This article analyzes the history of psychiatrists’ entwined efforts to understand the psychological effect of nuclear war’s threat and to disseminate those findings as a contribution to the antinuclear movement. The sub-specialty of ‘nuclear psychiatry’ sought: (1) to expose how avoidance, denial, and dehumanization set the conditions for the arms race and, potentially, nuclear war; (2) to explain the psychological consequences of nuclear war’s threat, particularly on children and adolescents. By enlightening leaders and the public about delusional, distorted thinking on the nuclear question and the rise of nuclear anxiety, psychiatrist-activists hoped to leverage their expertise for political ends. Connecting developments in the United States with those in Great Britain and the Soviet Union, this article draws on previously untapped archival and published materials, including research findings, media coverage, and internal documents from profession-based antinuclear organizations from the 1960s through the 1980s. In the process, it reveals the centrality of psy-disciplines to the history of the antinuclear movement and the Nuclear Age.

本文分析了精神科医生为了解核战争威胁的心理影响以及传播这些发现作为对反核运动的贡献而付出的努力的历史。“核精神病学”的子专业寻求：（1）揭示避免、否认和非人化如何为军备竞赛以及可能的核战争创造条件；(2) 解释核战争威胁的心理后果，特别是对儿童和青少年的心理后果。通过启发领导人和公众对核问题的妄想和扭曲的想法以及核焦虑的兴起，精神科医生活动家希望利用他们的专业知识达到政治目的。将美国的发展与英国和苏联的发展联系起来，本文借鉴了以前未开发的档案和出版材料，包括 1960 年代至 1980 年代专业反核组织的研究成果、媒体报道和内部文件。在这个过程中，它揭示了心理学科在反核运动和核时代的历史中的中心地位。