An analysis of the evolution of delusion in a Chinese case of paraphrenia

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a psychoanalytic approach to interpret the work of Song Shipeng, especially starting from an interrogation on the function of the nomination in the evolution of his delusion. Song was an author suffering from paraphrenia; he published some books writing about his conversations with extraterrestrials and their theory of the Universe. Furthermore, in the last years of his life, he practised a pseudo-medicine, as part of his practice of cosmic energy. His works are full of traces of his personal experience, which open the door to the understanding of the evolution of his delusion. The unifying factor of this examination will be the following hypothesis: Song attempted to compensate for his psychotic crisis, which he regarded as a way to install his “Pseudo-Ego Ideal,” to invent all the delusion by the mnemic traces and to rebuild an identity. Within this perspective, writing could be viewed as enabling the patient to fight against psychotic anxiety, which could take the form of delusion of imagination, of naming oneself, of making a link between his psychotic enigmatic experience, his writing and his thought, and finally, of compensating his ego defect.

S'inscrivant dans une perspective psychanalytique, l'auteur de cet article interprète l'œuvre de Song Shipeng et interroge notamment la fonction de la nomination dans l'évolution de son délire. Song, un auteur qui souffrait de paraphrénie, a publié plusieurs ouvrages où il relate ses conversations avec des extraterrestres et rend compte de leur théorie sur l'univers. Dans les dernières années de sa vie, il a pratiqué une pseudo-médecine fondée en partie sur l'énergie cosmique. Ses œuvres portent la marque de son expérience personnelle, ouvrant ainsi la porte à la compréhension de l'évolution de son délire. L'hypothèse suivante aura servi de fil rouge à l'auteur tout au long de sa recherche: Song aurait tenté de contrebalancer ses crises psychotiques, qu'il considérait comme un moyen d'instaurer son «pseudo-idéal du moi», de façonner son délire à partir des traces mnésiques et de se forger une nouvelle identité. L'écriture lui aurait ainsi permis de lutter contre ses angoisses psychotiques en leur donnant forme par le truchement de son délire d'imagination, de se nommer, d'établir un lien entre d'une part l'expérience énigmatique que constituait sa psychose et, d'autre part, son écriture et sa pensée, et enfin de suppléer au défaut de son moi.

Dieser Beitrag stellt einen psychoanalytisch orientierte Interpretation des Werkes von Song Shipeng vor. Ausgangspunkt ist eine Untersuchung der Funktion der Benennung in der Entwicklung seines Wahns. Song war ein an Paraphrenie erkrankter Autor, der etliche Bücher über seine Gespräche mit Außerirdischen und deren Theorien des Universums veröffentlichte. In seinen letzten Lebensjahren praktizierte er darüber hinaus im Rahmen seiner Arbeit mit kosmischer Energie eine Pseudoheilkunde. Seine Schriften enthalten zahlreiche Spuren seiner persönlichen Erfahrungen, die Einblick in die Entwicklung seines Wahns gewähren. Diese Untersuchung steht unter folgender These: Song versuchte, seine psychotische Krise zu kompensieren und sein „Pseudo-Ichideal“ zu installieren, indem er die Erinnerungsspuren zu einem Wahn entwickelte und sich eine neue Identität aufbaute. Unter diesem Blickwinkel betrachtet, ermöglichte das Schreiben es dem Patienten, seiner psychotischen Angst eine wahnhafte Imaginationskraft, eine Benennung seiner selbst und eine Verbindung zwischen seinem rätselhaften psychotischen Erleben, seinem Schreiben und Denken, entgegenzusetzen und seinen Ich-Defekt schließlich zu kompensieren.

L’articolo propone un approccio psicoanalitico per interpretare l’opera di Song Shipeng, un autore sofferente di parafrenia, e nel farlo inizia prendendo in esame in particolare la funzione che la nominazione riveste nell’evolversi del suo delirio. Song ha pubblicato una serie di libri sui suoi dialoghi con gli extraterrestri e sulla loro teoria dell’universo, e negli ultimi anni della sua vita ha esercitato una forma di pseudomedicina riconducibile a una sua più ampia pratica basata sull’energia cosmica. I libri di Song portano molte tracce della sua esperienza personale: un aspetto, questo, che apre le porte alla comprensione dell’evolversi del suo delirio. Il fil rouge che percorre l’analisi qui proposta è il seguente: Song ha tentato di compensare le sue crisi psicotiche, che gli sembravano un modo per installare il suo “Pseudo Ideale dell’Io”, provando inoltre a sostenere il suo delirio attraverso le proprie tracce mnestiche e a ricostruirsi un’identità. All’interno di questa prospettiva interpretativa, la scrittura di Song potrebbe essere intesa come un mezzo che gli ha consentito di combattere l’ansia psicotica, la quale potrebbe aver preso di volta in volta la forma di un delirio che coinvolge l’immaginazione, il proprio nominare se stessi, la connessione tra il proprio corpo, la scrittura e il pensiero, e infine la creazione di una compensazione per un deficit dell’Io.

