A Single Syndrome Hypochondria refers to those diseases, with the study of which Western medicine and psychology began. Since ancient times, hypochondria has been described in all major psychological and medical textbooks and has traditionally been associated with melancholia.

CNS Syndrome Are patients aware that many physicians do not understand test results? Do patients know that physicians use the defensive medical practices discussed in Chapter 3? As far as I know, in very rare cases. For example,

13.5. Stendhal's Syndrome In the West, there is a lot of talk about Stendhal's syndrome, one of the aspects of the pathology that manifests itself in people of art. Since the art of the Paleolithic and Neolithic times, this topic has excited the minds of many prominent people who realized that art has

In fiction (especially in science fiction), as well as in films, there are often stories associated with the Cassandra syndrome. Some films are entirely tied to this. For example, "12 Monkeys" by Terry Gilliam. Recently I watched the film "Premonition" (USA, 2007) and the first few episodes of the British series "Paradox" in the same vein. The Cassandra syndrome consists in the fact that a person, trying to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy, acts in such a way that it is thanks to this that the prophecy (prediction) comes true. Foresight plays the role of a certain program that a person accepts, otherwise the prophecy will not come true. Two interpretations of this phenomenon are possible. The first is "fatalistic" or "semi-fatalistic". It is difficult or very difficult to avoid the predicted, no matter what a person does. The same applies to a group of people or even to the whole species. According to this version, a prediction is the future "seen" in some way (as an option - a message from the future). Fatalism is the lack of hope of overcoming the prediction. Events are directed by fate, or only one option is possible, which cannot be avoided. In Sheckley's story "The Three Deaths of Ben Baxter", on the contrary, events with the same characters develop according to three different scenarios (in three parallel and almost identical worlds). Moreover, the main character in the third acts fundamentally differently than in the first two, but the result is the same. The question "can the future be changed" seems mysterious and exciting. But once again, appearances are deceiving.

It is indisputable that ideas about the future affect actions, and through this it influences the development of events. The fact that options are possible (at least in small details) is recognized by everyone. However, I would not call it freedom of choice or the uncertainty of the future. There is no future! The future is what lies ahead for us. Our actions shape the future. What is the fundamental difference between the two approaches? In one, the future ALREADY exists and it can be seen (or guessed), hence the attempts to change the future. But if there is no future, then it cannot be changed or promoted. Everything directly depends on the ongoing processes and their relationship. The past is changing. It changes in the moment we call "the present". Whether you believe in some prediction or not, the course of events will be influenced (if possible) by your actions, not intentions. Even if something predicted - or, more precisely, similar to the predicted - happens, this will not mean the fulfillment of the prediction. Events happen because there are reasons for them, not because someone predicted something. "Cassandra Syndrome" works in some cases, as it affects consciousness. But in reality it is not so bright, and does not lead to the fulfillment of the prediction. If the predicted cannot come true, it cannot be avoided. You can influence what is happening so that it is more like what was predicted. To clarify, I'm talking about predictions, and not any predictions. Belief in predictions in any case affects a person's behavior negatively, often depriving one of will and hope, or, on the contrary, deceiving with false promises.
What happens does not happen "thanks" or "despite". If we want to prevent a certain unwanted event, then there is a chance that this event will not happen. Let's take "12 Monkeys". Let's change the plot so that there is no travel to the future and back, there is no knowledge of the catastrophe due to the spread of a destructive virus. It's just that the hero would like to prevent such an event and knew that such an event could happen. Even if he couldn't prevent it, he would have acted differently. The credibility of such films and book plots is that everything that happens is tailored to the desired scheme. Real events happen differently, they cannot be "edited". The only feeling I have after watching or reading such works is how good it is that this really does not happen. Fatalism is a terrible thing, no matter what form it takes. That's why I never laugh at films about the Cassandra plot, no matter how ridiculous they are.

In the twentieth century, victimology emerged from criminology into a separate discipline, the boundaries of which have now expanded so much that they have led to its transformation into an interdisciplinary approach of the most urgent social significance. As victimology merged with psychology, the question of the socio-cultural and historical-psychological roots of victim behavior became more and more persistent.

The second half of the 20th century was the era of the true flourishing of the role of historical psychology in the study and interpretation of the underlying determinants of victim behavior.

