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Unser Seelenleben im Kriege - Psychologische Betrachtungen eines Nervenarztes, which translates to "Our inner life during war - psychological observations by a neurologist" is a book published in 1916 in Vienna and written by Wilhelm Stekel. The book descibes the inner mental and emotional life of the austrian-hungarian as well as the german population during World War I and further aims at providing explanations and motives behind certain, by Spekel observed behaviors. He, thereby, focusses on several different groups in the population, discussing for instance the role of women, the elderly and the behavior of returned soldiers.

The book is part of Maastricht University's special Jesuit collection which includes about 265,000 volumes in the field of philosophy, the social sciences and many more with its earliest books ranging back to the beginning of the 16th century.

Historical context

On 28th July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia marking the outbreak of World War I. On the 31st of July Germany joined declaring its alliance with Austria-Hungary. The events and occurences preceding the declaration of war biased most of the germand and austrian-hungarian population in a way that they reacted positive and almost euphoric towards the beginning of World War I. They welcomed it as the end of a generally perceived intellectual and cultural crisis. German and austrian soldiers as well as large parts of the population, also including intellectuals and authors of that time, were animated and celebrated german and austrian-hungarian troops that left towards the fronts. Soon however, people had to face the fundamental changes that accompanied the war such as insufficient availability of nutrition and unemployement resulting in poverty across the countries. By 1916 the general excitement towards the first World War had turned into frustration.

The book "Unser Seelenleben im Kriege" is clearly one of Stekel's rather unknown works. As he is known to be a supporter of the practice of psychoanalysis and a close friend of Sigmund Freud the majority of his work concerns topics strongly concerned with psychoanalysis according to Freud and he additionally published several psychoanalytic magazines. Stekel had his first contacts with the theory of psychoanalysis in 1902 when he himself was analyzed by Sigmund Freud. He then continued to work as a psychoanalyst himself, publishing for example "Nervöse Angstzustände und ihre Behandlung" ("Nervous panicattacs and their treatment") in 1908 and remained in close contact to Freud. Stekel himself described their relationship being similar to the one between the apostles and "Christ". From 1911 to 1914 Stekel was copublisher of the psychoanalytic magazine "Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse" after Freud himself being publisher and main author. In 1912 however, Freud and Stekel discontinued their active contact as they went into separate directions concerning the field of psychoanalysis. Stekel in his autobiography is convinced that the difference between him and Freud are rooted in his opinion that psychoanalysis should not last over extended periods of time and should involve a more active participation of the patient. His form of psychoanalysis is called "active analysis". Further, Stekel's main contributions to the field of psychoanalysis are in the symbolism of dreams, the theory of neurosis and theories of fetishism and perversion.

"Unser Seelenleben im Kriege" deviates from the general tendency of psychoanalysis in that it only rarely involves the analysis of the subconscious motivating behavior and thinking but is rather a description of occurrences in the general population. Stekel's sudden interest in the particular topic of war and its effects on the psyche could be due to its sudden topicality in life. Stekel himself writes that war is prominent in every aspect of daily life and people are not allowing for distraction through entertainment and arts. Further support comes from other authors who wrote texts dealing with the same topic as Stekel's book. The jewish author Magnus Hirschfeld for instance turned away from the psychological evaluation of war after his publication "Kriegspsychologisches" ("Warpsychology") in 1916. The authors Dessoir and Plaut followed his example. Their interest appears to be only episodical caused by the constant presence of war in their lives. Stekel in particular was most likely inspired to his book by his work as psychiatrist in military hospitals both in Simmering and Bad Ischl. According to the preface of the book, this was where he was inspired and made major parts of his obserations for "Unser Seelenleben im Kriege". Concerning the year and the circumstances the book was published the general tone of the text additionally suggests that the author intended to reestablish a positive and optimistic spirit towards the war that was no longer present in the general population.

Content

The book mainly deals with certain behaviors and phenomena observed by Stekel himself during World War I. Analyzing the behavior of several different groups of individuals, such as soldiers, women and elderly he concludes about certain phenomena that appear to be present in the general population and characterize and constitute the mindset and psychological worlds of people living during and fighting in World War I. Many observations of the author result from his time spent as a doctor in military hospitals, but he also describes anecdotes of his daily life. Notably, the whole book is characterized by the author’s strong opinion that Austria-Hungary and Germany will win World War I. Generally, the text is no objective explanation of phenomena observed in people during war but rather a collection of anecdotes and opinions of the author.

As already mentioned, Stekel describes several phenomena that he observed to be present in the general population as well as in specific groups. For instance he describes a general general hunger for news in the population and the negelect of any aspects of life that are not concerned with war. The war appears to influence and determine every aspect of peoples' public and private life. Further, Stekel describes several aspects of what he believes characterizes the people's thinking and motivates their behavior in times of war. For instance, he describes the phenomenon " Gefangenenliebe" (sympathy for prisoners) as a common mindset of women. "Gefangenenliebe" according to Stekel is the strong sympathy women have for prisoners of war, even preferring them over their own soldiers and is ascribed to the moral weakness of the female sex. In general, the book covers many aspects of social, public and private life that are influenced by World War I and analyzes how the thoughts and behavior of the german and austrian-hungarian population are shaped by the constant threat of war.

