"A Mental Rebaptism in the Font of National Ideals": Psy-sciences Communication in Post-Civil War Greece

Abstract: In 1950s–1960s Greece, crucial actors of the Civil War's victorious national-minded side—namely the state, the Christian brotherhood Zoe, and the royal couple Queen Frederica and King Paul—took charge of shaping the country's postwar welfare policy, founding institutions across the country. Within these institutions, a new psychological discourse took shape that, while genuinely aiming to care for and protect those in need, was deeply infused with the dominant national-minded ideology, often taking the form of aggressive anticommunism as embodied in the infamous slogan "Fatherland–Religion–Family." In the public sphere—including the press, scientific publications, and public speeches—the achievements of the psy-sciences (psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis) and welfare institutions were framed and celebrated as national victories against the "communist disease," while care and protection were, in the discourse of psy-scientists, welfare professionals, and political figures, inextricably linked to discipline and conformity to national-minded values. The psy-sciences were thus both shaped by and instrumental in the ideological project of national-mindedness, playing a significant role in the psychological warfare strategies of post-Civil War Greece.