Contends, on the basis of personal observation data, that during the 1975-1976 civil war in Lebanon, the multiplicity of sociopolitical variables and the acceleration of their interaction overwhelmed the individual's capacity to arrive at a coherent and objective explanation of the war situation that could win the consensus of a small gathering of friends. The diversity of interpretations presented within the group tended to frustrate communication and produced hostile polemics with patterns resembling those found in compulsive-obsessional neuroses.