Schizophrenia: a disease of brain, consciousness, or spirit? (Dialogue between a psychiatrist and a philosopher)
Человек March 7, 2019 DOI: 10.31857/s023620070003028-7 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | The authors argue that schizophrenia can be understood through cultural and mythological parallels, with Samokhvalov treating delirium as typologically close to myth and Nedel distinguishing the shaman's controlled "intentional madness" from the schizophrenic's inability to control conscious acts. They propose that schizophrenia, characterized by dopamine abnormalities, functions as a kind of censorship on the maximization of pleasure, including sexual pleasure, making it an "anti-orgasm" comparable to taboo, and suggest this hypothesis may be useful for future research on its etiology. |
Abstract
The paper is a dialogue between the psychiatrist and the philosopher on schizophrenia and the problems of consciousness, personality, “norms” and “deviations” in human psychic life. Considering some classical and contemporary approaches to schizophrenia, the paper offers a new gaze at this phenomenon of human cultural history. Parallels are drawn between schizophrenia and mythology as well as poetic and artistic creativity. In order to illustrate their statements, the authors give many examples from different mythologies such as Papua New Guinea and Altai also known for its old shamanistic rituals. V.P. Samokhvalov considers delirium as typologically close to myth; A.Y. Nedel points out that despite certain similarities, the shaman and the schizophrenic radically differ one from another: the latter is unable to control his or her conscious acts, unlike the shaman who holds sway over his “intentional madness” at every level. The paper also puts forward a new hypothesis about the etiology of schizophrenia and its psycho-cultural role: schizophrenia, characterized by dopamine abnormalities, is a kind of censorship imposed on the subject who always strives to maximize pleasure, including the sexual one; schizophrenia is an “anti-orgasm”. Therefore it can be compared with taboo existing in any human society. The hypothesis may be useful in future studies on schizophrenia and its etiology. Also, the article discusses political issues as the politization of psychiatry in Nazi Germany, the US and former Soviet Union where schizophrenic diagnoses were often used to confront “socially unfit members of society”.