Denial, distress and hope: why we need to talk about nuclear war

Five years ago, when the world felt a safer place than it does at the moment, I wrote in this column about nuclear war and its prevention.1 I described some of the effects of nuclear weapons and discussed the possibility of a nuclear exchange as a result of a technological error or miscalculation – something that has been narrowly averted several times. I highlighted the work of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in raising awareness of the risks of nuclear war, and its contribution to the ending of the last ‘cold war’ in the 1980s. My article attracted relatively few readers: around a tenth of the number who sometimes read this column on less distressing topics. I was not very surprised. Nuclear war is almost unbearable to think about so people prefer to avoid the subject. Related to this, most people have been...

Source: Postgraduate Medical Journal - April 21, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: Launer, J. Tags: On reflection Source Type: research