Events

"It's hard not to think sometimes that the center might not hold, that things might get worse. . .We must reject such despair." —President Barak Obama, from his memorial for slain officers in Dallas, Texas. 

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." —Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

It is has become the mantra that has defined one of the most charged moments in recent times: that this is a presidential election unlike any other, taking place during a chaotic time of roiling unrest, at home and abroad. A time when a cluster of explosive political issues, from terrorism to racism to climate change, has each taken on a demanding urgency-even as the country is divided along partisan and economic lines.

Adding to the volatility, President Barak Obama is poised to make his final exit from the political stage-a president who, whether we agreed with his policies or not, has governed with statesmanship, whose family has been a model of grace under pressure, and whose election as the nation's first black president represents a high point in our history.

Against this backdrop, the current nominees, two of the most disliked candidates in the past ten election cycles, can seem almost like a fall from the height of one of our best achievements.

On the Republican side is entrepreneur and reality TV star Donald Trump: a wealthy businessman who has never held public office, and who exhibits disturbing racist, misogynistic, and authoritarian tendencies, and who possesses an unpredictable temperament.

On the Democratic side is Hillary Clinton, whose substantive political experience and glass-ceiling-shattering, history-making nomination as the first woman to run for president has been marred by ongoing investigations and the baggage she carries as President Bill Clinton's wife.

It is at just such a time that wise voices are called for from thinkers who can help bring insight to the problems we face as a country. Psychologists, who have available to them a body of knowledge on human nature unique to the modern era, and who daily witness how the American dream shapes the day-to-day lives of the country's citizens, are among those who occupy the kind of sane middle ground so needed at this critical juncture.

To learn more about the collective psychology of this political moment and the deeper currents underlying the 2016 Presidential election, psychiatrist Dr. Steve Buser, MD and the Asheville Jung Center will bring together a panel of four noted psychoanalysts-Murray Stein, Nancy Furlotti, Nathan Schwartz-Salant and Luigi Zoja-to offer their perspectives into the unconscious forces, complexes, and other patterns as they are played out with great political theater during the conventions and debates.

Moderated by depth journalist Pythia Peay, the panel will address some specific topics

See the topics, Read Panelist Bios, or REGISTER for this FREE event