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INSANITY
Insanity, or madness, is a semi-permanent, severe mental disorder typically stemming from a form of mental illness.
Historical perspectives
As a state of mental disorder, insanity has historically been attributed to supernatural or divine causes where theories of mental illnesses were not developed. Aberrant or destructive behaviour from an individual has been explained as another entity taking over their body (demonic possession) or as a mental unhinging inflicted by God or the gods, as punishment for wrongdoing. In these theories, insanity is an external condition overriding an otherwise sane mind (which may not ever manifest itself). That demonic possession occurs and can be a valid explanation for insanity in some cases is still asserted by many clinicians worldwide; however, this view finds only minority acceptance in the West.
Moral insanity was proposed as a category of medical diagnosis by Dr. James Prichard in 1835. He described it as "a morbid perversion of the natural feelings, affections, inclinations, temper, habits, moral dispositions, and natural impulses, without any remarkable disorder or defect of the intellect or knowing and reasoning faculties, and particularly without any insane illusion or hallucination". Moral insanity was used in Great Britain in the 19th century in court and criminal defense pleas
Civil law
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In civil law, insanity renders a person unfit for entering contracts or other legal obligations. In some judicial systems, it may allow for someone to be involuntarily committed. Many who support the movement of anti-psychiatry take the position that mental illness is questionable as a diagnosis either legally or medically, and that claims of insanity should not free said persons from legal responsibility for criminal acts.
Slang usage
In popular culture, something "insane" is something extremely foolish, while persons may be deemed "insane" if their behavior strongly deviates from accepted social norms. The term is typically negative, but departure from established norms may also be seen as a positive quality; in this case, being "insane" is being daringly unconventional or individualistic. This use of insane is illustrated by the following quote from Henry David Thoreau's A Plea for Captain John Brown:
- Many, no doubt, are well disposed, but sluggish by constitution and by habit, and they cannot conceive of a man who is actuated by higher motives than they are. Accordingly they pronounce this man insane, for they know that they could never act as he does, as long as they are themselves.
In this sense, "insanity" is not implied to be an actual disorder, let alone severe. Concerning addiction to substances, insanity is recognized in twelve-step recovery groups as "repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results".
Linguistic roots
In English, the word "sane" shares the Latin adjective sanus meaning healthy. The phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" refers to a "healthy mind in a healthy body". From this perspective, one can see that "insanity" of the mind can also be considered poor "health" of the mind. This of course does not refer to the health of the brain as an organ, though that can affect one's mental health, but rather it refers to the health of the mind itself.
See also
External links
see also: Kevin Burns
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