{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T06:18:20Z","timestamp":1783491500147,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1783468800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Psychiatry has never had more tools to relieve psychological suffering. Psychopharmacology, neuromodulation, early intervention, digital monitoring, and preventive approaches have expanded what clinicians can do. Yet this growing technical capacity also raises an uneasy question: when does care become control? Cultural narratives can offer spaces for examining such tensions, particularly when they dramatize power, vulnerability, suffering, and moral authority.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      This narrative review uses the\n                      <jats:italic>Wizarding World<\/jats:italic>\n                      of\n                      <jats:italic>Harry Potter<\/jats:italic>\n                      as a conceptual lens to examine emotional regulation, moral authority, and psychiatric overreach, focusing on two contrasting figures: Lord Voldemort and Isidora Morganach.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A theory-informed narrative review was conducted using a concept-focused analytic framework and structured conceptual synthesis. Literature was identified through focused searches in PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Google Scholar from database inception to June 2026, complemented by backward reference tracking. Sources covered\n                      <jats:italic>Harry Potter<\/jats:italic>\n                      scholarship, emotional regulation, psychological flexibility, narcissism and Dark Triad traits, medicalization, overdiagnosis, clinical ethics, and narrative medicine. To improve transparency, the synthesis distinguished direct literature on the\n                      <jats:italic>Wizarding World<\/jats:italic>\n                      from indirect psychiatric, psychological, ethical, and medical humanities scholarship used for conceptual interpretation.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Two pathways to psychiatric overreach and an intermediate zone of proportionate care were identified. The first, represented by Voldemort, involves destructive domination, emotional suppression, denial of vulnerability, instrumental use of others, and coercive authority. The second, represented by Isidora Morganach, involves hyper-compassionate control, intolerance of suffering, elimination of negative affect, moral certainty, and paternalistic intervention. Between these extremes, the intermediate zone emphasizes emotional integration, psychological flexibility, shared decision-making, contextual judgment, ethical proportionality, and clinical humility. Although one pathway is cruel and the other compassionate, both illustrate power exercised without sufficient emotional integration or ethical restraint.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      By exploring psychiatric questions through the\n                      <jats:italic>Wizarding World<\/jats:italic>\n                      , this review highlights how narrative frameworks can clarify the ethical boundaries of intervention. The central lesson is not that intervention is dangerous, but that intervention must remain proportionate, reflective, and ethically bounded. Psychiatry\u2019s task is not to abolish all distress, but to relieve suffering while preserving autonomy, meaning, and human vulnerability.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1889488","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T05:54:48Z","timestamp":1783490088000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Power without limits: exploring emotional regulation, moral authority, and psychiatric overreach through the Wizarding World of Harry Potter"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Julio","family":"Torales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Salud Mental, Universidad Santa Clara de As\u00eds","place":["Caaguaz\u00fa, Paraguay"]},{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n sobre Epidemiolog\u00eda de los Trastornos Mentales, Psicopatolog\u00eda y Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["San Lorenzo, Paraguay"]},{"name":"Vicerrector\u00eda de Investigaci\u00f3n y Postgrado, Universidad de Los Lagos","place":["Osorno, Chile"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gladys","family":"Estigarribia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Salud Mental, Universidad Santa Clara de As\u00eds","place":["Caaguaz\u00fa, Paraguay"]},{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n sobre Epidemiolog\u00eda de los Trastornos Mentales, Psicopatolog\u00eda y Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["San Lorenzo, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Iv\u00e1n","family":"Barrios","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n sobre Epidemiolog\u00eda de los Trastornos Mentales, Psicopatolog\u00eda y Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["San Lorenzo, Paraguay"]},{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Filial Santa Rosa del Aguaray, C\u00e1tedra de Bioestad\u00edstica, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["Santa Rosa del Aguaray, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcelo","family":"O\u2019Higgins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n sobre Epidemiolog\u00eda de los Trastornos Mentales, Psicopatolog\u00eda y Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["San Lorenzo, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alcides de Jes\u00fas","family":"Sosa Gamarra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Salud Mental, Universidad Santa Clara de As\u00eds","place":["Caaguaz\u00fa, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fernando Ismael","family":"Da Silva S\u00e1nchez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Grupo de Investigaci\u00f3n en Salud Mental, Universidad Santa Clara de As\u00eds","place":["Caaguaz\u00fa, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o Mauricio","family":"Castaldelli-Maia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, University of S\u00e3o Paulo","place":["S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Ventriglio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia","place":["Foggia, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1359104506067879","article-title":"Putting Harry Potter on the couch","volume":"11","author":"Noctor","year":"2006","journal-title":"Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aip.2021.101802","article-title":"It just gives people hope\u201d: A qualitative inquiry into the lived experience of