Citation

Clemens NA. J. Psychiatr. Pract. 2010; 16(6): 416-419.

Affiliation

Clinical professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and training psychoanalyst in the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/01.pra.0000390761.12204.d0

PMID

21107147

Abstract

In a democracy, elections are the way in which the collective thought processes of the voters arrive at a decision to direct their government. The author explores how the individual voter assesses and resolves many conflicting internal and external forces to arrive at a vote. The midterm elections of 2010 illustrate the parallel between individual resolution of conflicting forces and the process of a campaign leading to the outcome of an election. The psychodynamic concepts of conflict and compromise, affects, aggression, unconscious forces, mechanisms of defense, superego, and the ego's integrative functions are evident in both the individual voter and the collective electoral process. The author expresses concern about the historical vulnerability of democracies and the unbalancing effect of allowing limitless infusion of anonymous corporate money to pour into campaigns (Journal of Psychiatric Practice 2010;16:416-419).

Language: en