Relações entre Espiritismo e loucura na Europa: médicos e Allan Kardec em debate
In the mid-nineteenth century, modern Psychiatry and Spiritism were being formed and diverged on the spiritual etiology of mental disorders and on whether mediumistic practices would be a major cause of mental alienation ("Spiritist Madness"). This article investigates the arguments of Eur...
| Published in: | Horizonte |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
2021
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| In: |
Horizonte
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| Further subjects: | B
Loucura
B Espiritismo B Psiquiatria B Allan Kardec B Mediunidade |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In the mid-nineteenth century, modern Psychiatry and Spiritism were being formed and diverged on the spiritual etiology of mental disorders and on whether mediumistic practices would be a major cause of mental alienation ("Spiritist Madness"). This article investigates the arguments of European physicians and Allan Kardec's reactions on these two themes. As primary sources, we analyzed European medical publications (1858-1936), Kardec's writings and performed a case study on "Morzine's Possessions". Doctors denied spiritual causes of mental illnesses and considered mediumship a product of fraud or brain activity, whose practice would be a great cause of mental alienation. Kardec questioned the quality of diagnoses and statistics on cases of "Spiritist Madness". He argued that, in addition to the biopsychosocial causes of madness, spiritual obsessions would be a complementary cause. The evidence would be anomalous abilities exhibited by patients (e.g., speaking languages they did not know, showing knowledge of facts at a distance, etc.) and the effectiveness of disobsession, even if performed at a distance from the patient. The conflict was decreasing as Psychiatry was legitimized in the scientific field and Spiritism in the religious field. |
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| ISSN: | 2175-5841 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Horizonte
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5752/P.2175-5841.2021v19n60p1096 |