“Don Quixote” by Cervantes: What kind of “madness” sees windmills as giants; maintains relationship with Sancho Panza; adopts named, alternate personality?

Seeing Windmills as Giants

People with a psychosis like schizophrenia would NOT mistake a windmill for a giant. But there are two kinds of nonpsychotic people who might: 1. highly hypnotizable people who are given the suggestion that they will see windmills as giants, and 2. a child who thinks he is a superhero who fights giants, and substitutes windmills for giants.

As a general rule, persons with schizophrenia are relatively low in hypnotizability, while persons with multiple personality are relatively high in hypnotizability. Children are more hypnotizable than adults. Multiple personality starts in childhood. And adults with multiple personality have certain thought processes rooted in childhood.

Presumably, Don Quixote (who may have had preexisting multiple personality since childhood) has been virtually hypnotized by books on knights-errant and chivalry.

Relationships

Sancho Panza often thinks that Don Quixote has crazy ideas. So why are the two men able to maintain their relationship? Not only because Quixote has promised to reward Sancho by giving him an island, since a promise from a person with true psychosis would have been seen as worthless. The reasons are 1. Quixote often does make sense, 2. Quixote’s fantasies about knights-errant and chivalry are common in their culture, and 3. Quixote is often attentive and responsive to Sancho’s feelings and needs.

People with untreated schizophrenia (or any true psychosis) are relatively impaired in interpersonal relationships, while people with a dissociative disorder like multiple personality may be engaging, sometimes entangling.

Alternate Names and Personalities

Typically, people with schizophrenia do not adopt new names and personalities; whereas, people with multiple personality do.