ABSTRACT. What occurs in psychopathology is the disturbance of psychoanthropological modules, or rather the demise of institutions like the king’s fool, and the detour of cultural phenomena like the carnival. They become undifferentiated, rigid, relatively autonomous, tending to react to minor and nonspecific stimuli, and finally taking over the psyche and de-situationalizing it.

Keywords: mania; depression; culture; anthropology