“Hatred and fear blind us. We no longer see each other. We only see the faces of monsters, and that gives us the courage to destroy each other.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

As a psychological first responder, I’ve been on site to address the aftermath of several high-profile incidents in which the destructive power of hate played a large role, including mass shootings, the Alt Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In these, as in other cases, I’ve found that understanding and addressing the emotional responses of those impacted is much easier to comprehend than the hate that was the driving force.

The field of psychology has many theories to explain the genesis of hate and its manifestations, ranging from the social conditioning model to the misfiring of neural networks. While each explanation offers its own particular insight into the psychodynamics of hate, they all share one thing in common: None soothe the devastating wounds inflicted on our basic sense of humanity. Even the apparent spiritual mantra of “hate the sin, not the sinner" falls short of providing a true sense of understanding after having one’s basic sense of decency violated.

The compulsive needs to direct this negative energy toward a target is what gives rise to enemies, the........

© Psychology Today