Insanity?

My question is dose a insane person know they are insane? I have asked alot of doctors and never given a clear answer. Also are there warning signs that you are going insane? If there is what are these signs. I have looked around and not seen any clear answers.

I would have to say that a person would not know they are insane, that is part of the reason they are insane.

Originally posted by nyarlathotep
I would have to say that a person would not know they are insane, that is part of the reason they are insane.

I agree with you on that statement. If one was insane they would belive there behavouir is normal and would carry on the way they are acting. There may be some cases when this is not the case though.

Wonder how the doctors dont give you an answer?

Rynaldo

I would guess it all depends on the illness and the severity. It's quite possible to be delusional while intellectually knowing this. The problem is to distinguish the delusion from reality.

That isa question I have pondered for a while. How do you know id you are insane. for that matter, how does a doctor know you are insane, what are the rules?

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
That isa question I have pondered for a while. How do you know id you are insane. for that matter, how does a doctor know you are insane, what are the rules?

Do you mean in terms of one's behavouir could be seen as normal yet in another persons view it may be seen as odd. I'l have to look up the defination later on.

Rynaldo

CAT scans and other brain scans can tell a doctor whether a patient is mentally ill or not.

My psychiatrist once told me the old axiom: "If you ask if you are insane, then you are not." Of course, that gets into the territory of what one means by "insane"..just feeling whacky? legal insanity? etc.
I think, cognitively, if you are truly "insane" you are convinced that your actions and emotions make sense. Therefore, you wouldn't think you were insane.
As for how a doctor knows, there are a variety of screening tests. I've never gotten beyond the screening tests because I was shown to be "normal". However, with my MIL, the screening tests were not normal and they proceeded to CAT scans.
joey

I have a neighbour who is is mentally ill, and yes, he does have some insight into his condition.

However, after a few beers he has no idea the effect his behaviour has on others.

check out this site
www.crimelibrary.com...

and a pic of insanity



insane are the people you don't know enough about... ie: clown image above: who's the man behind the makeup.


[edit on 17-6-2004 by websurfer]

I think it must really depend on your definition of insane.

Heads in the freezer? Definitely.
Thinking about having heads in the freezer? Maybe going that direction.

Also, slipping toward it or suddenly snapping? Perhaps a month ago you found that going home from work and laying on the couch in the dark helped you relax. Maybe ignoring the phone and eventually turning it off altogether made you feel safe from the outside world. Maybe you eventually had to really fight to get out the door in the morning to go to work, and once there all you could think of was getting home to the dark silence again. It happens gradually so you don't realize that 2 months have gone by and you're now trying to figure out how to avoid leaving the house altogether because they're all out to get you.

Or...

Maybe you wake up one day with the certainty that you and everyone else would be better off dead. Being efficient, you immediately go about trying to make that happen.

Is either scenario indicative of insanity? Or a breakdown? Are they one and the same? I've often thought about it, thankfully not while laying in dark silence. (Yet!), but when I asked my mom, she said "If you're curious, you're not insane." Dahmer and Bundy were insane, in my opinion. I think you'd have to be to do what they did. However, since they tried to hide it, indicating a knowledge of right and wrong, they were deemed to be sane.

1 a : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) and usually excluding such states as mental retardation, psychoneurosis, and various character disorders b : a mental disorder
2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
3 a : extreme folly or unreasonableness b : something utterly foolish or unreasonable

According to the dictionary definition, it could actually make a wide range of behavior seem to be the result of insanity. Number 2 makes me think you would not know.

Insanity is not a term that is medically used. There are mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, etc...but people are not "insane".

By the way, most people with mental illnesses know something is wrong with them...that's why they tend to become introverted. Although, sadly, many people never seek help.

The term "insanity" is not used in medical diagnosis nowadays. In court cases involving murder or other serious crime, the accused can be assessed by various qualified psychiatrists & other experts to determine whether he/she is sane enough to stand trial, but I can't remember the exact terminology used in such cases.

Mental illness has been divided & sub-divided into a wide array of categories these days. One that comes to my mind is bi-polar disorder, which used to be called manic-depressioon. I have known several people who suffer this disorder and receive treatment & medication. Two that I knew really well, were perfectly aware that they suffered this disorder. One of these would sometimes stop taking his medication, & his behaviour would become increasingly erratic - & during those times, he was totally unaware that he had a problem.

Maybe this will answer part of your question. And, on a lighter note, I offer this well-known bon mot [which BTW, is NOT a definition] -

"Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, and psychiatrists collect the rent from both."

The term "insane" is a legal, not medical, term.

However, those found "not guilty by reason of insanity" are confined to a hospital for the mentally ill.

Someone who is "insane" in the eyes of the law is "not criminally responsible".

This article explains www.psych.org...

Thanks for that clarification, Iwouldificould. I didn't even realise that insanity was a legal term. There were some very interesting statistics on that page too. Who would have known that a plea of insanity was usually agreed upon by both prosecution & defence?

I swear i'm not insane. :: Runs around the room screaming, "AHHHHHHHHH" ::

there are no insane people in the world. I don't knwo what you're talking about.

Well i don't think the person will know that they are insane, the person will probably think the world around him is insane and he is fine. Some one who has lost their insanity will view the world in a different way to others, usely in a negative way.

In all honestly they probably don't know they are insane. It's like the thing of "normal". Depending on who you are around depends on what's normal. So if you are insane you would think insane is normal and you would think everyone else is crazy. So in all reality they would be the sane one and we would be the insane ones.

those are my thoughts...