ETUDE RECHERCHE Learning From Artemisia’s Lucretia: Embodied Suffering and Interoception in Suicide

Perspective ARTICLE
Learning From Artemisia’s Lucretia: Embodied Suffering and Interoception in Suicide

Philippe Courtet^1,2,3* and Sébastien Guillaume^1,2,3

¹PSNREC, University of Montpellier, INSERM, CHU de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
²Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Acute Care, Lapeyronie Hospital, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France
³FondaMental Foundation, Créteil, France

Front. Psychiatry, 31 July 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00758

In the painting “Lucretia,” Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the major painters of the 17^th century, depicts Lucretia’s suicide. This artwork empathic vision offers the spectator the apprehension of a unique phenomenon where psychological pain is transformed into self-aggression. To understand why the body becomes an object to attack, it is important to study the role of interoception and self-awareness in the suicidal process. This essay discusses how bodily representations are crucial for interacting efficiently and safely with the outside world and for establishing the sense of self. It presents some of the available evidence showing that alterations in the body representation and in the sensations perceived by it contribute to suicide. Indeed, neuroimaging studies show that social environmental factors and their biological consequences in the body (e.g., increased neuroinflammation) can alter the neural networks of suicidal behavior by increasing the sensitivity to psychological pain and the disconnection from self-awareness. Therefore, body image, sensations and awareness as well as psychological pain should be examined to improve the understanding of the dynamic interactions between body, brain, and mind that underly suicidal behavior. This conceptualization brings clinical and therapeutic perspectives in a domain where they are urgently needed.

Introduction

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654 or later) is the most celebrated woman artist of the Baroque period in Italy. Her exceptional artwork “Lucretia’s Suicide” questions the overlooked issue of the body in suicidal behavior (Figure 1). More precisely, this artwork gives some insights into a rather unique process in suicidal individuals where psychic pain translates into an aggression against their own body. In this essay, our objective is, by starting from this painting, to discuss, on a narrative basis and based on recent and relevant publications, the current advances and future research directions to understand the role of interoception and self-awareness in the suicidal process.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00758/full