Joan of Arc, Creative Psychopath: Is There Another Explanation?

Ratnasuriya, R. H.

doi:10.1177/014107688607900413

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…For example, while some speculate that temporal lesions caused Joan of Arc's voices (Ratnasuriya, 1986), she died believing that she heard the voices of saints and God, and her persecutors remained convinced she was possessed by demons or lying about hearing voices at all.…”

Section: Spiritual Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, tuberous sclerosis, which causes cerebral calcification, has been reported to cause hallucinated voices carrying on a running commentary (Okura, Kawabata, Egawa, et al, 1990). Additionally, tuberculosis can produce tumor-like lesions in the brain, as some have speculated caused Joan of Arc's voices (Ratnasuriya, 1986). Auditory hallucinations have also been reported in conjunction with Parkinson's disease (Inzelberg, Kipervasser & Korczyn, 1998), migraine headaches (McAbee & Feldman-Winter, 1999), and thyroid conditions (Pearce & Walbridge, 1991).…”

Section: Voices May Indicate a Non-psychiatric Medical Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It bears reiterating that biologically reductionist explanations may not mesh with a voice hearer's spiritual or cultural understandings. For example, while some speculate that temporal lesions caused Joan of Arc's voices (Ratnasuriya, 1986), she died believing that she heard the voices of saints and God, and her persecutors remained convinced she was possessed by demons or lying about hearing voices at all.…”

Section: Voices May Be Present In Healthy Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hearing voices: Explanations and implications.

Ritsher¹,

Lucksted²,

Otilingam³

et al. 2004

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal

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Section: Spiritual Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Voices May Indicate a Non-psychiatric Medical Conditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Voices May Be Present In Healthy Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Hearing voices: Explanations and implications.

Ritsher¹,

Lucksted²,

Otilingam³

et al. 2004

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal

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show abstract

“…Another popular diagnosis has been that of some form of tuberculosis. Ratnasuriya (1986) argues of Joan that “[m]any of these facts can be explained by the hypothesis that Joan of Arc suffered from tuberculosis with a temporal lobe tuberculoma and tuberculous pericarditis” (p 234). As she was involved in tending her father's cattle, Ratnasuriya speculates that Joan had a bovine form of the tuberculous condition, which he argues was prevalent in Joan's era.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undiagnosing St Joan

et al. 2023

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This article traces the history of Joan of Arc through her brief life that includes leading an army in defense of France at the age of 17 and ending with her death at the stake at the age of 19. In her activities, St Joan reported that she was guided by voices and visions in which she communicated with venerated spiritual figures such as St Michael and St Margaret. Questions have arisen about the nature of these experiences, and various medical and psychiatric diagnoses have been offered by contemporary experts. In our effort to evaluate the diagnostic proposals, we have examined the incidence of voices and visions in the Middle Ages, and we have followed that with a review of nonpathologic voice-hearing in our own era. We then move on to an analysis of some proposed medical and psychiatric diagnoses, all of which we find unconvincing. With this background, we argue that St Joan does not warrant a medical or psychiatric diagnosis. Such a conclusion, however, leaves us with another issue, that of Joan's achievements. How do we understand an adolescent being able to lead an army? Addressing this question proves more difficult than deciding whether St Joan warrants a diagnosis. In addition to her achievements in the war against Britain, Joan of Arc stands out as both the most documented person in Western civilization up until her era, and as the only person who has been both condemned and canonized by the Catholic Church.

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“…This painting is but one interpretation of Joan's story. Physicians have suggested that she was psychotic, psychopathic, or epileptic (3,4). A seizure disorder is most consistent with the historical record, given the episodic nature of Joan's symptoms, the clarity of her consciousness and thought between episodes, and the reasonableness of her self-defense (5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

Joan of Arc–Hearing Voices

Schildkrout

2017

AJP

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Joan of Arc, Creative Psychopath: Is There Another Explanation?

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Hearing voices: Explanations and implications.

Hearing voices: Explanations and implications.

Undiagnosing St Joan

Joan of Arc–Hearing Voices

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