“The bullfighters should have a psychiatrist or a head psychologist who accompanies them and advised to face the risk situation involved in life.” This is how psychiatrist Ignacio Basurte, medical director of the López Ibor Clinic in Madrid, specialized in the treatment of mental health, following the dissociative disorder suffered by the right -handed Morante de la Puebla, released by himself in an interview published recently in the newspaper in the newspaper Abc.
“It is shown that more than 40 percent of people will suffer a mental problem throughout their existence, and bullfighters have more reasons because they are subject to chronic stress,” he adds. “The constant search for triumph, overcoming fear, living with uncertainty or the consequences of a withdrawal or a cornada in families that depend on them,” he continues, “they are elements that can produce a health problem in bullfighters if they do not have the ideal tools to overcome them.”
Triumph, failure, fear, uncertainty or a cornada can produce a mental health problem in bullfighters ”
In his opinion, Morante de la Puebla has done a good job by publicly counting the disorder he suffers: “We are accustomed to the figure of the psychologist in other sectors, as in sport,” he says, “but not among bullfighters, who have a special aura of special people, some superheroes, which seem to be afraid to lose that condition if they decide to go to a consultation.”
Basurte explains that the dissociative personality disorder that says the Sevillian bullfighter “occurs when reason and acts are not aligned, and the person is forced to evade himself to face a stress situation that he does not accept; It is a mechanism for defense of the brain to flee from a real situation and act as an automaton, as someone who gets carried away by instinct; That emotional reality becomes a disease when it interferes with the personal, work or social life of the affected. ” In the opinion of the psychiatrist, “the evil of Morante de la Puebla could be related to a painting of persistent depression, and it seems that the treatment for healing is directed.”
The doctor insists on which this type of disorder appears more easily in vulnerable people who must face extreme risk situations, such as bullfighters. “Some people tolerate that disease better than others,” he explains, “and this depends largely on the genetic and neurobiological load of each; Not everyone who is exposed to a risk or stress situation, such as bullfighting, will develop such a disorder, but individual vulnerability will be decisive. ”
On the healing or persistence of that condition, Ignacio Basurte comments that “there are disorders that will follow a chronic course, and others will completely refer or appear in an episodic way, depending on the severity of evil, but what seems clear is that if it is not soon accessed to the treatment, a fatal outcome can be produced; A bullfighter could be killed in a borderline situation. Being depressed is not being sad, but sick. And severe depression can awaken the temptation to stop suffering. ”
One of the treatments for this type of disease is electroconvulsive therapy (vulgarly known as electroshock) and Morante himself acknowledges that he has received 18 sessions. “This recipe is adequate when the patient urgently needs to join his normal life, to his profession, as is the case of this bullfighter, who suffers the pressure of being at the top, in excellence, which assures that he has to fight, and on his healing the future depends on a set of companies and people.”
The most important thing is not to feel stigmatized for going to the consultation; If Nadal says that he has a head -breeze psychologist, nobody would be surprised. ”
Ask. What is electroconvulsive therapy?
Answer. It is carried out with general anesthesia and lies in the application of an electric current in the patient’s brain that produces a discharge in all neurotransmitters to the purpose of being rearranged; It’s about resetting the hard drive inside. This system has an adequate response around 80 percent, and it is logical that it produces memory loss, which is recovered in hours or days.
Basurte remembers a shocking phrase from Morante (“I torment me crazy”), and believes that the right -hander refers to a loss of control over itself and the fear of relapses. “What we sometimes call madness is the eccentricity that is part of art,” says the psychiatrist. “The bullfighters are artists and heroes; They are good bull psychologists and that makes them great. They are special people, they have to be because they practice a profession of great weight and risk, and face a special difficulty. ”
P. The bullfighter Manolo Vázquez said that the most difficult thing about bullfighting was to create a work of art one day, at a certain hour, and not when inspiration appears …
R. That is the great responsibility of the bullfighter. Interestingly, part of its genius is dissociation; Get evading the public’s pressure and becoming an artist. It is still a natural defense mechanism.
P. Has any bullfighter attended his consultation?
R. Some have. The most important thing is not to feel stigmatized for going to a health professional. If Rafael Nadal says he has a header psychologist no one would be surprised, but if a bullfighter recognizes him, yes; And it is not easy to be prepared to face triumph or failure.