Anxiety and societal images of illness and death – Mattias Desmet

„When society as a whole is in the grip of anxiety and the accompanying images of illness and death, those images in themselves become a causal factor.“

Mattias DesmetMattias Desmet on how images of illness and death create anxiety in society and become causal factors.
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Mattias Desmet is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ghent.

A psychological view on collective anxiety and its impact on society.


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Mattias Desmet teaches Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Consulting at the University of Ghent. His department's research is strongly clinically and practice-oriented. He focuses on theoretical and practical aspects of psychological counseling and psychoanalysis.

Quote on psychological gain through collective anxiety by Mattias DesmetCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"This process yields a psychological gain. Firstly, the anxiety that previously roamed through society as a tenebrous fog is now linked to a specific cause and can be mentally controlled via the strategy put forward in the story. Secondly, through a common struggle with “the enemy,” the disintegrating society regains its coherence, energy, and rudimentary meaning. For this reason, the fight against the object of anxiety then becomes a mission, laden with pathos and group heroism (for example, the Belgian government’s “team of 11 million” going to war against the coronavirus). Thirdly, in this fight all latent brewing frustration and aggression is taken out, especially on the group that refuses to go along with the story and the mass formation. This brings an enormous release and satisfaction to the masses, which they will not let go of easily. Through this process..." Mattias Desmet
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Quote by Mattias Desmet on control, fear, and totalitarianism during coronavirus crisisCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"The coronavirus crisis did not come out of the blue. It fits into a series of increasingly desperate and self-destructive societal responses to objects of fear: terrorists, global warming, coronavirus. Whenever a new object of fear arises in society, there is only one response and one defense in our current way of thinking: increased control. The fact that the human being can tolerate only a certain amount of control is completely overlooked. Coercive control leads to fear and fear leads to more coercive control. Just like that, society falls victim to a vicious circle that inevitably leads to totalitarianism, which means to extreme government control, eventually resulting in the radical destruction of both the psychological and physical integrity of human beings." Mattias Desmet
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Quote by Just.A.Thought about mass hysteria as a way people share fears and anxietiesCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"People are addicted to mass hysteria because it’s a way for them to funnel their very real anxieties, fears, sadness and neurotic behaviors into something relatable to other people. It doesn’t feel so lonely if everyone collectively loses their grip on reality together." Just.A.Thought
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Quote by Charles MacKay about societies fixating on single topics and mass delusionsCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"We see entire societies suddenly fixate their thoughts on a single topic and lose their minds; millions of people are simultaneously gripped by a single delusion until their attention is captured by a new absurdity more fascinating than the first." Charles MacKay
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