The Author highlights the intellectual and emotional qualities of Guicciardi’s paper. Guicciardi’s article is a remarkable illustration of nineteenth century Italian psychiatry. It offers a survey of the psychiatric theories in use during this historical period. Psychiatry, at that time, embedded in positivism and organicism, brought the contemporary psychiatrists to label it with the term ‘freniatria’ (this term derives from Greek, it embraces both brain and mind). The title of Guicciardi’s article recalls the prevailing French thesis on degeneracy ("dégénérescence") and also the possible return of humanity’s past in the present mind. The Author concurs with Guicciardi’s interpretation on the case study: Chiara’s experience of childbirth delivery and infanticide happens in twilight consciousness. Moreover, the patient’s psychological condition engenders shame, not guilt that Chiara probably never reached consciously. Finally, the Author - in view of his personal studies on the psychopathology of shame and sensitive delusion - illustrates the possible occurrences of such phenomena.
Keywords: "Freniatria", degeneracy, "dégénérescence", organicism, guilt, shame, "Super-Ego", "Ideal- Ego".