Breaking the Cycle: From Nuclear Addiction to Collective Awakening

The threat of nuclear weapons has long been recognized as one of humanity’s greatest existential challenges. In the 1980s, pioneering thinkers such as Robert J. Lifton, Joanna Macy, and Dr. Roger Walsh illuminated the psychological and spiritual dimensions of this crisis. Yet one crucial lens has remained largely absent from contemporary discourse: the addictive dynamics underlying nuclear escalation.
This event, led by Dr. Howard Kornfeld and Dr. Roger Walsh, will revisit and expand upon a body of work that connects the psychology of addiction to the peril of nuclear arms. From Gregory Bateson’s groundbreaking 1971 essay, The Cybernetics of “Self”: A Theory of Alcoholism, to Jerry Brown’s 1984 reflections on “nuclear addiction,” scholars and clinicians have long suggested that the patterns driving substance use disorder may also illuminate the compulsions behind arms races.
We will explore how the emergence of modern addiction medicine in the post-Hiroshima era, alongside the growth of peer-led recovery movements like Alcoholics Anonymous, provides a framework for understanding and addressing this global threat. Just as recovery communities have transformed lives by shifting consciousness around alcohol and drugs, they may also hold wisdom for confronting humanity’s collective entanglement with nuclear weapons.
This discussion invites all of us to consider how insights from addiction treatment and integrative psychiatry can inspire new forms of advocacy, personal and collective healing, and cultural change in the face of an existential danger.

Dr. Howard Kornfeld is a trailblazer in psychedelic medicine, addiction treatment, and efforts to prevent nuclear war. Dr. Kornfeld has been a leader in the psychedelic movement for many decades, including convening pivotal conferences at Esalen in the 1990s. Today, Dr. Kornfeld runs a leading addiction clinic in Marin County. He is nationally recognized for his pioneering work with buprenorphine (Suboxone™) in treating chronic pain and opioid use disorder. Dr. Kornfeld has also long been involved in efforts for prevention of nuclear war. He was a Delegate in 1981 at the First Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). In 2022, he attended the Nuclear Ban Forum in Vienna to support the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. He has just returned from participating in the 2025 IPPNW World Congress in Nagasaki.
Roger Walsh MD, Ph.D. is professor emeritus of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology at the University of California. He is the author of books such as Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices and Staying Alive: The Psychology of Human Survival, as well as cohost of the podcast Deep Transformation: Self-Society-Spirit, which is in the top 2% of the world’s podcasts, www.deeptransformation.io. For more information see www.drrogerwalsh.com

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