Newsroom
April 2002
- Suicide Terrorists Consider Themselves an Extension of Society, Not As Individuals
Suicide Terrorists
Consider Themselves an Extension of Society, Not As Individuals
San Francisco, CA April 22,
2002
Americans struggle to understand
the motivations of suicide terrorists in the Middle East. One local psychoanalyst
with first-hand experience offers a window into their world. Nathan M. Szajnberg,
M.D., has visited Israel seven times since November 2000 to volunteer, teach
and study the lives of Israeli youth. He offers the following views on the psychology
of a suicide terrorist. “An individual’s psyche in the Arab Middle East or elsewhere
is crafted by his society,” says Dr. Szajnberg. “A suicide terrorist experiences
a loss of ego boundaries and views himself as an extension of his immediate
family and his community, rather than as an individual. The cultural view in
the Middle East is to see one's community as pure and threatened by the impurities
of other cultures. When properly trained, a suicide terrorist losses a sense
of individuality and accepts and acts upon his community’s need to remove the
impurities that threaten it,” continues Dr. Szajnberg. “Carrying out the act
of suicide terrorism is culturally acceptable in this part of the world. We
misconstrue those who threaten us if we judge other societies by American cultural
standards, which places value on the individual and one's life.”
To arrange an interview with Dr.
Szajnberg, please contact Mary E. Tressel at 925-686-2958.
Psychoanalysts are experienced
mental health professionals, already possessing advanced degrees (MD’s, PhD’s
or MSW’s) who have undergone at least eight years of psychoanalytic training.
The San Francisco Psychoanalytic
Institute and Society was founded over 50 years ago. A nonprofit organization,
it has a membership of over 200 practicing analysts and more than 80 candidates
(psychoanalysts in training).
