The double in paranoid delusion: a psychoanalytic commentary on The Black Swan

Abstract

The article investigates the participation of the phenomenon of the double in the composition of paranoid delusion through the commentary on the film The Black Swan. The delusion is treated as an autonomous, singular and complex construction that supports an attempt at spontaneous healing, and the phenomenon of the double, as a strategic experience around which the paranoid delusion can eventually be based and developed. It is argued that the study of delirium woven around the phenomenon of the double is capable of shedding light on important aspects of the organization of the psyche in psychosis, especially with regard to narcissistic disorders. Interpolations are made between Aranofsky’s film, the book The Double, by Dostoevsky, the ballet Swan Lake, by Tschaikowsky, and the fairy tale The Stolen Veil, by Musäus. As a theoretical basis, contributions from Freud, Lacan, Quinet, Maleval, Rabinovitch, Soler and Melman are brought. Articles originating from research carried out on the SCIELO and PEPSIC platforms are also cited using the descriptors: “Black Swan” OR/AND “Psychoanalysis”. The text has the following structure: initially the specificities of the constitution of narcissism in schizophrenia and paranoia are situated. These theoretical contributions follows the analysis of the first act of the film, which shows Nina in her routine before the outbreak of the first crisis. The second topic focuses on the crisis and stabilization work. In the final part, the hypothesis is raised that the fusion with the specular double required at the culmination of the performance may have triggered disintegrating effects on Nina, leading to a passage to the act . One then asks about the possibilities of therapeutic management in the face of such a situation, considering the recurrence of similar manifestations in concrete clinical contexts.