Insanity
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something or someone considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticize particular ideas, beliefs, principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion. | A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something or someone considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticize particular ideas, beliefs, principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion. | ||
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Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in [[common law]]. The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of [[mental disorder]]s now diagnosed as [[bipolar disorder]], [[organic brain syndrome]]s, [[schizophrenia]], and other [[Psychosis|psychotic]] disorders.<ref name="diag"/> | Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in [[common law]]. The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of [[mental disorder]]s now diagnosed as [[bipolar disorder]], [[organic brain syndrome]]s, [[schizophrenia]], and other [[Psychosis|psychotic]] disorders.<ref name="diag"/> | ||
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==See also== | ==See also== |
Revision as of 12:52, 17 September 2023
There is no great genius without some touch of madness. -- Seneca, Aristotle "It was from a youthful reverie filled with speculations of this sort that I arose one afternoon in the winter of 1900-1901 , when to the state psychopathic institution in which I served as an interne was brought the man whose case has ever since haunted me so unceasingly."--"Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (1919) H. P. Lovecraft They're coming to take me away, --"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" (1966) |
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Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other people. Conceptually, mental insanity also is associated with the biological phenomenon of contagion (that mental illness is infectious) as in the case of copycat suicides. In contemporary usage, the term insanity is an informal, un-scientific term denoting "mental instability"; thus, the term insanity defense is the legal definition of mental instability. In medicine, the general term psychosis is used to include the presence of delusions and/or hallucinations in a patient; and psychiatric illness is "psychopathology", not mental insanity.
In English, the word "sane" derives from the Latin adjective sanus, meaning "healthy". Juvenal's phrase mens sana in corpore sano is often translated to mean a "healthy mind in a healthy body". From this perspective, insanity can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily of the brain as an organ (although that can affect mental health), but rather refers to defective function of mental processes such as reasoning. Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is compos mentis ("sound of mind"), and a euphemistic term for insanity is non compos mentis. In law, mens rea means having had criminal intent, or a guilty mind, when the act (actus reus) was committed.
A more informal use of the term insanity is to denote something or someone considered highly unique, passionate or extreme, including in a positive sense. The term may also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticize particular ideas, beliefs, principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes, or their proponents, such as in politics and religion.
Insanity is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but is a legal term in the United States, stemming from its original use in common law. The disorders formerly encompassed by the term covered a wide range of mental disorders now diagnosed as bipolar disorder, organic brain syndromes, schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders.<ref name="diag"/>
See also