the Harry Potter world in mental health recovery","volume":"74","author":"Tribe","year":"2021","journal-title":"Arts Psychother"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0118179","article-title":"The magical activation of left amygdala when reading Harry Potter: an fMRI study on how descriptions of supra-natural events entertain and enchant","volume":"10","author":"Hsu","year":"2015","journal-title":"PloS One"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/jasp.12279","article-title":"The greatest magic of Harry Potter: Reducing prejudice","volume":"45","author":"Vezzali","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Appl Soc Psychol"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0014540","article-title":"When guilt evokes self-punishment: evidence for the existence of a Dobby Effect","volume":"9","author":"Nelissen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B6","volume-title":"Harry Potter Series","author":"Rowling","year":""},{"key":"B7","article-title":"Hogwarts Legacy","year":"2023"},{"key":"B8","volume-title":"Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide","author":"Jenkins","year":"2006"},{"key":"B9","first-page":"586","article-title":"Transmedia storytelling: Implicit consumers, narrative worlds, and branding in contemporary media production","volume":"3","author":"Scolari","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int J Communication"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.286.15.1897","article-title":"The patient-physician relationship. Narrative medicine: a model for empathy, reflection, profession, and trust","volume":"286","author":"Charon","year":"2001","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/00001888-200404000-00013","article-title":"Personal illness narratives: using reflective writing to teach empathy","volume":"79","author":"DasGupta","year":"2004","journal-title":"Acad Med"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/mh.26.2.92","article-title":"Narrative in psychiatry and psychotherapy: The evidence","volume":"26","author":"Holmes","year":"2000","journal-title":"Med Humanities"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195313048.001.0001","volume-title":"The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder","author":"Horwitz","year":"2007"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.e3502","article-title":"Preventing overdiagnosis: how to stop harming the healthy","volume":"344","author":"Moynihan","year":"2012","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/med\/9780197504277.001.0001","volume-title":"Overdiagnosis in Psychiatry: How Modern Psychiatry Lost its Way While Creating a Diagnosis for Almost All of Life's Misfortunes","author":"Paris","year":"2020"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/\/0003-066x.47.3.373","article-title":"The concept of mental disorder. On the boundary between biological facts and social values","volume":"47","author":"Wakefield","year":"1992","journal-title":"Am Psychol"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2021.5335","article-title":"Overdiagnosis of attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents: A systematic scoping review","volume":"4","author":"Kazda","year":"2021","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2019.00491","article-title":"Effects of seclusion and restraint in adult psychiatry: A systematic review","volume":"10","author":"Chieze","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front Psychiatry"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ps.201600066","article-title":"Ethics of coercive treatment and misuse of psychiatry","volume":"68","author":"Steinert","year":"2017","journal-title":"Psychiatr Serv"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s41347-024-00423-9","article-title":"Ethical dimensions of digital phenotyping within the context of mental healthcare","volume":"10","author":"D\u2019Alfonso","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Technol Behav Sci"},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapsychiatry.2013.269","article-title":"The psychosis high-risk state: a comprehensive state-of-the-art review","volume":"70","author":"Fusar-Poli","year":"2013","journal-title":"JAMA Psychiatry"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1038\/s41746-018-0075-8","article-title":"Data mining for health: staking out the ethical territory of digital phenotyping","volume":"1","author":"Martinez-Martin","year":"2018","journal-title":"NPJ Digital Med"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/44502","article-title":"Digital phenotyping: Data-driven psychiatry to redefine mental health","volume":"25","author":"Oudin","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/1089-2680.2.3.271","article-title":"The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review","volume":"2","author":"Gross","year":"1998","journal-title":"Rev Gen Psychol"},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/1047840X.2014.940781","article-title":"Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects","volume":"26","author":"Gross","year":"2015","journal-title":"psychol Inq"},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1037\/emo0000703","article-title":"Emotion regulation","volume":"20","author":"McRae","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2009.11.004","article-title":"Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review","volume":"30","author":"Aldao","year":"2010","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2010.03.001","article-title":"Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health","volume":"30","author":"Kashdan","year":"2010","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-clinpsy-032814-112739","article-title":"Emotion regulation and psychopathology","volume":"11","author":"Sheppes","year":"2015","journal-title":"Annu Rev Clin Psychol"},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2005.06.006","article-title":"Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes","volume":"44","author":"Hayes","year":"2006","journal-title":"Behav Res Ther"},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1177\/1088868316685018","article-title":"The narcissism spectrum model: A synthetic view of narcissistic personality","volume":"22","author":"Krizan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Pers Soc Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045244","article-title":"Controversies in narcissism","volume":"13","author":"Miller","year":"2017","journal-title":"Annu Rev Clin Psychol"},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/per.1893","article-title":"The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad","volume":"27","author":"Jones","year":"2013","journal-title":"Eur