Medea syndrome: what is it and what are its characteristics

Unfortunately, in recent years there has been a high number of cases of murder and violence towards children by one parent for the purpose of revenge or to cause harm and suffering to the other progenitor; usually after a separation of the couple.

Medea syndrome has been used to refer to those cases in which one of the parents decides harm your child, both physically and psychologically, in order to cause harm and suffering to the other parent. This syndrome could be considered within the category of vicarious violence.

In this article we will see what Medea syndrome consists of and their characteristics.

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What is Medea syndrome?

The Medea syndrome in the field of psychology has been used to refer to those cases in which one of parents decide to harm their child, both physically and psychologically, in order to cause harm and suffering to the other parent.

This type of violence is normally committed against minor children, although it has also been found cases of violence against another person or some property that is highly appreciated by the abused person (p. g., causing harm to the parents of your ex-partner, destroying some of her property, etc.); however, Medea syndrome speaks more of the damage caused to the children they have in common.

The ways of causing this damage to children can be very diverse and this could also be due to several factors (eg. g., culture, country, social, political and/or economic environment, etc.). Unfortunately, in investigations carried out on this type of case, all kinds of situations that can be related to the syndrome have been documented. of Medea, being able to find situations of verbal or psychological and physical violence through insults, severe punishments or insults, among other ways of violence.

In the most serious cases, there have been people who have murdered their children in order to cause the suffering of the other parent. Secondly, These types of acts have been called in other ways such as "substitution violence" or "vicarious violence".

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Where does the name of this myth come from?

The origin of the Medea syndrome is found in the Medea myth, which tells of a sorceress and priestess who killed her children in order to take revenge on her father. In the story about this myth it is told that Medea, the daughter of the nymph Idia and the king of Colchis, Aeetes and, moreover, she was the granddaughter of Helios, the god of the Sun. Medea was the priestess of Hecate, and she was considered by her faithful as the mother who possessed the knowledge of sorcery. That is why Medea could be considered as the archetype of sorceress or witch, contrary to the ideal ideal prototype of Greek mythology.

The development of the Medea myth arose from a story in which it is explained that Jason and the Argonauts came to Colchis, the kingdom of Medea's father, looking for the Golden Fleece. Athena and Hera, the goddesses in charge of protecting Jason and his companions, asked Medea to marry Jason and support him in his mission. It was not difficult for that request to be fulfilled, since Medea was captivated when she saw Jason, nor was it complicated for her to join him in the search for her purposes.

Nevertheless, the king of Colchis and father of Medea did not make it easy for Jason and she entrusted him with some tasks that she had to fulfill hers wanted her to get the golden fleece. The myth of Medea tells that this sorceress helped Jason to overcome those tests, making him invulnerable to obstacles, so that it was thanks to her that he managed to overcome them.

After a series of challenges that Jason and Medea had to face, they managed to settle in Corinth, where they were well received by King Creon. There they lived a good time together, even having two children. However, a day came when Jason fell in love with Glauce, the king's daughter, and that's when the conflicts between the couple began. Medea apparently accepted the engagement between Jason and Glauce, even giving the girl a dress; but when she put it on, her dress caught fire and, after that, she ended up burning the whole palace.

Having laid waste to all of her, Medea knew that the Corinthians would retaliate against her and her two sons. For this reason, the myth tells that it was when Medea made the decision to end the life of her two children before the Corinthians did. There is also another version of this myth in which it is narrated that Medea's children were killed by the Corinthians to take revenge on her. In what both versions do seem to coincide is in the fact that, after the murder of her two children, Medea fled to Athens, where she remarried and had another son, Medo..

The last thing that is told about her story is that she would end up being forgiven in Colchis, her place of origin. Furthermore, the myth of Medea concludes narrating that Medea achieved immortality and that she lives for posterity on the Elysian Fields.

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Main characteristics of Medea syndrome

After analyzing numerous cases of Medea syndrome or vicarious violence, some experts have been able to observe a profile psychological characteristic of those who commit acts of violence against their children in order to cause harm to the other progenitor. These types of profiles usually share a series of characteristics, among which are the ones that we are going to list below:

• High impulsiveness.
• Low or even zero tolerance for frustration.
• Low self-esteem.
• Unsafety.
• Addiction history.
• Hallucinations and delusions.

However, although these characteristics have been found in a notable part of those subjects who committed this type of act, The fact that a person complies possesses one or several of these characteristics does not mean that he or she is going to commit such a crime. Therefore, it is important that Medea syndrome is diagnosed by a professional, having previously carried out the relevant evaluations.

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Some examples of Medea syndrome

In recent decades there have been cases related to Medea syndrome such as the ones that we are going to present briefly below and that, probably, will be familiar to many of you.

1. Case of José Bretón

In 2011, there was a highly publicized case due to the repercussion it had through the different media due to the seriousness of the matter. A man known as José Bretón killed his two youngest children, 2 and 6 years old, in the Spanish town of Córdoba. After committing the acts, he decided to burn the bodies of the two little ones in order to leave no traces.

In 2013, José Bretón would end up being sentenced to 40 years in prison for it and it is noteworthy that these acts were committed because of a revenge against his wife on the occasion of a proposal of divorce.

2. Case of David Oubel

Years after the José Bretón case, in 2015, a man named Davis Oubel murdered his two daughters, aged 4 and 9, in a locality of the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), being another case of vicarious violence in which the objective was to take revenge for his woman. In 2017, David Oubel was sentenced to life in prison.

3. Case of Tomas Gimeno

In the year 2021, on the Spanish island of Tenerife, a man known as Tomás Gimeno kidnapped his two daughters, ages 1 and 6. 45 days after the kidnapping, the body of the eldest of the daughters was found in a weighted bag at the bottom of the sea. However, the body of the little girl was not found, although there are indications found by the experts who have investigated the case. which clarify that the little girl would also have been murdered and thrown into the sea inside another weighted bag that had been found open and empty.