what is madness?

Question

is madness the opposite of being in the right sense?

Answer 1

Einstein had a good definition of madness. He said madness was doing exactly the same thing twice and expecting a different result the second time.

Answer 2

Einstein wasn't up on his chaos theory, hunh?
Anyway, madness is probably a cross between doing what society says is wrong, and not caring or not being able to want to blend in.
But then, some people call that individualism, creativity, and an authentic life.
OK, doing that to an extent that one does not function at all well.
You could be nuts, but if you entertain people, or invent something really useful, you're still kind of OK.
Like, in the movie A BEautiful Mind, about a real Nobel Prize Winner.
He got to where he knew he was imagining people, so he relied on his wife and maybe other senses to handle it.
The part of him that handled it made up for his madness, because he was aware.

Answer 3

Is madness purely a medical condition that can be treated with drugs? Is there really a clear dividing line between mental health and mental illness – or is it not so easy to classify who is sane and who is insane?

In Madness Explained leading clinical psychologist Richard Bentall shatters the modern myths that surround psychosis. This groundbreaking work argues that we cannot define madness as an illness to be cured like any other; that labels such as ‘schizophrenia’ and ‘manic depression’ are meaningless, based on nineteenth-century classifications; and that experiences such as delusions and hearing voices are in fact exaggerations of the mental foibles to which we are all vulnerable.

We need, Bentall argues, a radically new way of thinking about psychiatric problems – one that does not reduce madness to brain chemistry, but understands and accepts it as part of human nature.

Answer 4

Corruption of city politicians and police officers that are corrupt.
That is madness to me. I thought that some one was trying to break into my house. I tried to call the police and I could not get through the lines. I later talked to a neighbor that lives across the street from me. Evey time I leave the house she watches me leave. She goes out of her way to look and see who has pulled up in my driveway. It is ridiculous. I do not know her very well. She is kinda of flaky. She tells me about her friend who lives at the corner. It just so happens the friends husband is a police officer. The friend and she prevented my phone lines to open, because it was she and cops wife that were trying to get into my house. The stupid girl admitted to me what was going on.Silly me. No wonder my neighbors have been so cocky and pompous acting. Can you believe this? My house is not a hud house. Police Officers and School Teachers pay 50 percent off Hud houses. I cannot believe the nerve of these creepy women that are School Teachers who probably send their kids to private schools. The girl never works. She gets government grants so she can become house burglar along with cop and his wife her friend. I think this is gone too far. She has a motion light shining in my window half the time.

Answer 5

i agree with don h. *madness* is behaving/thinking/perceiving in a way that does not correspond to a society's norms.

we are all *taught* what is appropriate behaviour - the ways of thinking, being, perceiving the world, responding to others which enable our society to continue on an even keel. someone who does not fit in to this consensus is described as *mad*.

you can tell that it is a culturally constructed/defined concept by the fact that the same behaviour can be judged *mad* in one context and *normal* in another.
eg . if someone kills someone else, and says that they 'heard god telling them to do it', they would be classified as *mad* - because they are hearing voices....
if someone gives lots of money to charity, and says that they 'heard god telling them to do it', they would be seen as a generous, good citizen. there would be no question about their sanity, even though they are hearing voices too...

so, yes, madness is the opposite of being in the right sense - if you realise that *right sense* means "conforming to the consensus of what is right sense in this society, right now", rather than being a fixed absolute.

Answer 6

What would make me mad is loosing my purse when I just came from the bank. It did happened to me luckily an honest person found it and I got it back. But at the time I was so mad at my self for being so stupid for loosing it in the first place.

Answer 7

The quality of being mad, not being happy. Otherwise known as insanity. Meaning one is upset by anything and everything and can not enjoy simple pleasures of life. Most notably associated with a repetitive disorder, the mad individual must occupy his mind with a simple task and repeat it continuosly in order to maintain his sanity. Madness is caused by the individual's failure to control his mind and impulses.

Answer 8

My shampoo once told me that madness is the displacement of your own perception of reality and morality, these very important 'senses' will take a very different direction dictated by your own subconciousness so you have no control nor do you realise that you have lost your bearings.

The question of 'being in the RIGHT sense' is a strange one as every-one's sense of reality and morality is very much influenced by ones development and relations with others, a guide rail if you will.

MY TOENAILS WONT STOP SINGING TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

No..madness is caused by liars and cheaters and rude people..madness is the ultimate "hate" driver...like an annoying itch. Madness is when your driving 55 and the car ahead pulls in front of you and drives 30 and then they look in there reiwview mirror at you like something was wrong with you driving the speed limit....Madness for me is someone who messes with my child.

Answer 10

Madness is losing common sense. You can have the right sense or wrong sense. But if common sense is missing .. it is madness.