Interview with the psychiatrist/ psychoanalyst Berthold Rothschild

Abstract

Berthold Rothschild, in an interview, speaks about the part, which greed and shamelessness have played in the development of the economic crisis. His thesis is as follows: The cause cannot be found in the individual psychological area, but in the group development and capitalism, which have mutually reinforced each other. In what follows, the regressive ego- and superego-pro-cesses occurring in a group, are being discussed, and the accompa-nying conscious and unconscious narcissistic fantasies (fantasies of omnipotence, the image of omnipotent parents), defense mech-anisms (especially denial), and symbols ( money as fetish). The final part is devoted to what influence the economic crisis has upon the suffering of our patients. Keywords Economic crisis; greed; shamelessness; regressive group processes; narcissistic fantasies; denial.