What is BOVARISM in Psychology: Meaning and Examples

Madame Bovary is the title of one of the most famous novels in the history of literature. The protagonist of this novel gives her name to Madame Bovary syndrome. Bovarism is characterized by a permanent dissatisfaction due to reality, which collides with the high expectations and desires of the person that are not realized. If you want to know the origin of this term, as well as the characteristics, treatment and examples of this syndrome, find out in our Psychology-Online article: What is bovarism in psychology: meaning and examples.

Index

1. Bovarism: meaning
2. What is bovarism in psychology
3. How to treat bovarism
4. Examples of bovarism

The bovarism, also called Madame Bovary syndrome, owes its name to Emma Bovary. It is of great importance to know the history of this syndrome to fully understand bovarism in psychology.

The concept of bovarism takes its name from Madame Bovary, the character in Gustave Flaubert's novel, a classic of world literature. In this 1857 novel, the author created a character who

The origin of Emma's marital dissatisfaction is located in the romantic novels that she devoured from a young age, so she develops a fictional and idealized concept of love and affective relationships. Her husband Charles hers does not respond to Emma's love expectations and fantasies, he does not resemble the heroic protagonists of adolescent novels. The lack of a passionate and obsessive relationship, puts Emma in a state of enormous emotional dissatisfaction.

As feelings of monotony, mediocrity, and dissatisfaction with real life increase, Emma takes more refuge in the love novels she read when she was young. Thus, she begins to fantasize about the love life she had always dreamed of, to the point of getting further and further away from reality and not being able to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Following this novel, the French philosopher Jules de Gaultier coined this term in 1892 in his study of the novel and the character of Emma, Le Bovarysme, Flaubert's psychologie dans l’œuvre. Ten years later, this same philosopher wrote Le Bovarysme, a thesis on the psychology of the characters in Flaubert's novel. That is why the bovarism or Madame Bovary syndrome refers to a state of chronic dissatisfaction, in which reality is denied or rejected.

Bovarism in psychology was coined in the 20th century, since at the end of 1940 this syndrome began to be studied in psychoanalysis. From psychology it is a term that is still used to refer to a syndrome that is characterized by a permanent dissatisfaction and frustration due to the mismatch between expectations and aspirations, normally disproportionate and obsessive, and reality, the contrast or distance that exists between the two.

The symptoms of bovarism are related to the psychology of the protagonist of the novel and the following have been identified:

• Unrealistic expectations: People with this syndrome develop fanciful, unreal and disproportionate expectations and goals, which leads to a wrong perspective of reality. Frustration also appears at the inability for reality to respond to the expectations raised by the person.
• Impossible goals: the establishment of goals and purposes that are not achievable due to difficulties also predominate of the person to endure and survive reality, which generates anguish and discomfort intense. There is a longing for things that are beyond the reach of the person; aspirations are not drawn on the basis of the consciousness of the person himself and his real conditions, they are based on subjective idealizations.
• Confirmation bias: This bias refers to the acceptance of information selectively and based on its adjustment with the distorted expectations and ideas that the person holds, so that these are ended feeding. On the other hand, information that contradicts the fictitious reality is rejected. Therefore, there is a biased interpretation of reality and a loss of the sense of objectivity and critical judgment.
• Denial of reality: denial is used as a coping and defensive strategy. The person with this syndrome escapes and evades reality, which she cannot bear, in order to continue living in the fantasy that she has created. This denial leads to a lack of responsibility for her own actions and behaviors.
• Lack of self-knowledge: inability to perceive herself realistically, self-perception is idealized. They are unable to recognize their own limitations and weaknesses. In addition, there is frequent dramatic and excessive reaction to any small conflict, as well as paranoid attitude towards other people.

Although Madame Bovary syndrome is not diagnosed as a disorder and does not appear in the diagnostic manual of psychology, it is a term used to define a series of characteristics and symptoms that result in an impairment of behavior and personality.

This syndrome has psychological consequences in the people who develop it and is related to other psychological disorders, but What is bovarian syndrome associated with? The defining characteristics of Madame Bovary syndrome are present in some of the personality disorders, specifically in the borderline personality disorder, the narcissistic personality disorder and the Histrionic personality disorder.