Este artículo propone un enfoque psicoanalítico para interpretar la obra de Song Shipeng, empezando, sobre todo, con una interrogante respecto a la función de la denominación en la evolución de su delirio. Song fue un autor que sufría de parafrenia; publicó algunos libros sobre sus conversaciones con extraterrestres y la teoría que tenían estos sobre el Universo. Además, en los últimos años de su vida, practicó una seudomedicina, como parte de su práctica de energía cósmica. Sus trabajos están llenos de huellas de su experiencia personal, que abren la puerta a la comprensión de la evolución de su delirio. El factor unificador de este estudio es la hipótesis de que Song intentó compensar su crisis psicótica, considerada por él como una forma de instalar su “seudo ideal del yo”, así como nutrir todo el delirio mediante huellas mnémicas y reconstruir una identidad. Dentro de esta perspectiva, se puede considerar la escritura como algo que le permite al paciente luchar contra la angustia psicótica, que puede tomar la forma de delirio de imaginación, de denominarse a sí mismo, de crear una conexión entre su experiencia enigmática psicótica, su escritura y su pensamiento, y finalmente, compensar el defecto de su yo.

KEYWORDS:

• Paraphrenia
• mnemic trace
• writing
• ego defect

Notes

1 The Chinese civil war, literally “nationalist-communist civil war” was an armed conflict from 1927 to 1950, between Kuomingdang (KMT, the nationalist party) and Gongchandang (PCC, the communist party).

2 Indeed, Neijingtu or Xiuzhentu is a Taoist map of the human body in spirit, that is to say a schema of internal body. It is interpreted in the context of Xiuzhen, a method enabling people to approach spiritual transcendence. This map is also attributed the author of Huangdi Nei Jing, a fundamental text of traditional Chinese medicine.

3 In traditional Chinese medicine, the 12 channels are separated, independent and autonomous.

4 The writing of this work is attributed to Emperor Yellow (Huangdi, XXVIII centuries before J.C.). The existence of this emperor is a myth, and people think that the book was compiled in the period covering Warring States (-500 to -220) and Han dynasty (-206 to 220). In Chinese tradition, Emperor Yellow was a Sovereign civilizer of high antiquity, the ancestor of Han people.

5 In the article Common Origin of the Three Great Religions on Earth published in 2013 on his website: http://www.songshipeng.net/, Song mentioned that Buddha, Jesus of Christianity and Mohammed of Islam had similar educational theories of life. For Song, all three were just ancient messengers of the Universe, just like himself.

6 The Eight Immortals are divinities of Taoism and of popular Chinese religion.

7 Inauguration of Gods is a history and fantasy novel of Ming Dynasty (end of the XVIth century, beginning of the XVIIth century) attributed to Xu Zhonglin or Lu Xixing, telling the struggle between the last king of Shang Dynasty and the founder of Zhou Dynasty. Both parties receive help from numerous people with extraordinary powers who would become divine after death, thus the title of the book.

8 While the ego goes through its transformation from a pleasure-ego into a reality-ego, the sexual instincts undergo the changes that lead them from their original auto-erotism through various intermediate phases to object-love in the service of procreation. If we are right in thinking that each step in these two courses of development may become the site of a disposition to later neurotic illness, it is plausible to suppose that the form taken by the subsequent illness (the choice of neurosis) will depend on the particular phase of the development of the ego and of the libido in which the dispositional inhibition of development has occurred. Thus unexpected significance attaches to the chronological features of the two developments (which have not yet been studied), and to possible variations in their synchronization. (Freud 1911, p. 252)

9 There are certain features that can corroborate our hypothesis; on this planet, the population is controlled by the government—just as China is the only government on Earth that imposes the one-child policy on its population. On Waiji, after the Organization of Universe put its headquarters here, war no longer exists on this planet. The Waijinien citizens expect nothing in return; they only offer themselves freely to others. Liberty of opinion and of expression, and temperance in the use of natural resources, are the political characteristics of this planet. And just as in communist countries, medical treatment is free, the economy is always recursive and benign.

According to Song, sexuality and desire bring war and destruction to humanity. So man should abandon sexual desire; on Waiji, reproduction is desexualized, therefore Waijiniens’ lifespan is very long. This obviously is Song’s way of resisting sexualization, castration and death; the content of his unconscious shows itself in the form of delusion. We find that certain ideal elements of his narrative are assembled on this planet.

10 This figure is Song’s invention, and does not exist in history.