Boanthropy
Encyclopedia
Boanthropy is a psychological disorder in which a human being believes himself to be a Bovine.
"was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen". It was however kept from the people of Babylon that their king was suffering - kept strictly confidential
Jung
would subsequently instance 'Nebuchadnezzar...[as] a complete regressive
degeneration of a man who has overreached himself'.
It has been suggested that hypnotism, suggestion
and auto-suggestion may contribute to such beliefs.
Dreams may also play an important part. Jung for example records how a stubborn woman 'dreamed she was attending an important social occasion. She was greeted by the hostess with the words: "How nice that you could come. All your friends are here, and they are waiting for you." The hostess then led her to the door and opened it, and the dreamer stepped through - into a cowshed!'.
Freud had long since noted 'cases in which a mental disease has started with a dream and in which a delusion originating in the dream has persisted'.
R. D. Laing offers an autobiographical account of a brief reactive psychosis
in which the protagonist had a 'real feeling of regression in time...I actually seemed to be wandering in a kind of landscape with - um - desert landscape - as if I were an animal, rather - rather a large animal..a kind of rhinoceros or something like that and emitting sounds like a rhinoceros'.
considered the first years of life as a time when the child 'is dealing with magical people who can perhaps on occasion turn themselves into animals,' and thought that even in later life 'a great many people have an animal...which recurs again and again in their dreams. This is their totem
- something which may offer a route back for early regressive identifications.
Derogatory cultural identifications of people 'like cattle, with their eyes always looking down, and their heads stooping to the earth, that is, to the dining table...they kick and butt at each other with horns and hoofs that are made of iron' go back at least as far as Plato
; while the 'direct identification of woman and cow' in folk humor offers another potential source for delusional identification. Anthropological evidence such as 'a Burmese buffalo dance in which masked dancers are possessed by the buffalo spirit' would seem to confirm such totemic/cultural influences.
Nebuchadnezzar
The most prominent sufferer of the disorder was King Nebuchadnezzar who in the Book of DanielBook of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a book in the Hebrew Bible. The book tells of how Daniel, and his Judean companions, were inducted into Babylon during Jewish exile, and how their positions elevated in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The court tales span events that occur during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar,...
"was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen". It was however kept from the people of Babylon that their king was suffering - kept strictly confidential
Jung
Jung
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology.Jung may also refer to:* Jung * JUNG, Java Universal Network/Graph Framework-See also:...
would subsequently instance 'Nebuchadnezzar...[as] a complete regressive
Regression
Regression could refer to:* Regression , a defensive reaction to some unaccepted impulses* Regression analysis, a statistical technique for estimating the relationships among variables...
degeneration of a man who has overreached himself'.
Contemporary
Boanthropy 'still occurs today when a person, in a delusional state, believes himself or herself to be an ox or cow...and attempts to live and behave accordingly'.It has been suggested that hypnotism, suggestion
Suggestion
Suggestion is the psychological process by which one person guides the thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of another. Nineteenth century writers on psychology such as William James used the words "suggest" and "suggestion" in senses close to those they have in common speech—one idea was said to...
and auto-suggestion may contribute to such beliefs.
Dreams may also play an important part. Jung for example records how a stubborn woman 'dreamed she was attending an important social occasion. She was greeted by the hostess with the words: "How nice that you could come. All your friends are here, and they are waiting for you." The hostess then led her to the door and opened it, and the dreamer stepped through - into a cowshed!'.
Freud had long since noted 'cases in which a mental disease has started with a dream and in which a delusion originating in the dream has persisted'.
R. D. Laing offers an autobiographical account of a brief reactive psychosis
Brief reactive psychosis
Brief reactive psychosis - referred to in the DSM IV-TR as "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressor" - is the psychiatric term for psychosis which can be triggered by an extremely stressful event in the life of a patient....
in which the protagonist had a 'real feeling of regression in time...I actually seemed to be wandering in a kind of landscape with - um - desert landscape - as if I were an animal, rather - rather a large animal..a kind of rhinoceros or something like that and emitting sounds like a rhinoceros'.
Totemism
Eric BerneEric Berne
Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist best known as the creator of transactional analysis and the author of Games People Play.-Background and education:...
considered the first years of life as a time when the child 'is dealing with magical people who can perhaps on occasion turn themselves into animals,' and thought that even in later life 'a great many people have an animal...which recurs again and again in their dreams. This is their totem
Totem
A totem is a stipulated ancestor of a group of people, such as a family, clan, group, lineage, or tribe.Totems support larger groups than the individual person. In kinship and descent, if the apical ancestor of a clan is nonhuman, it is called a totem...
- something which may offer a route back for early regressive identifications.
Derogatory cultural identifications of people 'like cattle, with their eyes always looking down, and their heads stooping to the earth, that is, to the dining table...they kick and butt at each other with horns and hoofs that are made of iron' go back at least as far as Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
; while the 'direct identification of woman and cow' in folk humor offers another potential source for delusional identification. Anthropological evidence such as 'a Burmese buffalo dance in which masked dancers are possessed by the buffalo spirit' would seem to confirm such totemic/cultural influences.