Wild melancholy. On the historical plausibility of a black bile theory of blood madness, or hæmatomania.
In: History of psychiatry, Jg. 31 (2020-06-01), Heft 2, S. 131-146
Online
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Zugriff:
Nineteenth-century art historian John Addington Symonds coined the term hæmatomania (blood madness) for the extremely bloodthirsty behaviour of a number of disturbed rulers like Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya (850-902) and Ezzelino da Romano (1194-1259). According to Symonds, this mental pathology was linked to melancholy and caused by an excess of black bile. I explore the historical credibility of this theory of 'wild melancholy', a type of melancholia that crucially deviates from the lethargic main type. I conclude that in its pure form Symonds' black bile theory of hæmatomania was never a broadly supported perspective, but can be traced back to the nosology of the ninth-century physician Ishaq ibn Imran, who practised at the Aghlabid court, to which the sadistic Ibrahim II belonged.
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Wild melancholy. On the historical plausibility of a black bile theory of blood madness, or hæmatomania.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Verplaetse, J |
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Zeitschrift: | History of psychiatry, Jg. 31 (2020-06-01), Heft 2, S. 131-146 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2003- : London : Sage Publications ; <i>Original Publication</i>: Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks, England : Alpha Academic, in collaboration with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990-, 2020 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 0957-154X (print) |
DOI: | 10.1177/0957154X19898653 |
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