The Denial of Death

Becker now discusses mental illness. First, he discusses depression. He argues that it “develops in people who are afraid of life” and are unwilling “to give oneself up to the risks and dangers of the world” (210). Depression is also driven by fear of being alone and without power, and by the failure to perform heroism. In one case, menopause in women causes depression because it is a reminder of their animal nature and of their aging. The schizophrenic is someone without any illusions about the human condition. Like with depression, schizophrenia involves a person lacking the “resources” (221) to be a hero. Becker explains what he terms sexual “perversions,” like masochism and homosexuality, as “the existential anxiety of life and death finding its focus on the animal body” (224).

At the center of mental illness, according to Becker, is what he calls the “hermaphroditic image.” In psychological theory, the hermaphroditic image is the sense people have of their own genitalia and sexual difference. When children become aware of their mother’s nakedness, they become aware of their own animal bodies (225). Becker disagrees with Freud’s theory that this awareness causes hate of the father or sexual desire but instead argues that it shows the child that even their mothers are only bodies.