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Wearing the wolf skin: psychiatry and the phenomenon of the berserker in medieval Scandinavia
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 23:51 authored by Michael Heath, Maxwell CooperMaxwell CooperThis paper examines the berserker, a frenzied warrior attested to in both the written and material sources of medieval Scandinavia, and elucidates the characteristics that define him. It critiques explanations for the phenomenon offered in the existing historiography and whether this can be explained as a psychiatric diagnosis. It concludes that the berserker cannot be simply defined as a culturally bound or other psychiatric syndrome, or accounted for by psychogenic drugs alone. Instead, it proposes that berserk frenzy constituted a transitory dissociative state shared among a small warband steeped in religious/spiritual ideology. In entering this state, the psyche of the berserker was reconstituted in an almost archetypal pattern. Further research is required into this phenomenon in other contexts, including modern conflicts.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Accepted version
Journal
History of PsychiatryISSN
0957-154XPublisher
SAGE PublicationsExternal DOI
Department affiliated with
- Primary Care and Public Health Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2021-05-14First Open Access (FOA) Date
2021-05-14First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2021-05-14Usage metrics
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