Hypnotic overdoses and fairy tales: Snow White and the uses of disenchantment.
In most Western countries, more than two-thirds of attempted suicides are among women suffering from drug overdoses. Explanations for women's use of less violent methods include the wish to avoid disfiguration, the influence of upbringing, and sex differences in cultural expectations. Many women under stress have a weaker intention to die, and their suicidal act is generally less a deliberate search for death than a desire to live another life, indicating a need to escape from a difficult situation. In this respect, the suicidal woman's desire to sleep through an overdose coma is very significant. We call to mind the strength of the kinship between death and sleep. Reinterpreting the fairy tale "Snow White" and making a parallel with some contemporary clinical cases, we show that the illusion of a nondefinitive death is often assimilated, in Western culture, with a step toward rebirth.
Pommereau
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X
Hospital Pellegrin, Tripode, Bordeaux, France.
Delile
J M
JM
Caule
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E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000506:poisoning*; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*
D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives