Book Review

The Paranoia Switch

By Martha Stout, Ph.D.
NY: Sarah Crichton Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
216 pages

Reviewed by A. Regina Schulte, M.A., Ph.D.

The author begins this book with some perspectives to help readers assess the degree of danger one might expect from future terrorist attacks on the United States. The odds of dying in an automobile accident are about one in 7,000; of dying from cancer, one in 600. If a person shopped two hours per week in any of the 40,000 shopping malls in the United States, and if terrorists were able to destroy one mall per week, the odds of that person being killed in one of those events would be about one in 1,500,000.

Why, then, nearly seven years after the tragic events of 9-11, do we in the United States remain vulnerable to allusions of terrorist threat by those who can make capital out of our fear? Bearing the subtitle: How Terror Rewires our Brains and Reshapes our Behavior-and How We can Reclaim our Courage, this work offers an answer by analyzing the phenomenon of paranoia and explaining how it became operative in our national psyche. Other western nations have also suffered terrorist attacks, some even more recent than ours. But, the people of those countries seem to have resumed normal life after only minimal interruption. Although our fears have grown less dramatic in the intervening years, this one day's experience of terrorism, tragic though it was, continues to color our thinking and influence our behavior. Dr. Stout offers three reasons for this.

First, unlike so many other nations that have been battlegrounds from time to time and whose people are more inured to large scale catastrophes, Americans are not psychologically seasoned by such experiences. Furthermore, we naively thought that, as a nation, we would always be safe. Secondly, because the 9-11 events were so catastrophic and unexpected, the shock overwhelmed our limbic systems (the function in our brains that enables us to cope with danger and tragedy) to such an extent that they could not properly handle trauma of this magnitude. Some leftover quantity is "stuck" in the limbus, where it sits unprocessed. Thirdly, as a strategy for gain, most often political, some individuals trade on this collective fear; others, persuaded to be fearful, simply continue to cling to misguided anxiety.

Limbic resonance is the limbus system's ability to spread fear and anxiety from person to person-even to those unaffected by the initial trauma. In other words, human fearfulness can be contagious. The author's opinion is that many of us "caught" our paranoia from the demeanor and policies of our leaders who, wittingly or unwittingly, energized our collective fear.

Following the events of 9-11, our nation was whipped into wholesale hysteria. We went on the offensive by invading another nation, thus starting a hot war hawked by our government. We were fed a political diet of repetitive phrases such as "war on terror."

Defensive measures included the creation of the Department of Homeland Security with its color-coded warnings, the passing of the Patriot Act, inspections for anthrax, confiscation of even small personal hygiene and grooming articles in airports, wire tapping, etc. Yet, these and other policies have not effectively de-programmed us from the fear of terrorism-at least not to the point that our "paranoia switch" has been disabled. Contrariwise, they serve as reminders of what "could" happen, and fear of what could happen is one of the most effective ways to control a populace; it cannot be seen or heard, only felt-and that, constantly. Stout offers the Ku Klux Klan as a prime example of the power stored in this brand of fear.

Paranoia has changed our behavior in other ways, too. It has divided us among ourselves; it has sowed seeds of suspicion toward persons whose ethnicities and physical appearances differ from most of ours; it has isolated us from nations that have heretofore admired us and allied with us; it has eroded our moral sensitivities to the point that our government permits the torturing of suspected enemies and the injustice of imprisoning others without due process-behavior that was shockingly unthinkable before now. Dr. Stout states that we are not the people we used to be; we are no longer "at home" the way we once were. This is the portrait she puts before us-none of the details really new to those who stay current on national and international news.

Our government was able to do this by portraying itself as our Great Protector in the "war against terror," she says, and a frightened citizenry bought the image. However, it came at a very dear price. In return for this "protection" we handed over precious freedoms, the right to privacy in personal communications, unthinkable amounts of money for war, the international esteem we once enjoyed, and-as noted above, we have also surrendered the moral high ground.

