The world, and that includes America, has become increasingly polarized. This is a dynamic that every sentient American is aware of.  This state of polarization is demonstrated in the red state vs. blue state political climate.  In bygone days of the 1980s and 1990s we had the politics of personality and were wary that personalities dictated our presidential choices.

Kennedy, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were all charmers and the politics of personality seemed to rule the day. But slowly, a new form of politics took over and now in these halcyon days of the 21^st century, politics plays out in terms of red state vs. blue states, Republicans vs. Democrats but in a rigid and primitive manner which forecloses any thoughts of reasonable dialogue.

In psychological terms this attitude is called “splitting” and is a primitive, immature defense defined as the inability to hold opposing thoughts, feelings or beliefs in the mind at one time. Splitting is thought of as black-and-white thinking and is the defining character trait of borderline personality disorder.  One hundred years ago the psychoanalytic community was faced with the neurotic personality and treating guilt. By the 1950s the nation psychologically regressed into a more narcissistic dynamic with many patients displaying grandiosity, self-centeredness and the disappearance of guilt.

Today we see a deeper regression into primitive borderline traits with splitting, anger and volatility. These traits have been expressed with school shootings, mass shootings and culminated in the Jan 6 attempted takeover of the Capitol Building. There is much proof that a widespread regression has occurred in the nation if not the world. The question is why has this regression taken place.

To understand why a nation regresses we can explore why patients regress. They will regress if they are overwhelmed with anxiety or if they have lost faith with those in authority.  Both these conditions  have occurred  in America.

Anxiety is widespread now for two major reasons. First of all, the unrelenting flood of increasingly complex information that the computer age has presented is overwhelming and produces anxiety on a daily basis.  As an example, I am regularly faced with  a helpless anxiety when once again something happens to my computer and a Skype session with a patient is interrupted. I am usually clueless has to why this happened or what to do about it.

Or take yesterday for another example.  My heating system is run by some advanced looking thermostat and it decided to go blank and stop working. This means I lost control of my heating system in my office. After one hour of tech support from the thermostat company, my heat still does not work.  The magical mysterious world of computers causes lots of anxiety in every one.

The second reason for this regression into polarized red vs. blue split thinking relates to how we now view our leaders. The nation’s most significant authority figure is our president. Kennedy’s assassination produced a profound loss that the nation has yet to recover from. Then came Watergate, which was another watershed moment in American history because it marked the ascension of the media and investigative journalism and the demolition of authority.

Watergate toppled Richard Nixon, but he was merely the first president to be destroyed  and this was followed by the media demolishing President Ford as a buffoon.  Clinton was impeached,  Bush was marginalized and finally Trump was impeached. All this damage to the office of the president means that citizens no longer are able to look up to or idealize their leaders.

This produces a regression into a more primitive psychological state of mind where we see splitting, hatred, and volatility. As we become destabilized psychologically we simplify our thoughts and attitudes. We have now arrived at this red state/blue state polarized mentality, which does not allow for any dialogue other than “I’m good and you’re not.”

I see some evidence that as the next presidential election process gets under way there is more civility and efforts towards reason and reconciliation among the hopeful candidates. But it is yet to be seen how long that attitude lasts and whether it will be replaced by further polarization, anger, misinformation and lack of debate. Time will tell.

All great writers coin phrases that last. Charles Dickens began his “Tale of Two Cities” with the lines: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Dickens was writing about the French Revolution of 1775, but these lines apply to today as well.  We live in times of trouble and times of turmoil.

And surprisingly, the enemy now appears to be within our own borders.  Are you a Republican or a Democrat?  Are you a friend or an enemy?