The terms berserk and going berserk reflect the violent and ferocious warriors and ruthless murderers of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, active from before the Viking age until the advent of Christianity. The main source on the phenomenon is the Old Norse literature, mainly the Icelandic sagas with their sober descriptive accounts of the berserks and their behaviour.

The berserks are frequently depicted as having had antisocial character traits; often as bullies who evince, by way of autosuggestion, an enormous and uncontrollable rage, slaughtering and killing. They felt no pain and hardly took in the environment they lived in. The fits were followed by exhaustion or sleep. Although the phenomenon waned completely by the advent of Christianity, it can hardly be discarded as just myth or folklore. Most likely it could be explained as a kind of dissociative reaction. The widespread idea of toadstool as causative agent is at best debatable. The conceptions of pre-Christian heathenism about the human mind are of importance to the understanding of suggestibility and capacity for trance reaction. The condition is considered a culture-bound syndrome. Comparisons are drawn to lycanthropy (werewolf madness), frequently considered an identical phenomenon. Clinically (i.e. historically) it was mainly something different, namely psychotic conditions.

Kompetansesenter for sikkerhets-, fengsels- og rettspsykiatri, Haukeland Universitetssjukehus, Postboks 23, 5812 Bergen. jon.geir.hoyersten@helse-bergen.no

Posted: 12/10/2006



This article provided by The International Hypnosis Research Institute.

Enter your email address to subscribe to the IHRI Newsletter.

Commitment Hypnosis Can Help Your Mind Work Together to Achieve Commitment! You’ll start to become a person of focus,drive,& passion who can develop rich relationships, achieve goals,& experience more happiness!! So commit to using this session!!

Blood Pressure Management You CAN Lower Your Blood Pressure with Hypnosis.Listening to this session will start to lower your blood pressure to a normal level because it works with your inner mind to regulate and alleviate stress stored in your body.

Sooth Away IBS Over 15 years of solid scientific research has demonstrated hypnosis to be an effective, safe and inexpensive choice for IBS alleviation.Utilizing the healing power of your mind, you’ll relax your body and sooth away IBS.