Art and Madness

This work provided a reflection on the mechanisms of expression used by man to express his internal tensions. To do this, he used drawings, paintings, oral narratives of myths and legends, and even writing. Through praxis, the deepest form of expression is found in the freedom of artistic creation, whatever it may be, and in expressing oneself, the subject releases emotions, feelings, fears and anxieties. To deal with illness, individuals have always needed the help of scholars such as shamans, witch doctors and scientists. With the branching out of the sciences and in order to treat mental illness, psychiatry emerged with the figure of the psychiatrist. The mentally ill have always existed, having been feared, admired, ridiculed, tortured, banished, but hardly cured. The cultural process imposes limits and exerts progressive repression on man. To be part of the social environment, he must domesticate himself, repress his impulses and instincts. As such, Jung (1979:20) states that "an excess of animality deforms cultural man; an excess of culture creates sick animals."