One of the first discoveries, made long before victimology became a scientific discipline, was the understanding of gender differences in victim behavior.

“Plato did not know what category to attribute women to: to rational beings or to cattle, because nature inserted them inside, in one secluded place, something animated, some kind of organ that a man does not have and which sometimes secretes some special juices: salty, nitrate borate, tart, burning, unpleasantly tickling, and from this burning, from this fermentation of the mentioned juices, which is painful for a woman (and this organ is very sensitive and easily irritated), a shiver runs through the whole body of a woman, all her feelings are excited, all sensations aggravated, all thoughts interfere. Thus, if nature had not ennobled women to some extent with a sense of shame, they would have been chasing like crazy after the first trousers they came across, in such a frenzy ... which Bacchic fiads did not find even in the days of bacchanalia, because this terrible animated organ is connected with all other parts of the body which anatomy clearly proves to us.

The words of the outstanding French thinker and writer of the Renaissance, Francois Rabelais, in a very crude sexist form, however, give us an idea of ​​what the main points of vulnerability of the female psyche were seen in the pre-scientific period of the development of psychology.

The 20th century and the advent of depth psychology opened up completely new grounds for the analysis of female victimhood.

The father of psychoanalysis, Z. Freud, exploring the historically determined mechanisms of sexual behavior, writes: “It is not difficult for us later to justify what at first seemed prejudice, our opinion about the love life of a woman. Whoever first satisfies the girl’s long-term suppressed love longing and at the same time overcomes her resistance, which has developed under the influence of environment and upbringing, enters into a long-term relationship with her, the possibility of which is no longer open to anyone else. As a result of this experience, a "state of subordination" develops in women, which is the guarantee of the inviolable duration of possession of it and makes it capable of resisting new impressions and temptations from outsiders.

However, a much more detailed picture of the historical determinants of female victimization is provided by analytical psychology in the context of the phenomenon of the collective unconscious. Considering, following Z. Freud, the deep psychological causes of female hysteria, Carl Gustav Jung writes: “The complex in hysteria has an abnormal autonomy and a tendency to an active separate life, which reduces and replaces the constellated energy of the Ego-complex. Thus, a new sickly personality gradually develops, whose inclinations, judgments and decisions move in only one direction - in the direction of her desire to be sick. This secondary personality devours all that is left of the normal Ego and forces it to perform the function of a secondary (non-independent) complex.

The development of Jung's ideas was continued by his talented student Toni Wolfe. Exploring the archetype of the Anima, in particular its kind as a female medium, she noted that a woman of this type is under the priority influence of the collective unconscious, whose power exceeds the impact on her Ego of the "spirit of her time" . A female medium in interaction with the collective unconscious can be a classical medium, i.e. be a passive conductor, but can also cause it itself. As a rule, notes Tony Wolf, such activity is associated with the influence of the Shadow archetype and a woman projects this threatening negative into the social environment. Thus, in the eyes of society - especially its masculine part - it becomes the bearer of evil. And since her interaction with the unconscious is not mediated by the symbol-forming function of the Ego, a woman is usually not able to explain what is happening to her and what drives her actions - “the overflowing energy of the collective unconscious sweeps through the Ego of the mediator woman and weakens it ...”.

The desire for possession (possessionem) from the collective unconscious goes far beyond the ego of the female medium and tends to spread to everyone with whom she is in any kind of trusting relationship. For this reason, although a female medium produces a strong emotional effect in communication, her own ego is faceless, passive, and prone to addiction. As Toni Wolf writes “As a rule, the female mediator is nothing and, therefore, will create confusion to the same extent that she herself is confused. Consciousness and the unconscious, I and you, personal and impersonal mental content remains undifferentiated ... Since the content of the objective psyche, both in itself and in others, remains incomprehensible or is perceived on a personal level, it perceives fate not as its own, but as if it was her own, and is lost in ideas that are not hers. Instead of becoming a mediator, she is only a means and becomes the first victim of her own nature. .

