The influence of sociocultural factors is present in all aspects of psychiatric disorders and becomes especially evident in phenomena such as collective psychosis. This type of psychosis manifests as group distress, in which various psychological disturbances emerge and spread within a specific group, generating emotional and cognitive contagion. In these contexts, it is common for paranoid or delusional ideas to be transmitted from one person to another, reinforcing shared distorted beliefs. In general terms, psychosis involves a set of symptoms that affect reality testing, causing the individual to be unable to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary — something that can intensify when framed within social dynamics that validate or amplify such distortions.
For Freud, psychosis is the result of a disturbance in the links between the Ego and the external world. It is a reaction to collective stress that produces a distortion of reality within the group. Filicide is closely related to these two concepts.
It can also be due to severe parental disorders in situations of desperation. Multiple unconscious factors exist. Destructive impulses that were not properly processed or repressed emerge.
It may be that children are seen as bearers of the parents’ frustrations, desires, and fears, which can generate unconscious rejection or hatred toward them.
Parental envy and neglect are also elements that may be present in this phenomenon.
Neglect is seen as the failure to attend to the emotional and physical needs of the children.
This is experienced by the child as abandonment, which can manifest from the absence of essential care to partial or total emotional indifference. This causes the child to feel loneliness and become vulnerable.
If this neglect is taken to the extreme, it can lead to infanticide, since no bond — or a deficient one — exists to protect the child from the parents or caregivers.
Parental envy, which is rarely accepted or acknowledged, stems from feelings of resentment, frustration, and unmet expectations toward the children, due to projection and personal disorders of the parents or caregivers.
Thus, we see how parents sabotage their children’s achievements, which can manifest through excessive punishment, physical violence, or rejection.
These emotions are sometimes difficult to resolve and can intensify, potentially causing harmful situations for the child — even to the extreme of causing death.
On the other hand, from the Kleinian perspective, infanticide is related to the destruction of the “good object” out of envy or deep hatred.
In witchcraft, we see acts of infanticide when there are extreme manifestations of unconscious drives — generally in paranoid or persecutory forms. An example of this can be found in rituals or witches.
In cultures where witches were said to kill children, it is evident how unconscious destructive fantasies are set in motion. Both Melanie Klein and Sigmund Freud related this to the early stages of psychic development.
According to M. Klein, envy arises in the earliest stage — the schizoid-paranoid position — when the baby feels unable to control the maternal breast. The baby envies the breast because they know it is a source of pleasure and nourishment, but also wishes for its destruction because they cannot possess it completely. This envy generates destructive fantasies that must be properly worked through. If they are not, they can later manifest as disorders such as psychosis and perversion.
In this position, the baby envies the maternal breast because it provides life, pleasure, and satisfaction, but also frustration.
The baby fantasizes about attacking the “bad” breast since it is not always available, and this can harm the “good” breast.
Thus, the child — the subject — projects their hatred outward, toward the external object, which causes them to perceive everything in terms of good and bad, thereby perpetuating persecutory fantasies.
We can then understand why, according to M. Klein, infanticide is the symbol of the good and beloved object destroyed out of envy and frustration. The child may be seen as possessing what the subject (parent or caregiver) lacks — such as health, beauty, and so on — which can in turn provoke and activate fantasies of annihilation.
Melanie Klein describes primary envy as an aggressive, oral impulse aimed at destroying life and goodness simply because they exist and cannot be controlled.
In filicide, this mechanism becomes reactivated in the mother or father, and the child takes the place of the breast. Thus, we can understand how the parent not only loves the child but also envies them. They may envy their health, goodness, and vitality — all of which represent the “good object” that the parents feel they never had, or that they tend to destroy in their own fantasies.
For this author, envy is the hatred that exists from the very beginning of life. In the case of filicide, this hatred is directed toward the child, who becomes the embodiment of the “good object” that the parent envies and wishes to destroy.
This desire to kill is not conscious; it is an unconscious fantasy of destruction that, in psychosis, can be acted out. Thus, the child is destroyed because they represent goodness, love, and life — all of which become unbearable for parents whose Ego is filled with frustration, emptiness, and rage (the “bad”).
Killing the child, according to envy, is the destruction of the living proof of goodness — something deeply desired but unattainable. In this way, witchcraft provides the perfect stage for the envious fantasy to unfold and justify itself.
On the other hand, the father or mother cannot consciously tolerate the envy and hatred they feel toward their own child, and being unable to tolerate it, they project it outward.
By projecting their own envy through witchcraft, the child ceases to be the “good object” that is envied and becomes, in the eyes of the parents, a “bad object” — one that has been invaded by external evil. This, in turn, justifies the “purification” of a damaged object. Witchcraft allows the destructive fantasy to be acted out, perceived as a “defense” against external evil. As Alvarito grows, he becomes a good object that the mother envies and unconsciously wishes to destroy, reactivating the schizoid-paranoid position.
In some cultures, infanticide has been seen as a form of purification.
