The immense risks presented by the development of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction cause many to feel that the world would be a safer place without them. On the other hand arms negotiations and international relations of recent years suggest that our power to control their manufacture and deployment is extremely limited. An individual compelled from within to persist with unwelcome and discomforting behaviour might well be considered neurotic. In attempting to help such a person one would explore the internal forces driving such behaviour and attempt to display them, hoping that a fuller understanding would facilitate change. This paper proposes a framework within which the nuclear arms race can be seen in a similar light—as a neurotic persistence with behaviour that is no longer adaptive.