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Aggression and Psychodynamic Therapy From Theory to Practice

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From Research to Clinical Practice

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Abstract

Man’s inhumanity to man has perplexed psychologists for decades. Through human ingenuity the instruments of aggression have been refined to such precision that there exists the real possibility that humans will succeed in accomplishing the feat that has eluded disease, predators, and natural disasters: They will succeed in destroying the human race. Freud (1930) expresses a similar concern:

The fateful question for the human race seems to me to be whether and to what extent their cultural development will succeed in mastering the disturbance of their communal life by the human instinct of aggression and self-destruction.... Men have gained control over the forces to nature of such an extent that with their help they would have no difficulty in exterminating one another to the last man. They know this and hence comes a large part of their unrest, their unhappiness, and their mood of anxiety. (p. 92)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA

    Stephen Worchel

  2. Virginia Institute of Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22901, USA

    Jason Worchel

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  1. Stephen Worchel
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  2. Jason Worchel
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, New York, USA

    George Stricker Ph.D.

  2. C. W. Post Center, Long Island University, Greenvale, New York, USA

    Robert H. Keisner Ph.D.

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© 1985 Plenum Press, New York

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Worchel, S., Worchel, J. (1985). Aggression and Psychodynamic Therapy From Theory to Practice. In: Stricker, G., Keisner, R.H. (eds) From Research to Clinical Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4820-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4820-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4820-7

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