The witch is viewed as a projection of the bad object.
We can also understand Freud’s idea that witchcraft is a form of collective paranoia, in which an entire group projects its inner aggression onto its “enemy” — the child.
The cognitive distortions associated with envy in infanticide are related to feelings of inferiority, low self-esteem, and dysfunctional beliefs about the child’s positive characteristics.
The desire to kill one’s children may arise under extreme stress, emotional exhaustion, unresolved trauma, postpartum depression, or even intergenerational patterns of violence — for example, parents with a history of abuse. It can also occur when there is overwhelming fatigue or what is known as “parental burnout syndrome.”
Infanticide often occurs where there is little to no education in health and reproductive rights.
There are communities that do not trust doctors due to past experiences. Children die from dehydration and infections.
They explain and justify infanticide as a free act of the spirit or as the result of supposed possessions. These phenomena commonly occur in contexts of extreme poverty, ignorance, and religious beliefs.
When medicine seems to offer no answers or hope, many people, out of desperation, turn to witchcraft. As we have seen, these are coping strategies.
We can thus see how witchcraft functions as a collective defense system that helps protect a group from anxieties that would otherwise be unbearable for an individual alone.
Its main function is to contain that unbearable anguish — in this case, illness or the death of a child.
Witchcraft serves as a container for that terrifying reality, transforming and explaining what would otherwise be incomprehensible. For example, in the case of Alvarito, instead of accepting “my child died from an untreated infection,” the explanation becomes “my child died because he was bewitched.” This cause is more manageable.
Witchcraft socially legitimizes defense mechanisms that would otherwise be considered pathological. For example, we see the defense mechanism of projection — envy, anger, aggressive impulses, and guilt are projected onto the witch or the “bewitched child,” who becomes the bad object. By projecting all this, the “evil” is placed outside oneself — onto those who cast spells — allowing the parents to see themselves as “victims” and “good.”
Rationalization also plays a role: witchcraft and its beliefs provide an internal logic to justify the unjustifiable — for example, “Let’s not give him antibiotics because the healer’s remedies are stronger against the spell.” This allows parents and even doctors to feel less guilt for their negligence.
By attributing all these events to an external force (witchcraft), the parents free themselves from personal responsibility.
Alvarito’s death was not caused by his untreated infection, but by the power of the spell.
Witchcraft restores an illusion of control. If what happened was due to a curse, then a counter-curse — such as cleansings, potions, or rituals — can reverse it.
At the same time, it unites the group: “they” are the bad ones, the aggressors, and “we” are the good ones, the victims. This helps reinforce the community’s identity.
Witchcraft offers a channel for aggression that helps prevent that aggression from turning inward and destroying the self. Thus, witchcraft can be seen as a collective, adaptive, and even creative defense system — although, ultimately, it could also be considered highly pathological.
It is a social pact that says: instead of collapsing individually under so much anguish, guilt, and helplessness, let us externalize these emotions through a shared belief system so that our pain becomes more tolerable — because it will be shared.
This helps us see an enemy that unites us and makes us feel as though we are in control, even though the ultimate price is the life of an innocent child.
There are many emotions surrounding infanticide. For example, a person may feel guilt once their child has died — perhaps this guilt appears when they realize what has happened and begin to miss their little one.
As mentioned before, infanticide occurs when a person feels extremely overwhelmed or lacks the resources to help their child.
Others may act emotionally disconnected to avoid pain.
When they perceive themselves as “bad,” guilt intensifies — especially when they feel abandoned, alone, and helpless, unable to care for anyone, not even themselves.
Individuals or groups facing phenomena such as infanticide or witchcraft — whether as witnesses or victims — may activate various defense mechanisms, deeply studied by Anna Freud:
- Denial, which is the unconscious rejection of the reality of what happened.
- Repression, understood as blocking the event to avoid pain.
- Projection and displacement, used to avoid accepting responsibility and to blame others — the witch, neighbors, doctors — attributing one’s own impulses or repressed desires to them, such as “she’s the witch” because she arrived uninvited and wishes me harm.
- Rationalization, giving a logical or social justification for what occurred; it is closely related to projection and displacement.
- Depersonalization, common when there is a disconnection from one’s emotions or body, as if observing the event from outside oneself.
- Splitting, which separates everything into “good” and “bad.”
- Demonic idealization, the creation of figures of evil with extreme power to explain the incomprehensible — for example, people involved in infanticide.
- Reaction formation, when exaggerated behaviors appear opposite to one’s true desires.
- Projective identification, in which one makes the other believe or do what one fears or rejects.
- Sublimation: in witchcraft, rituals transform anguish and channel conflict.
Filicide in the Case of Alvarito
Alvarito began with diarrhea that lasted for days and months. The “curse” consisted of “slowly burning not only his little body, but also his spirit.”
Neither doctors nor healers could save him.
On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the characteristics of children who are victims of infanticide and witchcraft — they vary depending on culture and the degree of violence experienced.
