 2018, vol.52, n.3, pp.33-45. ISSN 0486-641X.

The author uses Hannah Arendt's reflections as underlying ideas to describe, from a psychoanalytic perspective, the development and functioning of a totalitarian mind, i.e. the mind that was behind both Hitler's and Stalin's regimes. The author's purpose is to characterize the mental structure that enables the totalitarian mind to operate. Without this structure, he explains, the totalitarian mind cannot be even organized. He presents the hierarchy that is vital to this totalitarian mind and the different roles it may play (mentor, adherent, or victim). The comprehension of the structure and functioning of the totalitarian mind is mainly based on Melanie Klein's, Wilfred Bion's, Donald Meltzer's, and Andre Green's work.

Keywords : totalitarianism; terror; destructivity; omnipotence; narcissism; projective identification; “de-objectalization”; bound.

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