Crazy people are smart?!

There is an old joke that goes a little something like this:

One late afternoon, on a country road in the middle of nowhere, a man driving blew out his tire right next to an insane asylum. He was clearly nervous being so close to the asylum and was trying to change his tire as quickly as possible. In doing so, he had set all the lug nuts in the rim for safe keeping, but due to his nervousness, and the fact that several of the patients of the asylum had gathered to the gate to watch him change the tire, he wound up knocking over the rim, and all of his lug nuts scattered out and rolled down into the gutter, and were lost.

In a panic, the driver knew not what to do as the sun was setting, and he was beginning to fear the worst. However, one of the patients motioned to him with a:

"Pssssst."

At first the driver ignored the patient, but the insane man was persistent.

"Psssst. Pssssssssssst. Hey, you."

"What?" Said the driver, clearly frustrated.

Patiently, the patient of the insane asylum suggested;

"Why don't you take a lug nut off of each of the other tires, and use them to put your tire back on. This way you will have three lug nuts on each tire, and that should be safe enough to get you back into town."

The driver was flabbergasted and thanked the patient profusely.

"Thank you so much, that is a great idea. How is it a man smart enough to figure something like that out winds up here?"

The patient smiled ever so patiently;

"I'm crazy Mr., not stupid."

Tell me about it, I said God gave me a gift, to type the speed of light.

I was diagnose with schizophrenia when I walked out.

This was October 31 2006

Yall wanna hear crazy,

Just 2 days ago i was in a deep trance like state and i was dreaming about Star Trek, Voyager, and how i was an immortal machine from a race calling themselves the protheans and how both my arms could turn into advanced energy weapons and i had my own replicator built inside me so when i waved my hand on a table i could make anything(i called it a synthesizer), my main reactor is powered by a long strand of omega molecules and i have a ship called the Destroyer of solar systems, i am friends with the whole crew and i have 3 android girlfriends who look like and act like the charmed ones.

Oooh they are immortal too.

LLOOLL

I guess i should quit licking the walls huh?

there are many brilliant and famous people who have bipolar disorder, a lot of them are artists. Abraham Lincoln was also bipolar and so was Monty Pithon. I could list several musicians who are bipolar and I am type 1 bipolar and I am also an artist. I am also a science major in college studying a double major in Geology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, I also have ADHD as well and that actually lowers my IQ or computing power a little but I have amphetamines to help me there and help they do. People with ADHD do have a special ability though and that is that we can think and process thought so fast that we actually forget a recently past thought in favor of the present thought this is why I end up going off on tangents or changing subjects every sentence I speak. Amphetamine is literally a Godsend because I can hold a much longer train of thought, so well in fact that I no longer interupt people during conversations and butt in when they are speaking. The only reason I ever did interupt someone who is speaking is because I know I would forget it if I were to wait until they were done speaking so I would just butt right in. I can say that truly genius people are always going to be absolutely borderline crazy and the most brilliant are the ones who connect their crazyness to reality without losing it in the process. Truth is actually stranger than fiction so its alright to be a little crazy as long as one keeps it in perfect check. I also have psychic abilities that I believe come directly from my illness/mutation and I am definitely a patient who has harnessed the powers associated with my illness/mutation. Most mutations come with an up side and also a down side as mutation is a two sided coin per say. That is my voice on this subject, good thread I don't respond much anymore but this one really hits home so I respond S & F for you. Oh and schizophrenia remember is an illness that makes its patients hide in their bedrooms reclusively because they are scared to venture out. It is like a very bad acid trip for most patients that have chronic schizophrenia and because of this most of them never do more than hide away in their bedrooms this is why there are not more famous people with schizophrenia. Also remember that all mental illness is related to and causes brain damage in fact this brain damage is the reason why people with mental illness use a larger percentage of their brains. If they did not use more of their brain than the normal Joe, they would literally die from the brain damage caused by the illness, this is the ways of mutation and my understanding given my research.

reply to post by rajaten


I believe this to be true. I have noticed that if I take Abilify, which is an anti-depressant with anti-schizzophrenic properties as well, my creativity completely drops into the toilet. Basically, the creative voice, the mind field, is gone.

There are strengths to all of the disorders and I am sad that they are thought of as negative traits. The truth is, all disorders should only be treated if they get in the way of the life you want to lead. That should be the mantra of psychiatry.

Disorders and their Strengths imo -

Autism - Savant abilities. Also possible connection to spirit realm.
Aspergers - Super intelligence. Rigid.
ADHD - Super intelligence, the ability to have many different interests if used right and in a nurturing environment.
Bipolar - Super intelligence and creativity, and the ability to accomplish projects super fast.
OCD - The ability to be a perfectionist.
Schizzophrenia (low end) - Enhances creativity, possibly actually connected to the spirit realm.


[edit on 15-8-2010 by darkbake]

[edit on 15-8-2010 by darkbake]

creativity = ability to organize information in your brain?

no ... so, they may have some advantages like more creativity or other characteristic but to say they are smarter in general, its a stretch

Originally posted by darkbake
reply to post by rajaten

 

I believe this to be true. I have noticed that if I take Abilify, which is an anti-depressant with anti-schizzophrenic properties as well, my creativity completely drops into the toilet. Basically, the creative voice, the mind field, is gone.

There are strengths to all of the disorders and I am sad that they are thought of as negative traits. The truth is, all disorders should only be treated if they get in the way of the life you want to lead. That should be the mantra of psychiatry.

Disorders and their Strengths imo -

Autism - Savant abilities. Also possible connection to spirit realm.
Aspergers - Super intelligence. Rigid.
ADHD - Super intelligence, the ability to have many different interests if used right and in a nurturing environment.
Bipolar - Super intelligence and creativity, and the ability to accomplish projects super fast.
OCD - The ability to be a perfectionist.
Schizzophrenia (low end) - Enhances creativity, possibly actually connected to the spirit realm.