Another neo-Jungian theorist, Erich Neumann, considering this phenomenon, notes that “decrease in the level of consciousness” (abaissement du niveau mental) is the main quality of the medium: “The female psyche is much more dependent on the productivity of the unconscious, strongly connected with consciousness, which we accordingly call matriarchal . However, it is precisely this matriarchal consciousness that is based mainly on participation mystique - the mystical participation of a person in his environment. It is in this state of consciousness that the human psyche and the transpersonal world still remain largely inseparable; it is the matriarchal consciousness that forms the basis of the power of the human person, covered with a mantle of magic.

James Hillman considers the phenomenon of a female medium in close connection with the Animus archetype, namely with the Apollo archetype. In his opinion, it is this image of male perfection that is the main cause of female hysteria, and the conjunction is the mechanism. As Hillman shows, the Apollonian animus of the woman, having penetrated not only the level of consciousness, but also the level of the Superego, gives rise to the idea of ​​female subordination and forms a causal relationship between repressed chthonic femininity and hysteria. In turn, Apollo himself intensely represses his anima, which led to the complete identification of this figure with patriarchal masculinity, forcing femininity to take the form of a projection. But, as Hillman notes, "the search for coniunctio, as in the case of the pursuit of Daphne, turns into Apollo's own defeat, since this pursuit makes the man hyperactive and leads the psyche to autonomic regression, turning Daphne into a laurel tree" .

The archetype of Cassandra is considered in most detail in the works of Lori Leighton Shapiro, namely in the book “The Cassandra Complex. A Modern Perspective on Hysteria". In her opinion, the archetype of Cassandra personifies the archetypal conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal values ​​fighting for power, while the power of potestas in this conflict completely replaces the power of libido.

Laurie Leighton Shapiro draws a direct connection between Cassandra and the "dark goddess" in which we can recognize the chthonic Great Mother of Erich Neumann. At the same time, Shapiro notes that Kassandra is under the influence of the most destructive - deadly - aspect of the Great Mother.

The positive aspect of the Great Mother is mediation, which in hysterical personalities manifests itself in strong intuition. However, in a patriarchal society, this mediumistic ability was not only not cultivated, but was not even legalized. At best, the mediumal abilities of the female Kassandra were exploited, which we can observe even in the epic work of the Bronze Age, the Eddic song Baldr's Dreams:

To the east, Odin rode out of the gate, where, as he knew, the völva's grave; he began the spell and lifted the prophetic, answered the völva with a dead speech: “What kind of warrior is there, unknown to me, that it was not easy for me to go on the road? [One said:]"My name is Vegtam, I am Valtam's son; tell me about Hel, I will tell about the world; benches for whom are covered with chain mail, the floor is beautifully strewn with gold?" [Volva said:]"Honey stands here, it is brewed for Balder, a bright drink, it is covered with a shield; the sons of the Ases are seized with despair. You will not hear another word."

But most often, the mediumal abilities of the female Kassandra were used as an object for an expiatory sacrifice, which we can see in another Eddic song, the Short Song of Sigurd:

It is characteristic that in the text of the song “Dance, Witch” by the Melnitsa group, one of the most popular domestic folk-rock groups, we see an almost identical picture:

Where there is a witch, life is not sacred, horses are not shod. Let the ashes fly away, wandering, in four, oh, sides. How the dance of death will turn with a dry wind, that the other ancient, the Witch will dance, but with our faith we can’t cope and can’t cope with it. Get drunk on the drunkenness of our anger. Dance! Today you are the queen. Let the hops and cinnamon, and the snake, and the fox At the first lightning glorify the sister - Hallelujah to the Fiery Virgin! Like a witch has four wings, and the air trembles behind her shoulders. Today she will blaze with a blue flame, as she burned in a lie. There is no limit to the mercy of fire, and the Lord will have mercy on us, So that rye is born high, so that after winter there will be spring again.

Shapiro notes that the Kassandra woman learns early to hide this side of her personality or mask its use, because her ego is not strong enough, and most importantly, approved enough to fully use her innate ability. As a result, a pseudo-ego is formed in such women, consisting of the restrictionist values ​​of Apollo as a conductor of the ideas of the Great Father. This pseudo-ego has an artificial and pronounced victim character, and the main leitmotif is the thought: "However, it is to blame for the fact that the woman." As a result, her mediumistic abilities go into the area of ​​the Shadow, forming a painful complex of guilt and self-destruction. The consequence of this is hysteria as the only possible way for a weak, self-torturing ego to mediate between the unconscious and the superego.

