Human Development
Frenzy
Description:
The mind is enveloped in a blinding flame, overwhelming normal consciousness and raising the individual to such a pitch of excitement that he can no longer control himself. This seizure of violent and uncontrollable agitation may arise in a number of ways:- [Martial furor], the result of combat, may result in an orgy of killing once a battle has been resolved. The fact that this violence may be directed towards women leads to the supposition that the warrior is in uncontrolled rage against his mother, against women in general and ultimately towards his own weakness which women symbolize.
- [Amok], ethnopsychosis or psychotic symptoms which are culture-specific, usually affects an individual already mentally unstable who, in a loss of sense of social order, is faced with a threatening or frightening situation. The result is a sudden wild attack on surrounding people, animals or objects, followed by stupor and subsequent lack of memory of what has happened.
- [Spirit possession] during exorcistic rites may commence with a dream-like somnambulistic trance which gives way to total loss of control or frenzy and convulsions, a state followed by exhaustion and torpor. This latter form of frenzy is often seen in group behaviour and seems to be facilitated by group participation.
Plato distinguishes several phases of frenzy or mania: that of the seer, unveiling the future; that of the consecrated mystic who absolves individuals from their sins; that of the poet, possessed by the muses; that of the philosopher. In this state one remembers the past life of the soul.
Marsilio Ficino elaborated four modes of furor:
- [Religious furor] or theomania;
- [Prophetic furor], resulting in oracular prophecy;
- [Poetic furor], culminating in poetical or musical expression;
- [Erotic furor] or erotomania.
Further modes added by his commentators include [melancholic furor], with deep depression and grief sometimes leading to insanity, and martial furor, described above.
Narrower:
TheomaniaErotic frenzy