As already stated, the author is strongly convinced of the superiority of Austria-Hungary and Germany in World War I and of their victory over the Triple Entente forces. In the particular chapter "Der Wille zur Macht und der Wille zur Unterwerfung" ("The will to power and the will to subordination") the author reveals his reasoning for these assumptions: Stekel first assumes that underlying all conflict, ranging from the individual to conflicts between whole states, is Nietzsche’s “Wille zur Macht” ("Will to power") assuming that every individual strives for control and power in any situation. The conflict between the states involved in World War I is also fundamentally characterized by this striving for power and superiority. However, the german as well as the austrian-hungarian population are characterized by an additional drive, which Stekel calls the “Wille zur Unterwerfung” (Will to subordination). According to Stekel this particular drive is the basis of true power and ultimately the combination of the “Wille zur Macht” and “Wille zur Unterwerfung” characterizes the superior force in any context. Further, Stekel argues that only the Germany and Austria-Hungary internalize both drives while the Entente forces incorporate solely the will to power, which is additionally constantly challenged and denied by their opponents.

Concerning the psychopathological aspect of war, Stekel comes to the conclusion that war generally does not cause psychopathologies but rather amplifies or activates mental illnesses that have been present in the individual beforehand. According to Stekel the reported increase in mental illnesses throughout the population during the World War does not reflect reality. Instead he observes an accumulation rather than an increase, which again means that war does not produce mental perturbances but mostly causes the outbreak of preexistent mental problems.

Reception

Stekel's "Seelenleben im Kriege" was not the only text written on the emotional and mental well-being during war. Sarting 1914 there appeared to be a general interest of professionals into the effects war has on the psyche. Special consideration was devoted towards the soldiers on the field and their mental well-being as they appeared to be most directly affected by the detrimental effects of combat and death. The most common method in this context was the collection of letters soldiers wrote home to their families. This method had both advantages and disadvantages: Letters are useful means to report the very emotion and mental processes an individual felt during a particular moment. However they require in depth analysis and evaluation to serve for generalization onto a whole group. In that, letters by individuals are not representational of the whole mass of people affected by the war. "Unser Seelenleben im Kriege" is hence an exception in that it did not rely on letters but went a step further and included the author's own impressions and analysis of phenomena that appeared to be common and of importance among soldiers.

Stekel's work together with a relatively small number of texts additionally dealt with the psychology of the ones left at home. One of them is Binswanger's "die seelischen Wirkungen des Krieges" (1914) which appears to be of similar nature. A review written in 1919 clearly points out that psychological texts on the influence of World War I on mental and emotional well-being are mostly characterized by a false idealization of the war which is further supported by later texts evaluating several psychological works written during World War I. Further critics on psychologists in the time until 1918 concern their lack of professional distance to events happening during war. Only the end of World War I allowed for a more objective evaluation of the impact the war had on individuals. In sum, the texts on mental and emotional wellbeing during war lack methodological working and consistent examination and purpose. Rather, they are random samples drawn by different authors with different foci. " Unser Seelenleben im Kriege" is no exception from that tendency. As previously mentioned, Stekel comes to the conclusion that war does not produce but rather amplifies preexisting psychopathologies. Also other texts support this assumption. Hirschfeld writes "der Krieg steigert das Vorhandene" (war amplifies the already existing). Even after World War I this appears to be a valid assumption. Stier elaborates that further war causes a restructuring of preexisting characteristics. Hence, despite their unrealistic optimistic nature, theories and assumptions made by authors during World War I are not evaluated to be generally wrong. Rather, they must be reconsidered in a more realistic context.

Critics today concern the applicability of the findings and interpretations of Stekel's book. It has been evaluated as 'the moral build-up of the homefront" focused on the motivation of the individual to participate in the war and the individuals conditions of this very situation. Discussion remains on whether the role of individuals in war can be assessed by investigating the individual's motives as today the individual is no longer directly concerned with the killing of the enemy. Rather the human is one component of a system that is more and more automatized as time progresses. From today's standpoint, psychology is most prominent in what is called psychological warfare, concerned with the more subtle aspects of manipulation and propaganda in war. Stekel's considerations are rather unrelated to this application of psychology. From a modern point of view, Stekel aims at combining apects of political psychology, social psychology and psychopathology in his text. Political psychology can be found for instance in the explanation of war in terms of Nietzsche's will to power and Stekel's will to subordination. The description of the various phenomena Stekel observes in the population, such as the "Gefangenenliebe" and the traitor deal with apsects that today would be covered by social psychology and his considerations on the mental well-being of soldiers and real and false war neurosis apply knowledge of the field of psychopathology.