The Influence of Anthropological and Cultural Factors in Psychopathology: A Projective Approach Based on an Experiment in Italy

Résumé 0

Starting from the analysis of a phenomenon called tarentism, a therapeutic ritual no longer employed but which was supposed to treat women who believed they had been bitten by a tarantula, the author attempts to establish a psycho-anthropological profile of this phenomenon focusing not only on its pathological aspects but also on its institutional function as a commonly recognized regulator of psychic disorder, recognized and shared by the group. By such a method, we can reveal a cultural coherence between the pathological manifestations and the system of treatment, as well as an interpretive coherence between the subject and the group to which she belonged. Using a double theoretical reference, mostly psychoanalytical but also anthropological, the author sheds light on the intrapsychic and group valences in the tarentism ritual. Through the clinical analysis of the protocole of an adolescent girl who was afflicted with tarantulism, the author shows the particular psychic dynamics expressed by the body. This leads her to a reflection about the value of an ethnological perspective in projective work, open to the cultural visions of the subjects who are tested, and which is necessary if we wish to confer a true ethical and universal relevance to such instruments.