In 1972 Massimo Fagioli’s book, Death Instinct and knowledge, he formulated the “Human Birth Theory”.The main statement is the “Disappearence Fantasy”, in which the newborn, while seeing the light outside,reacts with what it’s called annulment pulsion, so he recreates himself in the amniotic fluid, refusing the world outside and looking for the warm and affective relationship with his mother.When the relationship with the mother is not working and it’s not responding to the expectations of the Child, especially during the first year of his life, annulment pulsion is directed towards the other humans , the mother and other delusional figures.1
“The child reacted to this unconscious intention by making his mother disappear in turn, thus swhiching toan active role. But what role? That of the omnipotent fantasy of making someone disappear, which is totally destructive. […] And by doing so, the child would make himself disappear”.2
“In so far as the libido, the relation, and the satisfied desire have neutralized the annulment pulsion, instead of preceding towards blindness, the newborn will “see”, meaning he or she will be able to sense more and more […] Rather, the possibilities of dreaming and remembering will steadily increase together with the possibilities of realizing the memory-image of the breast-mother and of desiring again, of tending towardsher”.3
After only twenty seconds of silence, during which the newborn do the disappearance fantasy, he produces the first sound expression of his identity at birth, through the cry. Voice has indeed, since the beginning of life, a huge role in expressing the identity and vitality of the baby.
During the first months, the child uses his voice to externalize his needs but also his deepest desires of contact and warmth, creating a vital, musical and affective “dialogue” with the caregiver (the “babytalk”).
Through the sound of her voice, the baby recognizes and feel his mother’s affectivity, or in some other cases her anaffectivity .
Our voice is the direct expression of ourself, throughout all the stages of our life; we produce a sound that links harmoniously our mind, our deepest feelings, our body (singing voice specifically do so: thinking about vocal scat in jazz music, or popular and ethnic singing). But what happens when our psyche deteriorates? Could it break our bond between mind and body, effecting our voice too? And referring to singing voice, that is an expression of this non rational deep world inside us (like the cry at the birth before verbal language), what happens when someone loses that vitality within the voice?
This research tries to links voice and mental illness, focusing on self-harm.
Self-Harm reasons could be mainly recognized in the early delusional relationships during the first months of baby’s life. The virulent factor is the anaffectivity of the caregivers, which attacks very deep internal dimensions, especially when we talk about a baby in the fragile period of his birth. 4
This violent relathionships can lead to teen-age early self-harm problems. The deep void is often fiercely applied towards the skin: the psychic pain became fisical pain, way more tolerable.5
Is there a relation between singing voice, such a specific expression of the deepest and non-rational part of an individual, even since the first wailing before the language, and the multiple forms of self-harm? Despite this disease often attacks the skin, or other practices such as alcoholism, self-destructive behaviour, drugs use and abuse etc., this study try to investigate if self-harm could be harmful to the singing voice. It means to find if an individual could self-sabotage a possible identity realization, abusing the body and consequently the vocal apparatus, losing the connection between voice and vitality.
Specifically, this study bases on the research of a possible connection using two different self-valutative tests: The BIS-11 (Barrat Impulsiveness Scale 6 and the SVHI test (Singer Voice) Handicap Index), about functional dysphonies.7
30 people had done the tests, both men and women, from different ages, together with some anamnestic question.
It is, however, a pilot study; the cases are still few many, and the intent is to enlarge the sample, as well as selecting it more specifically. Furthermore, after analyzing the results, a re-examination of the test will be required, mostly because of their self-assessment nature. They are not always objective.
For example, the SVHI threshold is too wide to obtain certain results (45 +/-25 indicates a possible dysphonia). Plus, it is based on a personal perception of the wellness status.
Notes
1 M. Fagioli, Istinto di morte e conoscenza, Ed. L’Asino D’Oro, 1972
2 M. Fagioli, Death Instinct and knowledge, Ed. L’Asino D’Oro, 2019, p. 53
3 Op. cit., pp. 95-96
4 Convegno “AUTOLESIONISMO” del 22 aprile 2017 presso L’Istituto Russel Newton di Scandicci (FI), intervento di Letizia Del Pace, Psichiatra e Psicoterapeuta.
5 C. Di Agostino, M. Fabi, M. Sneider, Autolesionismo – quando la pelle è colpevole, pp.55-59, Ed. L’Asino D’Oro, 2016
6 Patton J.H., Stanford. M.S., Barratt E.S., 1995
7 Francesca Galvani, Psicologia della Voce e del Canto; Dalle neuro scienze alle applicazioni cliniche, 2019 ©Francesca Galvani – Printed by Amazon Italia Logistica S.r.l. Functional dysphonies are those which are related to a vocal abuse. These are the typical dysphonies dude to certain jobs (teachers, actors, singers…). It’s called “surmenage” (vocal overload) or “malmenage” (inappropriate use) which can lead to pathological consequences in the long term such as nodules or chords polyps. In those cases, the tendency could be an inappropriate use of the voice (such as whispering or screaming. The also could be connected to mental disorders.