To begin with, S. Freud studied witchcraft as part of infantile magical thinking, which includes the omnipotence of ideas.
Social stigmatization can occur — rejection from the community and a desire to expel the child from the home.
The child may feel “bad” or dangerous, reinforcing guilt and fear — and as a consequence, fall ill.
Intense anxiety may arise, causing fear of being punished or attacked. There is a high likelihood of somatizations — physical symptoms expressing psychological pain. These children also tend to develop ritualized behaviors learned from their environment, which allow them to perform magical acts for protection or purification.
For example, a child diagnosed with intestinal infections who does not receive adequate medical care and whose parents later interpret the illness as witchcraft — this is a true tragedy involving medical negligence, cultural beliefs, and extreme vulnerability.
This child, Alvarito, endured intense physical pain without relief or emotional containment. He suffered extreme emotional confusion, unable to understand why no adult could help him. He may also have experienced emotional isolation, feeling rejected or feared by those around him.
He likely felt deep anxiety and fear when he heard or was told he was “bewitched” or “cursed,” unable to make sense of the inexplicable.
Thus, witchcraft functions as a system of collective defense mechanisms.
Filicide as Omission
Filicide is a homicide by omission, seen when parents — who are responsible for caring for their children — fail to do so due to negligence.
Negligence can be medical or parental: for instance, when parents fail to follow medical treatments or do not administer prescribed medication.
It can also arise from cultural beliefs that lead parents to abandon medical treatments that could have saved the child’s life. This is punishable, even without intent to harm.
Filicide through negligence occurs when parents fail to provide medical tests such as lab work or X-rays, or when they forget or decide not to give the child necessary medications.
In these cases, there is maladaptation on the part of the parents, often triggered by their own internal conflicts. For example, parents who experienced childhood loss, neglect, or abandonment may unconsciously relive that pain without being able to act differently.
They internalize magical beliefs from their environment or their own parents as a way to make sense of suffering — rejecting medicine out of ignorance or because they consider it ineffective.
According to Sigmund Freud, this represents a repetition of trauma, where unresolved grief over previous losses traps parents in a vicious circle of death.
There may also be projective identification, where guilt and helplessness are projected onto the sick child, labeling them as “bewitched” — which helps justify the abandonment of medical treatment.
A key primitive defense is magical omnipotence, which led them to believe that the healers’ remedies were stronger than any antibiotic — easing unbearable pain and helplessness. Witchcraft-related ideas are persecutory beliefs within a given cultural context.
Witchcraft provides a sense of peace and hope where medicine has failed. These families often experience social abandonment, and when words are insufficient to express pain, they turn to the symbolic.
We can link rage, envy, and witchcraft as emotional, symbolic, and social forces that explain conflict, suffering, and — above all — the need for safety and protection.
Rage and envy may arise when there are fantasies of harming others, especially when one feels that others are preventing them from living.
When people feel there is no rational solution, these emotions may be projected into symbolic domains, such as witchcraft. Within witchcraft, the individual finds a symbolic channel for defense and aggression. We see rituals and supposed medicines that claim to influence the lives and health of others.
Witchcraft may be used when an individual cannot find a rational or clear explanation — for instance, for an illness. It provides an explanation and a sense of protection through cleansings and rituals that channel fear, restore a sense of control, and serve as a way to reconnect with oneself.
Rage and the idea emerge to conceal pain and helplessness in the face of illness, such as severe infections.
In Alvarito’s case, envy was conceptualized (by the parents/the community) as an active force that had “infected” the child, while rage motivated acts of revenge and punishment (toward the child, seen as the embodiment of that force).
Filicide, then, can be understood as a form of punishment directed at one or both members of the couple, where the child becomes the symbol of that broken bond. We can see this in cultural explanations such as alcoholism or adultery, where, for instance, the mother might say that witches bewitched the father and that because he “drank so much,” they killed their child.
In communities under high social pressure or extreme poverty, alcohol can become an emotional escape route. This may lead to adultery, which generates significant conflict within the couple and the family.
In many places, adultery is seen as a violation of social norms and even religious laws.
Witchcraft, in this context, can be understood as a real or symbolic punishment for committing adultery or drinking excessively.
It may be viewed as a form of justice in which the resolution occurs symbolically.
In conclusion, filicide driven by witchcraft emerges as the tragic convergence of multiple dimensions. On an individual level, it functions as the ultimate manifestation of unresolved trauma and archaic psychic conflicts, where primitive defense mechanisms such as projection and projective identification find a catastrophic outlet. The child, transformed into the receptacle of unbearable envy, rage, and guilt from the parents, is symbolically sacrificed to purge evils that transcend them.
This intimate drama is powerfully enabled and shaped by a sociocultural context of extreme poverty, hopelessness, and systems of magical beliefs. In this fertile ground, witchcraft not only provides an explanation for incomprehensible suffering but also offers a pre-established script and a culturally codified “solution,” transforming an act of homicide into a perceived act of justice, purification, or collective defense within a distorted symbolic universe.