J Pers"},{"key":"B34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0092-6566(02)00505-6","article-title":"The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy","volume":"36","author":"Paulhus","year":"2002","journal-title":"J Res Pers"},{"key":"B35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2017.01549","article-title":"The Dark Triad and the PID-5 maladaptive personality traits: Accuracy, confidence and response bias in judgments of veracity","volume":"8","author":"Wissing","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1007\/s11031-005-7955-3","article-title":"The distress tolerance scale: Development and validation of a self-report measure","volume":"29","author":"Simons","year":"2005","journal-title":"Motivation Emotion"},{"key":"B37","volume-title":"Principles of Biomedical Ethics","author":"Beauchamp","year":"2019"},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1992.03480160079038","article-title":"Four models of the physician-patient relationship","volume":"267","author":"Emanuel","year":"1992","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/1089-2680.1.3.311","article-title":"Writing narrative reviews","volume":"1","author":"Baumeister","year":"1997","journal-title":"Rev Gen Psychol"},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0899-3467(07)60142-6","article-title":"Writing narrative literature reviews for peer-reviewed journals: secrets of the trade","volume":"5","author":"Green","year":"2006","journal-title":"J Chiropractic Med"},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1179\/2047480615Z.000000000329","article-title":"Writing narrative style literature reviews","volume":"24","author":"Ferrari","year":"2015","journal-title":"Med Writing"},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7326\/0003-4819-159-3-201308060-00655","article-title":"The new crisis of confidence in psychiatric diagnosis","volume":"159","author":"Frances","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ann Internal Med"},{"key":"B43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMcp074045","article-title":"Assessment of patients\u2019 competence to consent to treatment","volume":"357","author":"Appelbaum","year":"2007","journal-title":"N Engl J Med"},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9329.2004.00264.x","article-title":"Against narrativity","volume":"17","author":"Strawson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Ratio"},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2011-010045","article-title":"The limits of narrative: Provocations for the medical humanities","volume":"37","author":"Woods","year":"2011","journal-title":"Med Humanities"},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327957pspr0303_3","article-title":"Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities","volume":"3","author":"Bandura","year":"1999","journal-title":"Pers Soc Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/capr.12362","article-title":"Rescue fantasies in the personal and professional relational narratives of psychotherapists","volume":"21","author":"Vaknin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Counselling Psychother Res"},{"key":"B48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.18004\/ucsa\/2409-8752\/2017.004(03)059-070","article-title":"Modelos explicativos en psiquiatr\u00eda [Explanatory models in Psychiatry","volume":"4","author":"Torales","year":"2017","journal-title":"Rev Cient\u00edfica UCSA"},{"key":"B49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/14651858.CD007297.pub3","article-title":"Shared decision-making interventions for people with mental health conditions","volume":"11","author":"Aoki","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cochrane Database Systematic Rev"},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11606-012-2077-6","article-title":"Shared decision making: a model for clinical practice","volume":"27","author":"Elwyn","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Gen Internal Med"},{"key":"B51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme-2024-110241","article-title":"Relational epistemic humility in the clinical encounter","author":"Muyskens","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Med Ethics"},{"key":"B52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1446","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(23)01692-6","article-title":"Over-diagnosis of psychiatric disorders","volume":"403","author":"Zeng","year":"2024","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S1092852924000270","article-title":"Emotion regulation across psychiatric disorders","volume":"29","author":"Aslan","year":"2024","journal-title":"CNS Spectrums"},{"key":"B54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2024.102482","article-title":"Psychopathy and impairments in emotion regulation: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"113","author":"Velotti","year":"2024","journal-title":"Clin Psychol Rev"},{"key":"B55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjqs-2023-016996","article-title":"Diagnostic error in mental health: a review","volume":"33","author":"Bradford","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMJ Qual Saf"},{"key":"B56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10872981.2023.2235749","article-title":"Narrative medicine and humanities for health professions education: an experimental study","volume":"28","author":"Liao","year":"2023","journal-title":"Med Educ Online"},{"key":"B57","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11017-025-09713-6","article-title":"The limitations of narrative medicine","volume":"46","author":"Dutta","year":"2025","journal-title":"Theor Med Bioethics"},{"key":"B58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/jme-2023-108984","article-title":"The ethics of coercion in mental healthcare: the role of structural racism","volume":"50","author":"Faissner","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Med Ethics"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychiatry"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1889488\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]],"date-time":"2026-07-08T05:54:50Z","timestamp":1783490090000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1889488\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"references-count":58,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1889488"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1889488","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-0640"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-0640","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,8]]},"article-number":"1889488"}}