Psychological Impact
Along with the physical destruction the blast catalyzed, the atomic bomb also served to be emotionally and psychologically devastating for hibakusha. Soon after the events of August 6, 1945, only the medical repercussions of the bomb were studied. However, American psychologist Robert J. Lifton soon became interested in the psychological impacts on hibakusha. In the 1960s, Lifton conducted individual interviews with hibakusha, using Japanese contacts to introduce Lifton to the survivors, as well as act as interpreters for the interviews. These interviews revealed several underlying psychological issues present in many hibakusha. These issues include:
contact with the atomic bomb, and this acute paranoia that remains with many hibakusha
throughout the remainder of their lives.
Lifton explains that it is not uncommon for the widespread exposure to death to result in
a form of psychological closure. This defense mechanism in response to the horrific
sights arounds them is a result of the direct exposure to death, and in many cases leads
to strong feelings of guilt and shame among survivors.
particular memory, event, or "ultimate horror" which especially wounded them
in a profound way. Among the interviews conducted by Lifton, he found that most of the
identified feelings of shame, guilt, and pity involved women and children, "universal signs
of purity and vulnerability," as well as the themes of death and mortality.
- Imminent, Overwhelming Sensation of Death
contact with the atomic bomb, and this acute paranoia that remains with many hibakusha
throughout the remainder of their lives.
- Psychological Closure (The Cessation of Feeling)
Lifton explains that it is not uncommon for the widespread exposure to death to result in
a form of psychological closure. This defense mechanism in response to the horrific
sights arounds them is a result of the direct exposure to death, and in many cases leads
to strong feelings of guilt and shame among survivors.
- Extreme Feelings of Shame, Guilt, and Pity
particular memory, event, or "ultimate horror" which especially wounded them
in a profound way. Among the interviews conducted by Lifton, he found that most of the
identified feelings of shame, guilt, and pity involved women and children, "universal signs
of purity and vulnerability," as well as the themes of death and mortality.
Imminent Overwhelming Sensation of Death
A Young Shopkeeper's Assistant, who was 1,400 meters from the center of the blast and 13 years old at the time, remembers being buried by falling debris as a result of the blast. Both of his parents were killed as a result of the atomic bomb. He recalls:
"So I screamed for help.... And all around me I heard moans and screaming, and then I felt a kind of danger to myself.... I thought that I too was going to die in that way. I felt this way at that moment because I was absolutely unable to do anything at all by my own power.... I didn't know where I was or what I was under.... I couldn't hear voices of my family. I didn't know how I could be rescued. I felt I was going to suffocate and then die, without knowing exactly what had happened to me. This was the kind of expectation I had...."
The shopkeeper's assistant goes on to recount the intense feelings of paranoia he experienced following the deaths of remaining family in the weeks after August 6, 1945. After his last remaining family member passed away, a 5-month-old brother, he recalls:
....so I thought, "sooner or later I too will die.".... I felt very weak and very lonely - with no hope at all.... and since I had seen so many people's eyebrows falling out, their hair falling out, bleeding from their teeth - I found myself always nervously touching my hair like this [he demonstrated by rubbing his head] .... I never knew when some sign of disease would show itself.... This loneliness, and the fear.... The physical fear.... has been with me always.... It is not something temporary, as I still have it now....
Psychological Closure (The Cessation of Feeling)
A Japanese Male Social Worker in his 20s, tasked with disposing corpses, remembers:
"We had no emotions.... Because of the succession of experiences I had been through I was temporarily without feeling.... At times I went about the work with great energy, realizing that no one but myself could do it."
The social worker goes on to recount his feelings of complete apathy. He recalls:
.... I saw blue phosphorescent flames rising from the dead bodies - and there were plenty of them. These were quite different from the orange flames coming from the burning buildings.... These blue phosphorescent flames are what we Japanese look upon as spirits rising from dead bodies - in former days we called them fireballs. - And yet, at that time I had no sense of fear, not a bit, but merely thought, "those dead bodies are still burning." .... But to people who had just come from the outside, those flames looked very strange.... One of those nights I met a soldier who had just returned to the city, and I walked along with him.... He noticed these unusual fireballs and asked me what they were. I told him that they were the flames coming from dead bodies. The soldier suddenly became extremely frightened, fell down on the ground, and was unable to move.... Yet I at that time had a state of mind in which I feared nothing. Though if I were to see those flames now I might be quite frightened...."
Extreme Feelings of Shame and Guilt
The social worker goes on to recalls another memory which deeply haunts him, perhaps more significantly than the disposing of corpses. On the night of August 6, 1945, he managed to enter Hiroshima after great difficulty. He recounts:
As I asked along the bank near the present Yokogawa Bride, I saw the bodies of of a mother and her child.... That is, I thought I saw dead bodies, but the child was still alive - still breathing, though with difficulty.... I filled the cover of my lunch box with water and gave it to the child but it was so weak it could not drink, I knew that people were frequently passing that spot.... and I hoped that one of these people would take the child, as I had to go back to my own unit. Of course I helped many people all through that day.... but the image of this child stayed on my mind and remains as a strong impression even now.... Later when I was again in that same area I hoped that I might be able to find the. child.... and I looked for it among all the dead children collected at a place nearby.... Even before the war I had planned to go into social work, but this experience led me to go into my present work with children - as the memory of that mother and child by the Yokogawa Bridge has never left me, especially since the child was still alive when I saw it."
One hibakusha, a middle-aged teacher 5,000 meters from the center of the blast, recalls:
"Somehow I became a pitiless person, because if I had pity I would not have been able to walk through the city, to walk over those dead bodies. The most impressive thing was the expression in people's eyes - bodies badly injured which had turned black - their eyes looking for someone to come and help them. They looked at me and knew that I was stronger than they.... I was looking for my family and looking carefully at everyone I met to see if he or she was a family member - but the eyes - the emptiness - the helpless expression - were something I will never forget.... I saw disappointment in their eyes. They looked at me with great expectation, staring right through me. It was very hard to be stared at by those eyes...."
Other Hibakusha Experiences Remembered
Following the blast from the atomic bomb, many recall being horrified by the destruction surrounding them.
One hibakusha, a middle-aged teacher 5,000 meters from the center of the blast, remembers:
One hibakusha, a middle-aged teacher 5,000 meters from the center of the blast, remembers:
"I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared.... I was shocked by the sight.... What I felt then and still feel now I just can't explain with words. Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after that - but that experience, looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima - was so shocking that I simply can't express what I felt. I could see Koi [a suburb at the opposite end of the city] and a few buildings standing.... But Hiroshima didn't exist - that was mainly what I saw - Hiroshima just didn't exist."
Another hibakusha, a young university professor 2,500 meters from the center of the blast, recalls:
"Everything I saw made a deep impression - a park nearby covered with dead bodies waiting to be cremated.... very badly injured people evacuated in my direction.... The most impressive thing I saw was some girls, very young girls, not only with their clothes torn off but with their skin peeled off as well.... My immediate thought was that this was like the hell I always read about .... I had never seen anything which resembled it before, but I thought that should there be a hell, this was it- the Buddhist hell, where we were taught that people who could not attain salvation always went.... And I imagined that all of these people I was seeing were in the hell I had read about."