When a society is under attack, what happens to its mental health? You may think that the associated stress will cause psychiatric disorders to increase, and you’d be wrong.
When the Nazis bombed London during World War II, they hoped to produce mass hysteria. Not only did they fail, but admission to psychiatric hospitals went down. The same happened in the German cities that were bombed by the allies a few years later. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, violent crime, suicide and psychiatric disorders in New York went down.
There are other examples in Sebastian Junger’s 2016 book Tribe. One of the book’s themes is that large disasters can produce mentally healthy conditions. The reason may be that individuals come together when they encounter adversity. 77% of Ukrainians felt optimistic about their country’s future in November 2023, one and a half year after the war there began.
If war were purely and absolutely bad in every single aspect and toxic in all its effects, it would probably not happen as often as it does. But in addition to all the destruction and loss of life, war also inspires ancient human virtues of courage, loyalty, and selflessness that can be utterly intoxicating to the people who experience them.
Sebastian Junger: Tribe
Nehaveigur 