[Gulliver travels into psychosis-inspired by Dean Swift's own experience]

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) had long been interested in mental disease, which he also (ab)used for satirical purposes. He characterized various forms of madness in 1704, was elected governor of Bedlam in 1714, and in 1731 decided to dedicate his fortune to the founding of a first lunatic asylum in Ireland.

To identify and consider the nature of neuropsychiatric features described in Gulliver's Travels.

Literary works by and biographies of Jonathan Swift were examined together with the pertinent medical and historical specialist literature.

Gulliver's Travels, primarily a political satire, was published 300 years ago. The adventures of the restless naval surgeon Lemuel Gulliver on various remote islands can be understood as a journey into psychosis with characteristic motor, sensory and cognitive features. After his return home an autistic Gulliver refuses contact with his own species, the Yahoo-like humans, including his family and prefers the company of horses. Seamen and lunatic inpatients apparently shared a number of environmental risk factors and features of scorbutic nostalgia.

Caution is advised when making a retrospective diagnosis, even with a fictional character like Lemuel Gulliver. If there were no hints at relevant organic causes-primarily hypovitaminoses-, one might suggest that Swift/Gulliver reported a number of characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia long before they were described in the medical literature.