[edit on 15-8-2010 by darkbake]

[edit on 15-8-2010 by darkbake]

Great post dude! Ive been learning about synaesthesia, that shiz is whack! lol They taste shapes and smell noise LOL

Your question is not deep enough.

How do you define crazy?
Who stated that schizophrenia is Abnormal? A NORMAL human being?
Who said that seeing visions and characters is not a gift?

Normal/Abnormal is not real, it is a label, given by an equasion of All population "normative" level vs a certain person/group "normative" level. It is defined, by each person, individually, relying on different parameters, and the biggest parameter is society.
It is a wrong way.

The problem with humanity today is that 90% of the population only stick to existing knowledge, to the existing level of social knowledge and behaviour. It is easy to label a different person "Crazy" because his achievements might be better and to seem unreal compares to the Society level of "Reality".
Yet, how can you call a person crazy when you never experienced his perception, no matter how weird he acts? Thats a wrong way too.

Usually, Farther from society standarts = Smarter.
There are no fixed criterias though.

[edit on 15-8-2010 by Era ]

[edit on 15-8-2010 by Era ]

reply to post by rajaten


I'm mental/crazy (with the paperwork to prove it! lol) and I'm smarter than most of the people I know. Computers are my thing, which always made being an IT Bloke interesting and very easy, much to the dismay of my colleagues who were often below average.

Sadly my current medication has taken most of that away, but at least I'm not (very) dangerous anymore! lol

Rev

reply to post by Jean Paul Zodeaux


Ummmm...next you expect that I would say "that story's totally nuts"?

Is the converse true: smart people are crazy?

reply to post by EnlightenUp


The Catholic Church thought Galileo was crazy for suggesting that the Earth orbited the Sun and not the other way around.

Pythagoras was considered insane for founding his own religion with just two tenets: Souls are reincarnated, and beans are evil.

Lord Byron was considered insane for keeping a pet bear with him in his dorm room at Cambridge.

Tycho Brahe was considered insane because he did things like a hire a dwarf to dress up as a clown and sit underneath the dinner table silently at dinner parties.

Michelangelo was considered insane because he rarely bathed, and refused to clip his toenails.

Tesla, on the other hand, has been considered insane, or at the very least to have suffered from "obsessive compulsive disorder" because he was overly hygienic.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

~Albert Einstein~

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

~Galileo Galilei~

"We all agree that your theory is crazy, but is it crazy enough?"

~Niels Bohr~

Originally posted by gandhi
Funny. My old teacher thought i was crazy, only to come to me last year to, and i quote, "Teach me your ways". I'm 17. Like many i have read about, from a very early age i had a very different perspective upon everything, than everyone else. I was always very mature, everyone loved me, and i would always share my ideas, which got people around me thinking outside the box and made quite a few bucks.

If i went to get a diagnoses, I'm sure they would give me a few titles.

They might assess you as showing the symptoms of classic arrogance, but not much more beyond that.

Originally posted by rajaten
Are crazy people smart?
[edit on 20-5-2010 by rajaten]

Yes! I'm smart and people call me crazy.


Joking aside, I do find this topic highly interesting. I read an article a while ago that went along these lines, how an autistic girl was actually really intelligent. (Forgot details, sorry)

Nevertheless, I've always felt that people with these 'deficiencies' are often pushed aside far far too easily by people in general. It's often the parents that notice these special abilities that they do no expect.

I am convinced there is a very thin line between genius and crazy.

Crazy just means a different perspective than the masses and a genius is someone who found a outlet for his crazy.

Guess wich one i am

reply to post by locster


I don't think ATS qualifies as a big enough outlet for our crazy to warrant our elevation to Geniuses!

My theory, personally, is that it might be the inverse and that being really smart can actually cause people to go crazy.

Let's face it, being gifted with a highly analytical processing ability is great until you use it to constantly try and make sense of a world that, generally, makes little to no sense at all.

[edit on 8/15/10 by Hefficide]

reply to post by Tarrok


Lol! i really wish it was!

I do know how it feels to have no outlet.
Composing keeps my brain busy enough though, but a "running on full speed" outlet would be awesome. Did not find it yet.

reply to post by locster


Aye, I also know what it's like to have no outlet. I've had a pretty tough time last few years because of that.

Something like ATS is a nice place to stretch the mind-legs though and I'm grateful for that. Even though I'm brand new here

Originally posted by Hefficide
My theory, personally, is that it might be the inverse and that being really smart can actually cause people to go crazy.

Let's face it, being gifted with a highly analytical processing ability is great until you use it to constantly try and make sense of a world that, generally, makes little to no sense at all.

[edit on 8/15/10 by Hefficide]

hahaha thats funny. So the smart thing to do would be to not really think at all? lol
I bet there are heaps of really intelligent people that grow up and enter the real world and just crack. Chaos overload haha

read a book called broken brain- all about PET scans. various ways the brain can be
misfiring..I was a direct care worker with the seriously mentally ill for 20 years.
in hospital four years..yippeekiyah they were crazy- but far from stupid.
theres retarded and crazy. I worked with many dual diagnosis folks- assorted nuts.
try retarded/crazy/blind/ and he could be psychic at times- weird..
now that i've had some nerve damage, a major head trauma and other
various jolts to the brainpan , i'm somewhat crazy- whatever that means
any more. if your not going nuts then your not paying attention if you ask me.
and i have lost some cognitive functioning/memory impairment that
would make you think i was pretty stupid.
thats what makes forrest gump such a character- for in the end -
character is more endearing .
if someone is not so bright- i guess that means you get to shine.