In bovarism, as in narcissism, there is an idealized image of the person or some aspects of it, as well as the existence of feelings of greatness and self-centeredness. Also the tendency to drama, the exaggeration of the emotions and the theatricality present in bovarism is a characteristic of the histrionic personality. Also, the chronic feeling of emptiness that characterizes Madame Bovary syndrome is characteristic of borderline personality disorder. Chronic dissatisfaction and discontent often lead to the development of depressive and anxious-type symptoms. There is a strong tendency to melancholia and the dysthymia or chronic form of depression. It can also be identified anger and rage, as a consequence of frustration with reality, sometimes leading to aggressive and / or self-destructive behaviors. Generally, it is due to these symptoms that the person usually comes to therapy.

In this section of the article we will discuss how to treat bovarism. The objectives of the treatment of bovarism They are oriented to a more realistic interpretation of reality, as well as to promote acceptance and adaptation of the person to it.

Normally, people who come to therapy do not do so because of Bovary syndrome itself, since they are not aware of its alteration of reality. The reason why they usually seek professional help, as mentioned above, is the anxiety-depressive symptomatology of the person, that is, emotional discomfort. Therefore, the first objective is the awareness of the problem by the person. The professional person must understand and explain the mechanism of denial as a coping strategy and defensive, as well as illustrating it with examples from the person's own life to promote awareness.

Once the person is aware, strategies on how to cure Madame Bovary syndrome they focus on modifying both affective and cognitive biases and patterns that are at the basis of bovarism. That is why in the treatment of bovarism a reflection and analysis on the way of thinking and feeling, both in relation to the person himself and his environment and the consequences or affectations that he is having on his life.

On the other hand, the work on self-concept of the person, so that it is realistic, as well as promote self-esteem in some of the aspects of the personality of the person. Finally, the radical acceptance of reality, since it is not possible to change reality without prior acceptance of it. It is necessary for the person to understand that accepting reality is not passively resigning to it, but a necessary and vital step to change it. Knowledge of reality leads to the identification of what you want to change.

Through the self-knowledge and the acceptance of reality, achievable goals are established and the vital priorities of the person are rethought based on personal and environmental resources. The professional person must favor the strategies for achieving objectives and coping in the treatment of bovarism.

To better understand bovarism, Madame Bovary's novel has been adapted for film on several occasions. To obtain an illustrated example of this syndrome, any of these films can be viewed. We find examples of bovarism in:

• Madame Bovary by Jean Renoir (1934)
• Madame Bovary by Carlos Schlieper (1947)
• Madame Bovary by Vincente Minnelli (1949)
• David Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970)
• Claude Chabrol's Madame Bovary (1991)
• The reasons of the heart of Arturo Ripstein (2011)
• Spring in Normandy by Anne Fontaine (2014)
• Madame Bovary by Sophie Bartes (2014)

Other examples of bovarism are found in the representation of the archetype of Emma Bovary as a desperate woman and housewife. The American housewives and middle class women After the Second World War they are an example of Madame de Bovary syndrome, since they presented dissatisfaction with the style of life to which they were relegated by social conventions, this style did not satisfy their needs and desires individual. This problem or dissatisfaction was described by Betty Friedan in 1963 in her book "The mystique of happiness". This archetypal dissatisfied housewife has been portrayed through the character of Séverine Serizy in the film "Bella by day" by Luis Buñuel, as well as through the character of Carmela Soprano in the series of "The Sopranos". A current example of bovarism, of this chronic dissatisfaction, can be found in the feeling of collective emptiness derived from the current capitalist system. The evasion of this reality is personified in consumerism, which is used to alleviate this momentary and ephemeral dissatisfaction, although the feeling of emptiness and discontent does not take long to reappear.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is bovarism in psychology: meaning and examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• Gaultier, J. (1892) Le Bovarysme, Flaubert's psychologie dans l’œuvre. Paris: Libraire Léopold Cerf.
• Gaultier, J. D. (1902). You bovarysme. On Le Bovarysme.
• Leonard, S. (2013). The Americanization of Emma Bovary: From Feminist Icon to Desperate Housewife. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(3), 647-669.
• Sierra, N. V. (2007). In the 150 years of Madame Bovary, 1857-2007. Design of a character: Madame Bovary. Thought and culture, 10(1), 123.