I think the phrase “I’m broke” should be used mostly for people who are experiencing this delusion. A psychological disorder known as the glass delusion convinced people in the Middle Ages that they were made of glass and could be broken.
This disorder, which is seen especially in the upper strata of society, seems to have been adopted by many people, although it sounds very strange. In fact, King of France IV. This disease was also detected in Henri. You will be even more surprised as you learn the details.
Information about this delusion was found in the case books of Andre Du Laurens, known as the doctor of the royal family.
The doctor who wrote the findings on the glass hallucination, King of France IV. He wrote that Henri was also a lord who had this ailment. As a matter of fact, the king did not have any ailments or mental disorders. He underlines that the royal lord, who acts rationally in all other matters, does not approach people with the thought that he may be “offended”.
Laurens, along with other medical theorists, argued that the cause of the glass hallucination lay in the cause of all other diseases.
According to ‘Humarol Pathology’, which is based on 4 elements and associated with diseases occurring in the human body by ancient Greek and Roman physicians, it is claimed that the human body consists of four humours. Accordingly, the body; It produces certain fluids such as blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. When one of these fluids is disturbed, the balance of the person is also disturbed; To heal, the humors need to be rebalanced.
Each fluid was associated with a mental state.
These humors are not just related to physical health; It was also associated with mental health. For example, an excess of black bile was considered to be linked to melancholy, that is, to present-day depression. The glass hallucination was also associated with melancholy by Doctor Laurens, a symptom of excessive black bile. It was said that because black bile was in a dense and dark form, it could easily penetrate the patient’s imagination.
This made them susceptible to the manifestation of melancholy, and it was called the glass hallucination.
British scientist Robert Burton, in his work Anatomy of Melancholy, said that glass hallucination is a manifestation of melancholy, but underlined that this delusion is also a form of fear. Burton said that people suffering from melancholy often become paranoid, making the glass hallucination worse.
Leaving aside scientific studies, this situation is actually explained to us in fictions. Miguel de Cervantes’ short story The Glass Graduate is an example. The hero in the story is poisoned while eating a quince, which is supposed to be an aphrodisiac. The trauma created by the event in the hero turns into a glass hallucination.
Were there any people whose names we heard or knew, had this delusion?
Considering that he is seen in the upper strata, there must be a few famous victims whose names we have heard. This was thought to affect more educated men. Given the melancholy predisposition of poets, philosophers, or academics, the delusion ultimately had a connection with intellectuals as well.
Why did people suffer from such an ailment?
If we leave all the theories aside and focus on the issue, only one question comes to our agenda. Why and how did it originate?
Glass was a relatively new material in the 17th century. Glass was often assumed to be a magical substance, as people had trouble understanding how a substance such as sand could be turned into glass. This admiration for glass caused the German alchemist Johann Becher to say in Physica Subterranea that “man, like all animals, is glass and can turn into glass”. Moreover, he suggested that the creature in glass form had its own color. For example, we humans were made of milky-white glass.
This may be called the “glass delusion” because people have sensitivities that are afraid of being broken.
Dutch psychiatrist Andy Lameijin came across such a case in his own hospital when he wondered if this disease had been encountered in contemporary times. A man brought to his clinic in Leiden in 1964 claimed it was made of glass.
The disease did not actually disappear in the 1830s.
An 1883 lecture containing references to the glass delusion has been found, recorded in the archives of a mental institution in Edinburgh. The records are surprising: one of the patients claimed that his legs were made of glass. After a few more records were recovered, it became clear that this disease was not limited to the Middle Ages.
This disease, which is understood as a possible manifestation of the pressure and anxiety that society is exposed to today; It also shows that people develop this disease against possible situations in the period they are in. We are sure that while you are reading this article, there are many unnamed people who are struggling with this disease without realizing it.
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