Recensions (décembre 2019)

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Filippo Muratori & Valeria Bizzari, Alle origini dell’autismo : Il ruolo dimenticato di George Frankl, Roma, Fioriti Editore, 2019, 95 pages. ISBN : 978-8898991907. Prix : 14 €. What is a mental disorder? That should probably be the starting point of each paper or review that deals with psychopathology. Since time immemorial, human being has tried to unveil and clarify the core nature of these severe diseases. For instance, Ajax Telamonio, one of the heroes of the Homer’s Iliad, did not obtain Achilles’ weapons, in favor of Odysseus. Blinded by grief, Ajax decided to kill those responsible for the decision, but he suffered an incantation by the goddess Athena and, after falling asleep, he massacred a flock of sheep. When he woke up, he realized what he had done and, for the shame, he killed himself. Interestingly, such “pantoclastic crisis” — we would say nowadays — was caused by a supernatural entity. A similar example may be the myth of Bellerophon, whose melancholic state was determined by his hybris towards Olympic gods. In other terms, the first, mythological depictions of mental disorders intertwined human nature with godly entities. No mental health without supernatural support. Of course, the history of mental illness is not the aim of this review. Nevertheless, the abovementioned examples may illustrate a tendency which is today again in vogue. The tendency to attribute non-human aspects to mental diseases. Indeed, the ultra-reductionist theory is the most widesp