The results of our research show that the situation is further complicated by the fact that most often a woman-Cassandra has a similar generic scenario, which is transmitted through the female line. The mother of such a girl is a woman who is under the same tyrannical pressure of the patriarchal Animus and has long been in a sadomasochistic dual-union relationship with him. In her family letters to her daughter, she gives a classic double message, the text of which declares hysterical suspicion and anxiety towards men (sometimes reaching hatred) and the subtext is servile obedience and fear. However, her position is advantageous in that she has the opportunity to teach her inexperienced daughter, on whom she often broadcasts her infantile-vulnerable Ego, which only strengthens the daughter's victimization complex. This correlates with the idea of ​​generic last, developed by Leopold Szondi within the framework of the concept of fate analysis.

Shapiro, characterizing the relationship of the Kassandra woman with her mother, notes the absence of a positive symbiotic connection with the mother figure, which, in turn, blocks the girl’s connection with reality: “The girl develops the impression that life cannot proceed as she wants, but only just the way the mother wants. In the child's mind, reality is not credible. The girl acquires her identity only by meeting the expectations of her mother. In a sense, the child becomes the mother of his own mother, at one time deprived of motherhood, who constantly demands a mirror reflection of her merging with her daughter and is filled with black envy if she does not receive this reflection.

Under the constant pressure of the superego, the female Cassandra projects her locus of control exclusively outward. At the same time, in the external context, she observes a picture of the complete triumph of the masculine principle and the defeat and self-abasement of the feminine. It is logical that since childhood she has been looking for attention and support from the male principle. Shapiro notes that even if the real father figure is weak, the girl still idealizes her father: “The only aspect of femininity that has been able to come to the surface is the mediation through which hypertrophied masculinity - the maternal animus internalized by the daughter - seeks its expression. The ego is at the service of the animus, which actually behaves more like a narcissistic personality structure that constantly requires positive mirroring. The female ego descends to playing the role of the anima in relation to its own animus.

In the ancient archetypal scenario, Cassandra did not submit to Apollo, which led to her death - and death precisely at the hands of the mother figure. In the personality of a woman-Cassandra, as a rule, this submission still occurs, and even in childhood. Relying on her Apollonian animus, she can be quite successful and socially adjusted. However, if there is an adaptation to the external world, then there is no adaptation to the inner world. The second pole of the dissociated psyche - the hysterical Anima-Cassandra - goes into the Shadow and from there constantly reminds of itself with unmotivated anxiety, guilt, fears, behind which, in turn, aggression is hidden. One of the options for breaking through this explosive Shadow is shown in Roman Polanski's iconic film Repulsion for modern culture. The main character, an introvert, who is increasingly immersed in autistic states, discovers in them the strongest androphobia, which breaks through with outrageous aggression towards the masculine principle.

Describing the dynamics of the Shadow in the female Kassandra, Shapiro names the disappearance of the Apollonian ideal of the Animus as the main reason for its activation. Due to the weakness of her own ego, the female Cassandra uses the Apollonian Animus as a restraining force of the Superego, directed primarily at the Shadow. It can be said that in this state she is completely deprived of the power of the Ego, remaining helpless before the horrors of the Shadow: “In her frightened, devoid of Ego state, the female Cassandra can say what she sees, unconsciously hoping that others could learn from her words. some sense. However, her words seem to them meaningless, incoherent and groundless. No wonder no one believes her. She cannot even make an effort on herself and believe herself in what she says. Her Ego cannot accept what her Shadow knows.

In toto, we can say that the archetype of Cassandra is one of the main unconscious determinants that support the formation and operation of the victim complex in the modern woman. Acting as the second pole in the Persecutor-Victim dyad, it makes a woman prone to victim behavior when confronted with patriarchal sexist male behavior.

List of sources used

1. Francois Rabel. Gargantua and Pantagruel. – M.: 1991. – 374 p.
2. Freud Z. Taboo of virginity: an essay on the psychology of sexuality. - M .: Prometheus, 1990. - 32 p.
3. Anima and Animus / Jung, Wheelwright, Neumann et al. - Moscow: Moscow Association of Analytical Psychology, 2008. - 228 p.
4. Williams D. Crossing the border. Psychological image of the path of knowledge K.Castaneda. - Voronezh: Modek, 1994. - 191 p.
5. Neumann E. The origin and development of consciousness [A.II. Great mother]. - Kyiv: Vakler, 1998. - 464 p.
6. Hillman J. The Analysis Myth: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology. Per. from English. M.: Kogito-center, 2005. - 352 p.
7. Shapiro L.L. Cassandra complex. A modern take on hysteria. - M.: Independent firm "Class", 2006. - 176 p.
8. Beowulf. Elder Edda. The Nibelungenlied / Library of World Literature. (T. 9) / trans. from Old Norse A. Korsun. - M.: Fiction, 1975. - 751 p.

According to the myth, Cassandra received her prophetic gift from Apollo. This gift became a curse for her, because no one believed her predictions. She foresaw tragic events, but none of them could prevent - even the terrible ending of her own life. Women with developed intuition, especially sensitive to future changes, have been persecuted for many centuries. They were insulted, tortured, burned at the stake... In the end, they stopped believing even in themselves. Should contemporary Cassandra experience the same fate?

In this book, Jungian analyst Lori Layton Shapira examines in detail the myth of Cassandra, its manifestations in the psyche, and its relationship to hysteria. She describes the psychological profile of the modern woman with the Cassandra complex, its use in therapy, and the clinical phases of the analytic process.

The book will be interesting and useful for both professional audience (psychologists, psychotherapists) and non-professional readers. At the very least, its positive confidence that the load of the unconscious "prophecy" can become a source of creativity and an object of legitimate pride.

Introduction

I became interested in the topic of Cassandra when two of my patients dreamed about it. Considering somewhat similar psychological patterns, I found a lot in common in them, and not the last place in this row belonged to the strong hysterical component present in each of them.

Hysteria is no longer considered a widespread diagnosis. In fact, it has already been excluded from the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Definition of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). But hysteria still exists and lends itself very well to clinical description, even though we prefer to shy away from making such a diagnosis with its characteristic misogynistic chauvinistic meaning. We tend to attribute exhibitionistic tendencies to "narcissistic personality disorder" or to the emotional outbursts of "borderline" people.

About a century ago, Pierre Janet came to the following conclusion:

“The word ‘hysteria’ should be retained, despite the fact that its original meaning has changed a lot. Today it will be very difficult to modernize it, and indeed it has such a great and beautiful history that it will be too painful to get rid of it.

It is quite possible that the same could be said of the diagnosis of hysteria, which has a documented history of some four thousand years. Much has been written about this disease in the patriarchal era. Here we must look at this story from a woman's point of view, using a constructive view of the appropriateness of her symptoms, in order to understand its contemporary meaning.

PART I. CASSANDRA IN THE PAST

Chapter 1. The myth and tragedy of Cassandra

Cassandra was one of the daughters of Priam and Hecuba, the rulers of Troy. Once, when she was in the temple of Apollo, God himself appeared and promised to give her the gift of prophecy if she agreed to belong to him. However, having accepted his gift, Cassandra refused to fulfill her part of the agreement.

As you know, if the grace of God is accepted, it can no longer be rejected. Therefore, Apollo begged Cassandra to give him at least one kiss, and as soon as she did, he breathed into her mouth something such that not a single person trusted her prophecies anymore.

From the very beginning of the Trojan War, Cassandra predicted its tragic outcome. But no one listened to her predictions. She talked about how the Greeks hid inside the wooden horse, but the Trojans did not heed her warnings. Her fate was to know what misfortune would happen, but not be able to prevent it.

Cassandra was blamed for the defeat and given to Agamemnon. When he brought her to Mycenae, they were greeted by Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, who plotted with her lover Aegisthus and planned to kill them both. Cassandra had a premonition of her fate and refused to enter the palace. She fell into a trance of prophecy and screamed that she felt blood, feeling the full weight of the curse of the House of Atreus. However, she could not escape her fate. Clytemnestra killed her with the same ax that she used to behead Agamemnon

Cassandra is a tragic figure. Her story formed the basis of ancient Greek drama, poetry—and even opera. In literature, the basis of the tragedy is the vicious nature of the tragic character, but at the same time, his huge potential remains unrealized. What, then, is the essence of the tragedy of Cassandra?

