What is sanity?

[kanafan]

How do we define sanity?

Is it a neurological state?

Or we simply call insane someone with insane ideas?

But,,.. ideas can be correct or wrong. There are no insane ideas.

[aidanjt]

Stop letting silly logic get in the way of 'science' by committee. How do you expect shrinks to make a living if they have to test, analyse, and prove shit?
_________________

[bogamol]

[Muso]

[BoneKracker]

What about people who are disconnected with reality and harm someone because they think it is a good thing to do (for example, someone who stabs someone else to death because they believe them to be a demon)? Does that not qualify as insane?

What about someone who wakes up on different days as a different personality, with discrete memories, behaviors, etc.? Not insane?

What about someone who believes they are Abraham Lincoln or Caesar? Not insane?
_________________
Obama killed bin Laden like Nixon was the first man on the Moon.

[bogamol]

[BoneKracker]

[warrens]

UK
US
_________________
The BIGGER the GOVERNMENT, the smaller the citizen.

DON'T TREAD ON ME!!!

My Bias #1
The best government is the government that governs least.

[bogamol]

[BoneKracker]

I assume you posted all that in an attempt to get an answer to what you have in bold text.

Sanity isn't solely a matter of rationality, just like it's not solely a matter of whether someone is knowingly hurting their self.
_________________
Obama killed bin Laden like Nixon was the first man on the Moon.

[kanafan]

[BoneKracker]

Not "wakes up different days". It just sort of happens, typically triggered by stress or cognitive dissonance; suddenly they are someone else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissociative_identity_disorder
_________________
Obama killed bin Laden like Nixon was the first man on the Moon.

[BonezTheGoon]

Anyone questioning what "Sanity" is or more specifically what Dissociative disorders are (yes, it is a family of disorders) I highly recommend this book "The Myth of Sanity" by Dr. Martha Stout.
_________________
Vista needs more memory than Windows for Supercomputers

[energyman76b]

Person A. This person believes that there is a horse in the kitchen. No matter what you do, A is convinced that there is a horse and will not go there as long as the horse stays. Even if you carry A into the kitchen by force, A will insist that the horse is there, just behind him. Or waiting behind a door, in a cupboard or that this is not the right kitchen. Insane
Person B. This person also believes that there is a horse in the kitchen. B is willing to investigate the kitchen and after the investigation comes to the conclusion that all evidence points to no equine presence in the culinary area. Not insane.

These two examples show the problem very well.
_________________

[BoneKracker]

[Shadow Skill]

Reminds me of an instance where three men who believed that they were Jesus Christ were put into a room and one or two of them broke through their own disorder at least temporarily because the logical paradox was so huge.
_________________
Ware wa mutekinari.
Wa ga kage waza ni kanau mono nashi.
Wa ga ichigeki wa mutekinari.

"First there was nothing, so the lord gave us light. There was still nothing, but at least you could see it."

[BoneKracker]

[b0nafide]

I think that my imagination and perception of reality overlap to a great extent so it is easy for me to imagine that other people might have a similar condition.

The horse is never in the kitchen. If the horse is in the kitchen, it's not the same horse. The horse is an invisible pink unicorn. The horse does whatever you can imagine and is often in several places at once, if not orchestrating the universe. Keeping tabs on the imaginary horse and reflecting on it's potential impact on your life and work can be quite exhausting, but is manageable with medication... at least in my case.

[Prenj]

[b0nafide]

Religious fanaticism and mental illness are probably closely related. I'm not sure exactly what I was getting at by invoking the pink unicorn at that particular moment. Just thinking about horses probably. I should clarify a bit.

If I am the only person I know who can experience the unmistakable shapes and sounds of a horse making breakfast, lunch and dinner in the complete absence of an actual, tangible, horse, then possibly the international conspiracy setting up kitchenettes in my proximity and breeding horses capable of operating a spatula to alter my reality is also in my imagination.

Sometimes, especially without meds, it takes a while to get to the no-horse conclusion, especially when everybody you know seems to be talking behind your back about what the horse is going to make for lunch and how wonderful that last Supreme of pigeon en croute with cèpes mushroom sauce and cipollotti was and how did the horse get it just right? Public PA systems, radio and television may also deliver additional information related to horse movements and planned menu items. At some point, people you have never met before who are just wearing a certain color of clothing or making a single gesture or some similarly trivial thing can represent all of this and the next thing you know you're in the hospital because you screamed uncontrollably at a potential horse jockey browsing through the cooking section at the local bookstore because he seemed to be in on it and then broke down because their memory had been wiped.

Most people with mental illness self-harm, instead of lashing out. But when people really do insist the horse in is the kitchen and they say they have proof, especially if they're agitated, meds are probably the best idea.

[BoneKracker]

mcgruff is that you? Stop playing around with shadow accounts, you'll get banninated.
_________________
Obama killed bin Laden like Nixon was the first man on the Moon.

[b0nafide]

[John-Boy]

[b0nafide]

[BoneKracker]

I think reality is a factor as well.
_________________
Obama killed bin Laden like Nixon was the first man on the Moon.