Could Schizophrenia Be the Answer to the Mysterious...

Could Schizophrenia be the Answer to the Mysterious Vampire Legend? The vampire legend and many behaviors and experiences of schizophrenics seem to share many common traits. The traits that are most recognizable are fears of being enclosed, periods of semistarvation or complete starvation, which can be associated with periodic gorging, reversal of the day-night cycle, and a preoccupation with or dread of mirrors (Kayton 304). Though the term schizophrenia or demence precoce was only introduced in 1852 (Boyle 43), behaviors of people affected by this illness have been documented much earlier. The concept of a dead person returning in his living physical form and feeding on the living is considered a vampire. The†¦show more content†¦Here is where an important part of the legend draws reference. According to Kayton, the vampire (young suicide) was known to either devour or steal the hearts of his victims. When the heart was stolen, it was placed over a fire to create an intense unfulfilled love in the bosom of the person it was taken from (307). In Dracula we sort of get that sense the three vampire women wanted this from Jonathan. Because when the Count told them that they could not have him, one of them boldly told him: You yourself never loved (55). Also, according to schizophrenic suicide history the family members who were often attacked were mainly members who showed their guilt over the oral deprivation onto the fantasized vampire (patient) with a feared oral attack (Kayton 311). That would be the logic of why the victims of the vampire are usually fa mily members or persons they love; as we witness this with Lucy as she tried to kiss Arthur a two different occasions when she became a vampire. This theory also suggests that the parent s role is very important and their actions with the child of either showing affection or rejection when the child attempts to become close to them (McMahon 212). Besides the removal of the heart, unmistakably, the most important part of the legend is that the vampire attacks his victims by sucking out their blood. There are claims that the attack of the vampire shows consistency with some of the unconscious fantasies of schizophrenic