Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gvh9x Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T10:10:45.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Doppelgänger, disintegration and death: a case report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Lara H. Maack  and
Paul E. Mullen
Lara H. Maack
Affiliation:
Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital, London
Paul E. Mullen*
Affiliation:
Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor Paul E. Mullen, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, P.O. Box 10011, Halfway Bush, Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The phenomenon of a Doppelgänger (the double autoscopy; heautoscopy) and its resolution in a psychotic patient is presented. A comparison is made between this experience and the phenomenon as it is described and defined in the literature. The themes of death and disintegration so commonly associated with the Doppelgänger in folklore and literature are highlighted by this patient's experience.

Type
Case Report
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , August 1983 , pp. 651 - 654
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baughman, W. E. (1966). Type and Motif-index of the Folktales of England and North America, pp. 119–122. Mouton: The Hague.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnier, I. (1905). L'aschématie. Revue Neurologique 13, 605–609.Google Scholar
Bychowski, G. (1943). Disorders of the body image. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 97, 310–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canetti, E. (1978). Auto da Fé, pp. 13–15. Pan Books: London.Google Scholar
Craske, S. & Sacks, B. I. (1969). A case of ‘double autoscopy’. British Journal of Psychiatry 115, 343–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Critchley, M. (1950). The body image in neurology. Lancet i, 335–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damas Mora, J. M. R., Jenner, F. A. & Eacott, S. E. (1980). On heautoscopy or the phenomenon of the double: case presentation and review of the literature. British Journal of Medical Psychology 53, 75–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faguet, R. A. (1979). With the eyes of the mind: autoscopic phenomena in the hospital setting. General Hospital Psychiatry 4, 311–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, S. (1925). Collected Papers, Vol. 4, pp. 368–407. Hogarth Press: London.Google Scholar
Hécaen, H. & Bachet, M. (1945). Syndrome de Gelineau avec hallucinose et syndrome d'influence. Annales Médico-Psychologiques 103, 372–376.Google Scholar
Hécaen, H. & Green, A. (1957). Sur l'héautoscopie. L'Encéphale 46, 581–584.Google Scholar
Jaspers, K. (1963). General Psychopathology (transl. Hönig, J. and Hamilton, M. W.), pp. 92–93. Manchester University Press: Manchester.Google Scholar
Jón, Árnason (1951). Íslenzkar pjóōsögur og æ vintýri. Ný út-gáfa, Vol. 1. pp. 215–216. Reykjavík.Google Scholar
Jón, Árnason (1958). Íslenzkar pjóōsögur og æ vintýri. Nýtt safn, Vol. 3. pp. 432–433. Reykjavík.Google Scholar
Lhermitte, J. (1951). Visual hallucination of the self. British Medical Journal i, 431–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lhermitte, J., Hécaen, H. & Coulonjow, F. (1942). Héautoscopie et onirisme: le problème du double dans le rêve et le sange. Annales Médico-Psychologiques 100, 180–182.Google Scholar
Lippman, C. W. (1953). Hallucinations of physical duality in migraine. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 117, 345–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lukianowicz, N. (1958). Autoscopic phenomena. AMA Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 80, 199–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maximov, K. (1973). Epilepsie occipitale avec hallucinations héautoscopiques. Acta Neurologia Belgique 73, 320–323.Google Scholar
Nouet, H. (1923). Hallucination spécularies et traumatisme cranien. L'Encéphale 1, 327–329.Google Scholar
Ostow, M. (1960 a). Visual hallucinations in recovery from schizophrenia. Comprehensive Psychiatry 1, 253–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ostow, M. (1960 b). The metapsychology of autoscopic phenomena. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 41, 619–625.Google ScholarPubMed
Pearson, J. & Dewhurst, K. (1954). Sur deux cas de phénomènes héautoscopiques consecutifs à des lésions organiques. L'Encéphale 43, 166–172.Google Scholar
Salama, A. A. A. (1981). The autoscopic phenomenon: case report and review of literature. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 26, 475–476.Google ScholarPubMed
Scharfetter, C. (1980). General Psychopathology. An Introduction (transl. Marshall, H.). Cambridge University Press. Cambndge.Google Scholar
Sivadon, P. (1937). Phénomènes autoscopiques au course de la grippe. Annales Médico-Psychologiques 95, 215–220.Google Scholar
Todd, J. & Dewhurst, K. (1955). The double: its psychopathology and psychophysiology. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 122, 47–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed