224. Insanity

See also 122. DISEASE and ILLNESS ; 254. MANIAS ; 313. PHOBIAS ; 334. PSYCHOLOGY .

abalienation

Obsolete, insanity.

acromania

a violent form of mania; incurable insanity.

amentia

1 . a congenital condition of low intelligence.

2 . a form of temporary insanity. Cf. dementia.

amenty

Obsolete, amentia.

bedlamism

behavior characteristic of insanity. See also 301. ORDER and DISORDER .

bedlamite

a mental patient.

catatonia

one of various forms of schizophrenia characterized by stupor, sometimes alternating with excited behavior and mechanical, repetitive behavior, accompanied by muscular rigidity. —catatonic , n., adj.

delirium

a state of maniacal excitement characterized by restless behavior, confused speech, and sometimes hallucinations.

dementia

madness or insanity. Cf. amentia.

dementia praecox

schizophrenia.

demonianism

1. Obsolete, the doctrine of demoniac possession.

2. Archaic. demonomania. —demonian , n., adj.

demonomania

Medicine. a monomania in which a person believes he is possessed of devils. Also called demonopathy.

diabolepsy

Medicine, Obsolete, a state in which a person believes he is possessed by a devil or has been endowed with supernatural powers.

hallucinosis

a disordered mental condition in which the sufferer is prone to hallucinations.

hebephrenia

a form of insanity or dementia praecox that can appear at puberty, characterized by foolish behavior and deterioration of the mental faculties.

hypermania

an acute mania.

lunacy

1 . periodic insanity, once thought to be caused by the phases of the moon.

2 . any form of insanity. —lunatic , adj.

lypemania

an abnormal tendency toward deep melancholy.

lyssophobia

an abnormal fear of becoming insane.

maniaphobia

an abnormal fear of madness.

megalomania

1 . Medicine. a form of mental illness characterized by the unreasonable conviction in the patient of his own greatness, goodness, power, or wealth.

2 . an obsession with extravagant or grand actions. — megalomaniac , n., adj. —megalomaniacal , adj.

melancholia

a condition of abnormal gloom or depression, often of an intensity to become a form of insanity. —melancholiac , n., adj. —melancholie , n., adj.

melancholian

Obsolete, a person suffering from melancholia; a melancholiac.

narcosynthesis

a form of treatment for mental illness that involves placing the patient under the influence of a narcotic.

orthosis

the process of correcting bodily or mental distortion.

paranoia

a mental disorder characterized by behavior that stems from an elaborately constructed system of delusions of persecution and grandeur. —paranoiac , n. —paranoid , adj.

paranoidism

a state resembling paranoia.

pathomania

moral insanity.

psychosis

any severe mental disorder or disease. —psychotic , n., adj.

schizophrenia

a psychotic condition marked by erratic behavior, withdrawal from reality, and intellectual and emotional deterioration. Also called dementia praecox . —schizophrenic , n., adj.

schizothymia

a mild form of schizophrenia, characterized by withdrawal, inversion, etc. —schizothyme , n. —schizothymic , adj.

submania

a mild mania.

zoanthropy

a form of insanity or mental disorder in which the sufferer imagines that he is an animal. —zoanthropic , adj.

zoopsia

a form of hallucination in which the sufferer imagines he sees animals. Also called zooscopy.

zooscopy

zoopsia.

insanity mental disorder of such severity as to render its victim incapable of managing his affairs or of conforming to social standards. Today, the term insanity is used chiefly in criminal law, to denote mental aberrations or defects that may relieve a person from the legal consequences of his or her acts. The case of Daniel McNaughtan, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity after making an assassination attempt on British prime minister Robert Peel (1834), gave rise to the modern insanity defense used in many Western nations today. In the United States, the 1954 case of Durham v. the United States led to the establishment of new rules for testing defendants. Today, psychologists may perform tests to determine whether or not the defendant is mentally stable. Such tests try to ascertain whether or not a defendant can distinguish right from wrong, and whether or not he acted on an "irresistible impulse." John Hinckley's assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan (1981) became another landmark in the history of the insanity defense. The court's initial verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" generated public outcry and renewed interest in the verdict of "guilty but mentally ill," which is permissible in some states. This verdict allows defendants deemed mentally ill to be hospitalized but requires them to carry out a reasonable prison sentence as well. In 1983, the Supreme Court ruled it permissable to keep a mentally ill defendant hospitalized for a term longer than the maximum sentence for the crime with which the defendant was charged. Many have contended that the insanity defense is nothing more than a legal loophole, allowing serious criminals to escape imprisonment. In fact, the plea is rarely employed in the United States, and it is estimated that less than 1% of defendants have used it successfully. Recent years have seen the restrictions surrounding insanity defense considerably narrowed, with the sole criteria for a successful plea being the determination of whether or not the defendant knew he was breaking the law.

Bibliography: See R. Simon and D. Aaronson, The Insanity Defense (1988); R. Porter, A Social History of Madness: The World Through the Eyes of the Insane (1989).

madness Attributed to a demonic power seizing possession of a personality, notably of Saul (1 Sam. 16: 14–17), whose ‘evil spirit from the Lord’ may have been a form of manic-depression. Young David was his therapist, and music the instrument of calm. In the synoptic gospels there are records of Jesus' exorcisms, by which demons were cast out of madmen—evidently a different sort of affliction from Saul's. Jesus was himself alleged to be ‘possessed’ on the grounds of transgressing contemporary social or religious customs (Mark 3: 21–2).

insanity (in-san-iti) n. a degree of mental illness such that the affected individual is not responsible for his actions. The term is a legal rather than a medical one.

Insanity. See Mental Illness.

madness See MENTAL ILLNESS.

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