Delirium of crystal: the delirium of believing oneself to be very fragile.
A type of mental disorder based on the delusional idea that one's own body is made of glass.
Throughout history there have been a large number of diseases that have caused great harm and damage to humanity and with the passage of time have eventually disappeared. This is the case of the Black Death or the misnamed Spanish flu. But this has not only happened with medical diseases, but also with psychic ailments typical of a specific period or historical stage. An example of this is the so-called delirium of crystal or crystal illusionan alteration of which we are going to speak throughout this article.
The delirium or crystal illusion: symptoms
It receives the name of delirium or illusion of crystal a typical and highly frequent mental disorder of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance which is characterized by the presence of the delirious belief of being of crystalThe body itself had the properties of glass and especially its fragility.
In this sense, it was maintained in a fixed, persistent, unchangeable way despite the presence of contrary evidence and without social consensus that the body itself was glass, extremely fragile and easily broken.
This belief went hand in hand with a high level of panic and dread, practically phobic, at the idea of breaking or shattering at the slightest blow.The adoption of attitudes such as avoiding all physical contact with others, moving away from furniture and corners, defecating standing up to avoid breaking or tying up cushions and using clothing reinforced with cushions to avoid possible damage when sitting or moving was common.
The disorder in question may include the sensation that the whole body is made of glass, or it may include only specific parts, such as the limbs. In some cases, the internal organs were even considered to be made of glass, and the psychological suffering and fear of these people was very high.
A common phenomenon in the Middle Ages
As we have said this disorder appeared in the Middle Ages, a historical stage in which the glass began to be used in items such as stained glass or the first lenses.
One of the oldest and best known cases is that of the French monarch Charles VIHe was nicknamed "the beloved" (since he apparently fought against the corruption introduced by his regents) but also "the madman" because he suffered several psychiatric problems, including psychotic episodes (even ending the life of one of his courtiers) and being among them the delirium of crystal. The monarch was dressed in a lined garment to avoid damage in case of possible falls and remained immobile for long hours.
It was also the disorder of Princess Alexandra Amelie of Bavaria, and of many other nobles and nobility.and of many other nobles and citizens (generally of the upper classes). Also the composer Tchaikovsky manifested symptoms that suggest this disorder, fearing that his head would fall to the ground while conducting the orchestra and break and even physically holding it to avoid it.
In fact it was such a common condition that even René Descartes made mention of it in one of his works and it is even the condition suffered by one of Miguel de Cervantes' characters in his "El licenciado Vidriera".
Records indicate a high prevalence of this disorder especially during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, especially between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, with the passage of time and as the glass was becoming more frequent and less mythologized (initially it was seen as something exclusive and even magical), this disorder would decrease in frequency to virtually disappear from 1830 onwards..
Cases still exist today
The delirium of glass was a delusion, as we have said, which had its maximum expansion throughout the Middle Ages and apparently ceased to exist around 1830.
However, a Dutch psychiatrist named Andy Lameijin found a report of a patient from the 1930s who presented a delusional belief that her legs were made of glass and that the slightest blow could break them, generating any approach or possibility of a blow a great anxiety or even self-injury.
After reading about this case, whose symptoms clearly resembled that of the medieval disorder, the psychiatrist proceeded to investigate about similar symptomatologies and discovered several isolated cases of people with a similar delirium.
However, he also found a living and current case in the very center where he worked, in the Endegeest Psychiatric Hospital in Leiden: a man who claimed to feel made of glass or crystal after having suffered an accident.
However, in this case there were differential characters with respect to others, more focused on the quality of transparency of the crystal than on that of fragility.The patient claimed to be able to appear and disappear from the sight of others, making him feel, according to the patient's own words, that "I am here, but I am not, like the crystal".
It should be noted, however, that the delusion or delirium of crystal is still considered a historical mental problem and can be considered an effect or part of other disorders, such as schizophrenia.
Theories about its causes
Explaining a mental disorder that is practically non-existent today is extremely complex, but through symptomatology some experts have been offering hypotheses in this regard.
In general, it could be thought that this disorder could have originated as a defense mechanism in people as a defense mechanism in people with a high level of stress. and the need to show a certain social image, being a response to the fear of showing fragility.
The emergence and disappearance of the disorder is also associated to the evolution of the consideration about the material, being frequent that the themes on which the delusions and different mental problems are related to the evolution and elements of each epoch.
In the most recent case attended by Lameijin, the psychiatrist considered that a possible explanation for the disorder in that particular case was the need to seek privacy and personal space in the face of excessive care from the patient's environment, the symptom in the form of the belief that one can be transparent as glass being a way of trying to separate oneself and maintain individuality.
This conception of the current version of the disorder derives from the anxiety generated by the current society, extremely individualistic and focused on appearance and with a high level of personal isolation despite the existence of great communication systems.
Bibliographical references:
- Cervantes, M. (2003). El licenciado Vidriera. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
- Speak, G. (1990) An odd kind of melancholy: reflections on the glass delusion in Europe (1440-1680) History of Psychiatry; 1: 191-206.
- Speak, G. (1990) "El licenciado Vidriera" and the Glass Men of Early Modern Europe. The Modern Language Review; 85(4): 850-865.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)