how can people prove that someone is insane?

Answer 1

Something to do with hairy palms and howling at the moon.

Answer 2

I fell into the trap -- this is Philosophy and not Mental Health, and I gave a Mental Health answer just now ... I'll leave it in place but give a proper Philosophy answer to the question here:

Insanity and sanity are not absolutes.

For example, it is sane for someone who has no means of payment to steal bread in order to survive -- it may be considered criminal but that's a different issue. For him to survive it is a sane action. The result of the action might be imprisonment, but then they'd feed him, so it's a win-win situation.

But for a person with a paying job it is not sane to shoplift a loaf of bread. If this person is deprived of their liberty and their job and their future (it's hard to get a job once you've been a criminal) that is not good. Therefore the action is insane.

So what's the criteria? On balance, does the action performed promote or inhibit the person's survival now and in the future?

Okay, what about self-sacrifice to help others? One's personal survival is not the be-all and end-all of life. There is the family there are the larger groups one belongs to, and there is mankind as a whole.

One weighs actions in the balance with all these factors. If sacrificing self benefits the rest of life more than it damages it then the action is sane. If not, then it isn't.

Of course one can also make mistakes, a decision might appear sane based on the evidence one has, but one might be missing crucial data and thereby commit an insane act.

One might consider the situation of the "acute decision" not being a measure of sanity/insanity. However person's who repeatedly make damaging decisions (and therefore unable to evaluate new information) would be permanently insane.

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They can't. There is no objective medical test therefore there is no proof -- the so-called "chemical imbalance in the brain" theory has *no* supporting evidence. (Ask a psychiatrist, they'll admit it, and if they don't admit it ask them to provide the evidence.)

The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual IV is a collection of invented disorders like "drinking coffee", "not drinking coffee", "wanting to give up drinking coffee", "failed to give up drinking coffee" -- yes, these are disorders, oh yes, and my favourite: "Disagreeing with a psychiatrist". Gotcha!

The panel who vote (yes, vote, not "review evidence") on which new disorders to put in the DSM are (95% of them) paid by the big pharmaceutical companies -- usually as consultants.

Psychiatry cannot be considered a science because (a) it has no foundation of validated research evidence and (b) its lack of science has been tested: if you pretend a set of symptoms and go to, say, 10 psychiatrists you will get 10 different answers as to what's "wrong" with you and more than ten suggestions of what drugs to take. Science is not opinion.

Psychiatrists admit (a) there's no objective medical test; (b) they don't know what causes disorders and (c) they've never cured anyone. Don't believe me? Check out this short video:

http://www.cchr.org.uk/noscience.htm

And get hold of this:

https://www.cchr.org/store/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=29

which gives the whole story of Psychiatry.

Oh yes and as a final note, all the common drugs for "disorders" have been black-labelled by the FDA in the USA, and the equivalent labelling in Europe, which basically says that such drugs are physically dangerous (causing heart problems and such like) and also *causing* (not curing) suicidal tendencies and violence.

So, the answer to your question is: Nobody ... but especially not psychiatrists.

Answer 3

The same way we prove someone is actually SANE. Oscar Wilder once said that the only sane people are those who question their sanity. If you see a homeless guy on 5th and Main talking to another person about the importance of can-collection and how the geese are out to get him, you would probably think him "insane". But if he ever asked himself if maybe he wasn't all there in the head, that might "sanitize" him a little bit, no? It's all in context, because his reality is different from ours. So to him, we're all the insane ones, and he is one of the few people with sanity, just because his perspective is completely opposite of ours.

Answer 4

It's very difficult given that there are no accurate medical tests which prove mental illness definitely.
Mostly it's a case of observation and the use of researched material such as the DSM 4 (Diagnostic statistical manual 4) or the ICD 10 (International Classification of Disorders). The latter is the best research into Mental Health and Illness globally and is produced by WHO, the World Health Organisation.

Answer 5

I am not sure you can prove someone is insane. You may be able to prove that either you or the other person is insane, depending on who is defining reality.

Answer 6

Legally insane, as in what is the definition??

In order to be classified as legally insane, you must have no idea that what you were doing was wrong.

So, when a person hides, runs from the law or denies doing a crime, they obviously know they are in for trouble - and so are not insane.

Answer 7

The only way to prove someone "Insane" would be to take them to court and have a Psychiatrist testify to their mental instability. However, without using the term "Insane", it can also be said that people can be taken to court to prove their incapability of caring for them self, or to prove them to be a danger to them self or to others.
In court situations of this type, it would take testimony of eye witnesses as well as mental health professionals to prove the mental abilities (or disabilities) of a person. It is all done in court.

Answer 8

it cannot be proven that any one person is either sane or insane as we all have different values , the test used in order to prove a person insane is usually to question whether that person may be a danger to themselves or others without provication . if it is proven that they are then we justify to our own conscience and claimed sanity that they should be removed from society for the greater good . catch 22 if a person thinks they are insane they cannot be !

Answer 9

By his actions but they can prove it to themselves or the world but not to the person who is insane. For him the entire world is insane and in his own way he is right.

Answer 10

I think it's obvious when someone does things that aren't normal in society or crazy things they wouldn't have done before. But everyone's slightly crazy! I am, anyway.<3

Answer 11

Mental Health Act assessment? Get an Approved Social Worker (ASW) and a Consultant Psychiatrist see if they agree and off you go!