The Demonopathology of Impotence

¹ Professor of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 15

There is to be found, in medieval demonological literature, a classification of impotence which in certain respects relates remarkably closely to some psychodynamic hypotheses current today. There is also evidence of appreciation of the part played by inner (unconscious) mental processes; it being held that these, by deceiving the senses, can give rise to an illusion of genital deprivation. This phenomenon can probably be equated with castration anxiety.

Viewed retrospectively, the persecution of witches, in medieval times, seems to have stemmed from several sources. Because Ritual Witchcraft represented the persistence in Europe, of the pre-Christian pagan religion or Dianic cult, those who practised it were regarded as heretics. Further impetus was given to this persecution by knowledge of certain sexual rituals probably akin to primitive fertility rites. This in the setting of misogyny attendant upon the Christian ascetic ideal, led to the emergence of a delusional belief that witches had power to interfere with sexual relationships.