Have you actually been around or talked to someone who is insane?

Question

Not someone who you think is insane, but someone who is clinical diagnosis as insane. Insane is not the word to use, so someone who cannot function on society due to their mental illness.

Ari, that is soooo true.

Where I work (hospital) this paranoid schizopronic. Started cursing at the reflection in the window, said that he was the president, and was going to kill me when he got out of bathroom. Yeah I kept my eyes on him at all times.

They also go from crying to laughing to anger and then back to crying all in a few minutes.

ATTENTION:
For those of you complaining about the use of the word "insane", I did mention that the word isn't actually the word to use.

Evan...

Odd story, but I don't think that is psychotic. Odd yes, but psychotic no.

Answer 1

Hmmmm. The scarier ones are the insane ones who function very well at the highest levels of our "society". So many psychopaths, only so many top level corporate and government jobs available. Pity :)))

I have interacted, to the extent possible, with paranoid schizophrenics on occassion. Not fun, and somewhat frustrating. Often they'll seem quite lucid, and then segue into some delusion or hallucination, and drift off into their "own world". Many times they are highly intelligent and artistic people. One basic question that arises is: Were they born this way, or did living in a wholly dysfunctional society "drive them into that state"?

Answer 2

I am totally agreement with the gal who posted before me, I think using the word insane was outdated in the .... well damn it a long long time ago.... it is now mental illness or mental health issues or something like that. I have multiple diagnosises and have many medications I have to take. I think about suicide, and how much better off I would be and the world would be without me. I have been in the hospital so many times. I have been so depressed that I have had numberous treatments of ECT. And you know what... I am INSANE.... as your said.... can't function on society due to their mental illness. yep... been there, and sometimes I go there part of a day maybe for a short time, or a long time. I have lost 4 jobs been of my absences., and you say just go to work... do your job... well when you cant decide what simple things to do, you can't work at a job i had. So the people who are insane, as you used the term which p*sses the daylights out of me, that people would even use that term anymore, and have to be on SSDI or also know as disability, funded by you, and others tax payers dollars.......

Well now the insane one has spoken.

Answer 3

I worked for a state mental health system for 20 years, so I have been around a lot of them.

"Insane" is generally used only in a legal context when someone can't tell the difference between right and wrong.

"Mentally Ill" and "Severely Mentally Ill" are the official terms used in mental health.

I also have been diagnosed with Major Depression, Dysthymic Disorder and Panic Attacks, but I never had to be hospitalized for that.

Answer 4

Yes, I have been in the hospital for that. It's called "psychosis" not insanity.

It was extremely cool. It was patterns within patterns-- a rush like nothing else I've experienced. I was paranoid, but things made sense in such a strange way. It was like living in a dream.. that was reality.

I saw everything normally, I didn't hallucinate, but everything had a strange story behind it. Like the color orange meant "guilt, but shame" so everytime I saw someone wearing orange, I knew that they were guilty, but had remorse for something.

Goodness, there were stories about genetic engineering, robots, cyborgs, cults, techo-cults, global war and secret undergrounds... predictions, apocolypse, and time travel.

It was extremely cool, as I said. It was a lot like the movie "a beautiful mind."

Answer 5

Yes. I talked to a girl in a mental institution. I wouldn't use the word insane. I think she had schizophrenia. She was totally out of touch with reality.

Another time I was in a restaurant and a man was talking to someone in the seat next to him. There was nobody there.

It can be a frightening experience. I'm bipolar type I. I've been in psychosis myself. I couldn't tell the difference between hallucinations and reality.

Answer 6

Yes but ya could fricken put your question in a nicer way i mean no one is insane there are many people with mental illnesses however and you may not UNDERSTAND some of the things that they do but they arent insane. btw i myself take medicine because i am in your words 'INSANE"

sorry im in a bad mood and i needed to vent but seriously you should know how to choose your wording better especially if you worj with mentally ill people. i been through alot of **** and hate when people treat anyone as less than human because they are going through a time when others dont understand the reasons that they do certain things.

Answer 7

yes i have having been on mental health wards for mt depression and self harm issues I've been around the insane. I've seen people so unwell they cannot function just sit zombie like rocking back and forth. I've been in hospital with people who will ask bizarre questions others who do weird things like claim they are Jesus and can cure folk with a single touch (i knew one guy like this) or just punch a guy and laugh for no reason.
i don't fear or blame them i know they are unwell i just wish when i was in hospital they'd leave me alone as i have my own sh!t to deal with
thankfully I've been out of hospital since summer 2006
i have also made many good friends in hospital who i still socialize with

Answer 8

I spent way too much time in the psych ward of my local hospital because of failed suicide attempts and I met lots of very very very mentally ill people.
My favorite by far was a woman named Vera who used to smash her food on whoever was walking nearby, spent a lot of time twitching on the floor because she though that she was a dead butterfly, and had an unnaturally obsessive crush on Prince Albert of Monaco.
My favorite quote comes from Vera. Here is some of her wisdom (which I wrote in my journal so I would remember it forever):
"Michael Bolton plagues me. I could never figure out why my life is messy but then I remembered it is Michael Bolton."

Indeed.

Answer 9

Im a nurse so almost ever time i work im around people with dementia--usually older people, people with schizophrenia sometimes, and people who are chronic alcoholics and the alcohol abuse leaves them in such a stupor they can barely function literally. Docs dont use the word 'insane'..i think insane is more of a legal term, not a medical term.

Answer 10

yes i have. i was going through a time in my life where i needed space from my family, so i went to see a psychiatrist and she sent me into a mental institution because i told her i thought about being with my grandmother, who passed away at the time around five yrs ago. before i could be put into a mental institution for people my age (i was fourteen), i had to be put into a mental hospital, as i had to wait until they had room at the mental institution. at the mental hospital, i had to always be supervised, as i was technically seen as a child, and being around clinically insane adults. being in the mental institution was actually quite fun. they had a playstation, a tennis table, a basketball court, a tennis court, and lots of puzzles and games. my best friend at the place was always going insane, except for when she was with me. these two girls would give her a hard time and actually bully her to the point where she'd go crazy, and the doctors had to put her into a straight jacket and lock her in a white room all by herself. i lasted in the mental hospital for a week, and two weeks in the mental institution. you see all sorts of people in a mental institution. from those who suddenly become paranoid and have a certain distrust for people, even those that believe the devil exists. you don't always get schizophrenics in a mental institution. there was this girl at the place that looked normal, but it was her belief in the devil that got her placed into the mental institution, and she'd go as far as dreaming about the devil and drawing pictures of what the devil looked like to her. and they arent all the same. most of them you can talk to like a friend. just don't give them a reason to hate you. and listen to what they say. they'll appreciate you for it.