Despite this trail of adverse effects, despite the fact that much of what the fear mongers had been broadcasting was early proved to be baseless, in the 2004 presidential election voting citizens re-elected to office those who had been working their will with this nation. Why did we do this? Why did we return to power the people who knew how to (and did) flip our paranoia switch?

The internal culprit in this behavior is that remnant of raw trauma lying in the limbus. Fear remains embedded there and can at any time be triggered by reminding sensory input. Many discharged military veterans experience this as post-traumatic stress syndrome (formerly known as "shell shock") from time to time, and react as if they were again in combat.

Dr. Stout lays out the mechanics of this process so readers can recognize what has been subliminally at work in us. She offers examples from her own experiences as a psychotherapist, as well as documented current and historical events, to provide concrete illustrations. These, plus her very lucid explanation of the workings of the brain's limbus system should earn her high marks as an educator.

In her professional practice of more than twenty-five years, Dr. Stout has dealt with many victims of spousal abuse and she uses the pathology it creates as an example of the fear phenomenon that can invade a nation. It's a very effective analogy. By means of physical and/or emotional violence, the abuser creates in the victim a chronic fear and then uses it to manipulate that person's behavior. Simultaneously, the abuser poses as the victim's indispensable protector. The price for this "protection" is loyalty; obeisance, isolation from others; sacrifice of personal freedom, etc. In this manner, the abuser plays two of the victim's emotions against each other: personal fear versus the feeling of being protected. Strangely, the victim is usually in self-denial with regard to the abuse he/she unwittingly accepts and will even defend the spouse from criticism by others. This, Dr. Stout says, is in miniature an apt description of what has taken place in our nation.

The fear of terrorism holding sway over us and working its deleterious effects on our national behavior are far more destructive than the physical damage inflicted on 9-11, says Dr. Stout. From this standpoint, the terrorists were successful. Furthermore, anyone making capital from this fear is aiding and abetting.

By exposing the entire process to light of day, the author has given us basic education for keeping the paranoia switch off limits to others. She then offers some practical helps in this regard, including a list of clues for recognizing persons who make use of exploitation-"fear brokers." Readers will have no trouble matching some of the descriptions to specific individuals and with instances familiar to us since 9-11.

Dr. Stout tells us that there is no escape from our national fears, no way of taking back our lives, until we recognize our "hot buttons," discover who is pushing them and why. Terrorism doesn't always work, she says; enlightened people-one-on-one, the way paranoia is spread-can effectively defuse it by exposing it for what it wants to be.

This is a small book, easily capable of holding the reader's interest throughout its entirety. The text is interspersed with quotations that are startlingly frank. Adding to its user-friendliness are real-life situations that serve quite well as "pictures." Three pages of headlines from The Los Angeles Times, 1941-1942, providing evidence of past national paranoia are very enlightening. They could now be seen as "quaint," if only the events reported had not caused so much pain. For comparison, déjà vu headlines from The New York Times, 2001-2002, are also included.

Because she intends this book for popular consumption the author clearly writes it for readers not necessarily educated in her field of expertise. However, it should be noted that this is not a "how to" book for those with serious psychological problems. It is not intended as, nor can it be, a substitute for therapeutic treatment by a qualified professional.

Since its content is critical of politicians and government in the United States, in that sense it is political. Given its subject matter, it could hardly be otherwise. Dr. Stout wisely provides her extensive bibliography of sources. To disprove her theory, one would have to countervail with other verifiable data and expert testimony-something that would seem difficult to do, given the fact that many readers may personally remember the historical events she relates. (E.g., "McCarthyism", the "cold war" era that spawned home-built atomic bomb shelters, etc.)

Because Americans will vote in November for a new president of the United States, this book is a timely one. Contenders for our highest government office have until then to continue bombarding the public with their campaign speeches. It is important that voters be aware of messages, subliminal or candid, that prey on personal fears to the detriment of one's ability to make free and objective choices.

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