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A Psychoanalyst on His Own Couch: A Biography of Vamik Volkan and His Psychoanalytic and Psychopolitical Concepts

Author(s) : Ferhat Atik, Foreword By : Vamik D. Volkan

Reviews and Endorsements

The lifework of Vamık Volkan could not be more timely than now in our globalized world where large groups clash, populations are displaced, and national borders destabilized. His extraordinary discoveries about the psychology of large groups, their shared traumas, and their unresolved mourning are indispensable to international diplomacy. From Cyprus to Nobel Peace Prize attention – it is rare that a person’s biography can be mobilized so fruitfully for the enlightenment of an age.
Molly S. Castelloe, Ph.D., Director of the documentary film Vamik’s Room, www.vamiksroom.org

This story of Vamık Volkan’s life reads like a fascinating novel, starting with the bizarre experience of his being kidnapped as an infant, which uncannily foreshadowed the direction of his professional life. No stranger to dangerous situations, Dr. Volkan has traveled to some of the most politically volatile areas in the world. As a result of his work, he has become one of the most influential psychoanalysts in history, and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize an incredible five times.
Vamık Volkan was born in Cyprus, which is a mineral-rich island country in the Mediterranean with a long-standing history of ethnic fighting. It has served as his “living laboratory,” a crucible for his brilliant application of psychoanalytic principles to large-group psychology. His methodology has been shown repeatedly to truly help with international conflict resolution. It is Volkan’s genius, that through the integration of his own personal psychology with his ethnic/cultural psychology, he almost single-handedly created a whole new field of study.
The author of this truly exceptional biography, a celebrated Turkish writer, has a deep cultural resonance with his subject, which enables him to enlighten us with his nuanced understanding of Volkan’s complex background. The reader has an unparalleled opportunity to follow the inner and outer details of Vamık Volkan’s life as they unfold in this remarkably well-written book.
Ira Brenner, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University; Training and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

I strongly recommend Atik’s book as a splendid introduction to the fascinating life and work of Vamik Volkan.
Richard M. Waugaman, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

This biography by Ferhat Atık presents us with an intriguing introduction to Dr. Volkan’s life story and his contributions to the psychoanalytic field, as well as to the global peace process. In an age where the world is ravaged by the displacement of large populations and a rampant sense of uncertainty and anxiety, reading Dr. Volkan’s biography constitutes a source of inspiration. It provides a stimulating glance into a dedicated man’s life journey comprised of promoting understanding of stories with deep roots and developing transformative practices of retelling them.
Zeynep Catay, Ph.D. Candidate, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis – The American Journal of Psychoanalysis