Otto Fenichel and Ecopsychoanalysis in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Otto Fenichel, whose era coincided with a time of immense social and political upheaval, was well known for his engagement in social as well as clinical spheres. In recent years, several psychoanalytic thinkers (e.g., Lertzman, 2015) have similarly crossed into the social by attempting to address perhaps the defining challenge of our own time: climate change and the environmental crisis. Human effects on planetary systems now rival the great forces of nature, with scientists proclaiming a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The psychological causes and consequences of this momentous fact are in urgent need of psychoanalytic investigation. This paper seeks to articulate the legacy of Fenichel and his ideas through a reading of several key papers and to layer his thinking onto the emerging psychoanalytic approaches to the climate crisis. Particular reference is made to Harold Searles, who provides a theoretical counterpoint.

Keywords:

• climate change
• ecology
• ecopsychoanalysis
• Fenichel
• Searles.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Dodds

Joseph Dodds, PhD, is a psychoanalyst in private practice (Czech Psychoanalytical Society, IPA), a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) and Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) of the British Psychological Society, a psychotherapist (UKCP, Czech Association for Psychotherapy) a university lecturer in psychology and psychoanalysis (University of New York in Prague, AAU). He is the author of the 2011 book Psychoanalysis and Ecology at the Edge of Chaos: Complexity Theory, Deleuze|Guattari, and Psychoanalysis for a Climate in Crisis and of several other book chapters and articles on the application of psychological and psychoanalytic insight into the domains of culture, society, art, film, neuroscience, ecology, and climate change.