Chapter 2. Cassandra's wounds

collective dynamics

The collective factors that affected Cassandra are the cessation of worship of the goddess as the supreme deity and the increase in revenge on Apollo. These themes figure constantly in the historical development of the particular factor which we now call the mother complex and which we will consider later.

And in this chapter, we will focus on the evolution of Apollo - from primitive to classical form. This evolution will serve as a paradigm for the development of Cassandra's Animus, her inner image of masculinity.

The story of Cassandra unfolded in the Bronze Age, in the second millennium BC. At this time, Greek civilization was undergoing a fundamental upheaval from a matriarchal to a patriarchal culture, accompanied by a departure from the values ​​inherent in femininity. This change was especially traumatic for the Trojans, whose culture was closer to the matriarchal Crete-Minos than to the more patriarchal Achaean. When the Greeks took Troy, its culture and religion also fell apart.

In her book Cassandra, the East German writer Krista Wolf noted that in Troy the worship of new gods was part of the practice of ancient religious cults. “Cassandra has had plenty of conflict-avoidance episodes”

She was deeply affected by the transition to a patriarchal cult, perhaps even more than any other of her contemporaries, since this reversal could undermine the development of female identity due to the revenge of the goddess as an archetypal role model.

Chapter 3

Hysteria - the wanderings of a hungry uterus

Cassandra embodies the archetypal conflict between matriarchal and patriarchal values ​​that have entered into a rivalry for power, with the complete absence of Eros connecting them. For a long time, hysteria was seen as a manifestation of such a splitting of the psyche. This chapter will outline the historical background and provide a prelude to our subsequent discussion of the significance of hysteria today.

As we have seen, the tragedy of Cassandra was that it was impossible for her to share the fate of the Pythia - the sacred vessel for divine prophecy. Psychologically, her negative mother complex prevented the development of the ego, which arises from the fundamental female Self. Therefore, Kassandra suffered because of the “prematurity” of the female Ego: in fact, her Ego did not know the psychological womb.

The traditional view of hysteria as a disease of the uterus goes back four thousand years. The uterine insufficiency theory, with a few exceptions, has been traced throughout history. Since both historical documents and the diagnosis of hysteria are associated with the era of patriarchy, we have no way of knowing whether such a syndrome existed during matriarchy.

Known medical documents found in Egypt and dated to the second century BC. e. In the oldest of them, the Cahuna papyrus, we are talking about hysteria, which is described as "starvation" of the uterus or its displacement upwards and subsequent pressure on other organs.

All the efforts of the doctors were aimed at nourishing the starving organ and returning it to its normal position.

“Parts of the body were fumigated with precious fragrant substances to attract the uterus; or they ate abominations or inhaled stench to scare it away and drive it away from the upper body, where it was believed that it wandered ”

Chapter 4

Treatment of hysteria according to Freud is still practiced, despite the fact that cases of such a disease are much less common. Ilse Weiss explains why hysteria has become a rare disease:

“In the 20th century, behavior consisting in“ plaintive lamentations ”and“ wringing of arms and legs ”are met by those around not just without sympathy, but even with disgust. The greatest tolerance for him is shown by the exalted crowd and teenage girls when they react to the appearance of their idols ... The swooning ladies of the Victorian era are also not able to arouse the slightest sympathy for themselves from their social environment ... Thus, hysteria, in essence, has ceased to reward person. The caring attention that hysterical women have felt for themselves for centuries has given way in the 20th century to insensitive indifference ...

Freud's study of hysteria, instead of giving it even more weight, actually deprived it of that important mystical meaning that hysteria had for more than two thousand years ... It was argued that if hysteria really turns out to be a means of satisfying the needs of the ego, then the lack of attention to the disease could easily be mistaken for its almost complete disappearance. Thus, there may not be much contradiction in the claim that it was the deep understanding of the causes of hysteria by the leading psychiatrists of our century that contributed to the almost complete disappearance of the disease. The newly revised therapeutic insight has found application in the treatment of serious psychoneuroses, within which only the potential possibility of hysterical manifestations exists.

We may no longer see spasms and convulsions, but to underestimate or discount hysteria is to ignore a well-known clinical syndrome.