O Superman! Where are You When We Really Need You?

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PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

“O Superman

O Judge

O Mom and Dad, ah

Ha, ha ha, ha, ha, ha

Ah” - Laurie Anderson song "O Superman"

If not in everyday life and psychiatry so far, we can at least find Superman in the movie houses starting today in “Superman: Legacy.” The timing could not be better. The New York Times review from July 8, “Superman’ Review: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Reboot!”, might inspire you to see it as soon as possible. It apparently touches upon many social psychiatric challenges of our times, especially immigration, fascism, and violent conflict.

There have been many variations of Superman since it came out in a comic book in 1938. The origin story has similarities to the Kindertransport refugee children sent away by their parents in their Nazi controlled countries for their safety and life. By 1942, during World War II, his motto became: “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”

The comic was created by 2 Jewish writers, children of Jewish immigrants who had fled Europe in 1934, soon after Hitler came to power and antisemitism started to rise. It is rising once again today. Lex Luthor became Hitler’s representation in the story. Who is the Lex Luther of today?

Depending what side of the political divide you are on, you might disagree with whether that motto is still relevant. Critics of our government might say that their ideology is: Misinformation, Crime, and My Way. Like fake news, there are fake supermen.

It seems that this movie is being set up for a sequel. I do not think that psychiatry and psychiatrists have been a prominent presence in any of the Superman variations.

Maybe the time has come. Maybe psychiatry can help Superman better integrate his 2 identities, the mild-mannered reported Clark Kent and the superhero. Does he need help resolving his intimacy ambivalence with his fellow reporter Lois Lane? What about his desire to save everybody and the world, maybe like the patient rescue fantasies I was occasionally accused of? I sort of thought that was a good countertransference problem to have. The therapist Janina Scarlet has written several books about “superhero therapy” and the need for self-compassion.

For Superman’s opponents, is there an expert forensic and prison psychiatrist who could help Superman to better understand and address the sociopathy and misguided leadership of his opponents?

We covered the Texas flash flood disaster yesterday, but apparently there are also social media claims and cultish conspiracy theories that the disaster was deserved in some way. Blame the victims! I bet Superman would have tried to rescue all the victims regardless.

Not long after the time when American embassy hostages held by Iran were killed, Laurie Anderson’s 1981 surprise hit song “O Superman” came out, designed as a sort of prayer to a God. Listen to it if you can. Near the end of the song, quoted above, came this lyric:

“Cause when love is gone, there’s always justice.

And when justice is gone, there’s always force.

And when force is gone, there’s always Mom. Hi Mom!”

Those camp girls did not have mom around, but I bet many were calling out for their moms.

There still is psychiatry and that leaves us to try to pitch in to help the psychological recovery from the rippling trauma from the flash flood, the continuing climate crisis, authoritarian leadership, the scapegoating of the “other,” and the aftermath of the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, among other current social psychiatric problems.

Oh Psychiatry. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.