Professor Robert J Lifton has just published his memoir; Witness To An Extreme Century (Free Press, 2011). Just about all physicians and mental health professionals, whether knowingly or unwittingly, have been influenced by this decorated psychiatrist. Throughout his career, Lifton was preoccupied with what he sarcastically characterized as “cheerful subjects” including war, torture, and genocide (e.g., the American escapade into Vietnam, thought reform experiments in Communist China, and of course-the Holocaust-with particular attention to the role of Nazi doctors in the concentration camps).

In his review for the New York Times, Maurice Isserman is impressed by the intellectual heft of this autobiography which pays careful attention to history and the people who had the misfortune of being “caught up in historical storms”.  In observing the cataclysmic events of the last century, Lifton coined the term psychic numbing” to characterize the reactions or lack thereof to the suffering of others. In forfeiting the opportunity to be affected by the hardship of others, Lifton contends that the acceptance and even the commission of atrocity is facilitated.

We, as professionals (and now as bloggers), have been profoundly influenced by the suffering of human beings as an outgrowth of illness. Unfortunately, suffering is often a critical component of the experience of the ill person and those surrounding the ill person (e.g., family members, caregivers, and even health care professionals).  There is no formula to compare (neither by relative weighting nor via equation) the suffering arising from the historical events described by Lifton or the individual suffering that illness forces us to discern in our friends, neighbors or within ourselves.  In both scenarios, the ache is all too real.  However, when suffering finds expression in the more personal sphere, it is surely not sufficient to just “bear witness”.   The lines are fine, but we are capable of being moved by the suffering of others without gloating over their misfortune and without disintegrating under the weight of their burdens.

In this blog, we will share observations which emerge from the heroes we see doing battle with serious illness. We will try to harness their energy so that their activism will in turn ignite our activism…and maybe yours. We believe that the battleground with serious illness is actually fertile soil for much inspiration. This, provided that we (like Lifton) choose not to ignore the special insights that await our acquisition.

Ben & Dvora