Reading the case of Christopher

David B. Allison

Mark Roberts

pp. 373-388

in: Babette Babich (ed), From phenomenology to thought, errancy, and desire, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

Within the tradition of psychoanalytic and psychiatric case studies, one generally tends to locate personal agency within a single subject. Even Freud's most unusual and celebrated cases, such as "Rat Man," "Schreber," "Wolf Man," etc., all the while being understood within the broader context of familial relations, nonetheless remain the individual subjects of psychoanalytic interpretation. However, in the case we will subsequently examine, namely, that of "Christopher," one is confronted by an entirely new dynamics of agency, an agency shared by two distinctly different and removed subjects. This double agency is characteristic of a recently discovered and enigmatic psychiatric disorder, Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MBPS).¹