Nuclear Minds

How researchers understood the atomic bomb’s effects on the human psyche before the recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 1945, researchers on a mission to Hiroshima with the United States Strategic Bombing Survey canvassed survivors of the nuclear attack. This marked the beginning o...

全面介紹

Saved in:
書目詳細資料
主要作者: Zwigenberg, Ran
格式: Online
語言:英语
出版: University of Chicago Press 2023
主題:
在線閱讀:OCN: 1377819310
標簽: 添加標簽
沒有標簽, 成為第一個標記此記錄!
_version_ 1869527383986405376
author Zwigenberg, Ran
author_browse Zwigenberg, Ran
author_facet Zwigenberg, Ran
author_sort Zwigenberg, Ran
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description How researchers understood the atomic bomb’s effects on the human psyche before the recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 1945, researchers on a mission to Hiroshima with the United States Strategic Bombing Survey canvassed survivors of the nuclear attack. This marked the beginning of global efforts—by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other social scientists—to tackle the complex ways in which human minds were affected by the advent of the nuclear age. A trans-Pacific research network emerged that produced massive amounts of data about the dropping of the bomb and subsequent nuclear tests in and around the Pacific rim. Ran Zwigenberg traces these efforts and the ways they were interpreted differently across communities of researchers and victims. He explores how the bomb’s psychological impact on survivors was understood before we had the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, psychological and psychiatric research on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rarely referred to trauma or similar categories. Instead, institutional and political constraints—most notably the psychological sciences’ entanglement with Cold War science—led researchers to concentrate on short-term damage and somatic reactions or even, in some cases, on denial of victims’ suffering. As a result, very few doctors tried to ameliorate suffering. But, Zwigenberg argues, it was not only that doctors “failed” to issue the right diagnosis; the victims’ experiences also did not necessarily conform to our contemporary expectations. As he shows, the category of trauma should not be used uncritically in a non-Western context. Consequently, this book sets out, first, to understand the historical, cultural, and scientific constraints in which researchers and victims were acting and, second, to explore how suffering was understood in different cultural contexts before PTSD was a category of analysis
format Online
id doab-20.500.12854ir-112279
institution Directory of Open Access Books
language eng
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher University of Chicago Press
publisherStr University of Chicago Press
record_format ojs
spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1122792025-07-17T09:59:57Z Nuclear Minds Zwigenberg, Ran Hiroshima; nuclear trauma; Cold War; psychology; psychiatry; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons How researchers understood the atomic bomb’s effects on the human psyche before the recognition of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 1945, researchers on a mission to Hiroshima with the United States Strategic Bombing Survey canvassed survivors of the nuclear attack. This marked the beginning of global efforts—by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other social scientists—to tackle the complex ways in which human minds were affected by the advent of the nuclear age. A trans-Pacific research network emerged that produced massive amounts of data about the dropping of the bomb and subsequent nuclear tests in and around the Pacific rim. Ran Zwigenberg traces these efforts and the ways they were interpreted differently across communities of researchers and victims. He explores how the bomb’s psychological impact on survivors was understood before we had the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, psychological and psychiatric research on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rarely referred to trauma or similar categories. Instead, institutional and political constraints—most notably the psychological sciences’ entanglement with Cold War science—led researchers to concentrate on short-term damage and somatic reactions or even, in some cases, on denial of victims’ suffering. As a result, very few doctors tried to ameliorate suffering. But, Zwigenberg argues, it was not only that doctors “failed” to issue the right diagnosis; the victims’ experiences also did not necessarily conform to our contemporary expectations. As he shows, the category of trauma should not be used uncritically in a non-Western context. Consequently, this book sets out, first, to understand the historical, cultural, and scientific constraints in which researchers and victims were acting and, second, to explore how suffering was understood in different cultural contexts before PTSD was a category of analysis 2023-08-08T06:49:01Z 2023-08-08T06:49:01Z 2023-07-25T14:59:15Z 2023 book OCN: 1377819310 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/64093 9780226825915 9780226826769 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/112279 eng open access image/png image/png image/png image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/64093/2/9780226826752.epub https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/64093/2/9780226826752.epub https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/64093/2/9780226826752.epub https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/64093/1/9780226826752.pdf University of Chicago Press University of Chicago Press 10.7208/chicago/9780226826752.001.0001 10.7208/chicago/9780226826752.001.0001 decd55ad-cee8-4380-ad0e-0ead8a496f4d 9780226825915 9780226826769 Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) University of Chicago Press 324 open access
spellingShingle Hiroshima; nuclear trauma; Cold War; psychology; psychiatry; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
Zwigenberg, Ran
Nuclear Minds
title Nuclear Minds
title_full Nuclear Minds
title_fullStr Nuclear Minds
title_full_unstemmed Nuclear Minds
title_short Nuclear Minds
title_sort nuclear minds
topic Hiroshima; nuclear trauma; Cold War; psychology; psychiatry; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
topic_facet Hiroshima; nuclear trauma; Cold War; psychology; psychiatry; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JM Psychology::JMP Abnormal psychology
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JW Warfare and defence::JWM Weapons and equipment::JWMN Nuclear weapons
url OCN: 1377819310
work_keys_str_mv AT zwigenbergran nuclearminds