Insane Philosophy
 

I know it may seem silly, but one of my fears is to be committed in an insane asylum and not to be able prove myself sane. This fear stems from the fact that sanity & reality are generally more subjective than objective.

Reality itself has been questioned many times in this forum. Is everything what it appears to be? I know different "What-If" scenarios have been discussed from time to time, and nobody truly believes that we're in a Matrix-like computer simulation or someone else's dream. But isn't every religion a different view of the reality we're in? Perception of reality varies great from culture to culture.

Sanity is even worse. Where's the line drawn between the sane and insane? What is sanity? Is it conformity? The old joke is that every character in the bible would be considered insane if they lived in today's world.

It's all so vague. It depends upon the psychiatrist who's job is to essentially brainwash you into believing the same reality as they do. Scary,

It isn't vague, and there are many things that are widely accepted as being within the limits of sanity. You are very unlikely to be committed unless you pose a danger to yourself or others due to your beliefs - it seems a reasonable line to me. i.e. it's your actions that are sanctioned, not your beliefs. So assuming you act appropriately, you're pretty much able to think what you want.

Sanity is judged by behavior more than how you think.

Thats an insulting genarlisation of the physchiatric proffession, if you do ever find yourself in an asylum it will be these brainwashers attempting to find out the nature and treatment of your mental illness

Unright, there was this play that i saw recently, The Physicists. It's about this asylum where all the people in the asylum weren't insane, except for the actual owner in the asylum. Once you isolate a particular asylum and its inmates, it would be impossible to determine whether the inmates are actually insane or not. It is important that there is some relative thing to which the behavior can be compared, some form of control. It is entirely possible for the psychiatrist to brainwash you but it is unlikely to happen in today's context.

But if you imagine yourself to be one of the inmates, you would never believe you were insane.

Your fear is quite justified. Once you've been admitted to an asylum, it's much harder to prove yourself legally sane than it is under normal circumstances. Your being in an asylum alters the perceptions of those around you, and any actions that are not considered completely ordinary may be taken as evidence of your "insanity". Once someone has been given a label, they're expected to adhere to that label, in this case, that of being insane.

Of course. Sanity is a culturally defined situation.

I think we are all a little insane to some degree. But like zen_tom and others have said, you probably have little to worry about unless your behavior is threatening.

I think anyone from today's world would be considered insaneif they lived in the Biblical world. And then he'd be stoned to death.

But really, although the line between sanity and insanity may be fuzzy in principle, most people are far to either side. Either a person is normal, or he has some mental disease that makes him a threat to himself and others. A sane person being sent to an insane asylum only happens in the Simpsons and horror stories. And Futurama.

You are more likely to be put in jail for something you didn't do than be put in a mental asylum, in the United States at least. Sanity is absolutely based on cultural expectations. Even the APA will tell you that. Typically, people do not get comitted unless they pose a great threat to others. I wouldn't rely on this assumption for too long. Treatment of people with a mental illness could change just as easily as the treatment of prisoners has.

Sanity is comparative.

Have you ever seen that Streisand movie, "Nuts?"

Sanity. Bah. It's highly overrated.

My personal concern in this area is being put away because I know I can't disprove insanity.

The real key is keep your head down, not to low that they think that your eating off of it, but don't make a noise. Just let them think your compleatly average then now worries man.

Ultimately, most human behaviour is geared toward survival, so what is regarded as insane tends to be psychological maladaption. That is to say mental unfitness. This is why we have the whole 'harmful to self or others' thing.

Biblical characters would be considered mad in our society because they are not socially adapted to the modern cultural environment. Not to mention that some of them acted like downright loopers. Ezekiel anyone?

Statistically, we would expect the greatest majority to be at least fairly well adapted to their environment, so like the man says, just act cool. Go out there, get yourself a nice, short-styled haircut and a pair of fashionable trainers, start listening to popular music and if you get the chance, bleat occasionaly. Nobody will be any the wiser.

Oh and one last thing. Whatever you do, don't let them know that you can think. Survival of the fittest means eliminating your competitors as well as your threats. If you show any sign of independent thought, they'll brand you a crackpot and chuck you in the crazy house.

Best of luck.

I've attended involuntary committment hearings here in PA, and there's always an attorney or pscyhiatrist (usually someone from the public defender's office) to argue for the committed person.

Granted, if the PD is in cahoots with everybody it might not matter, but I've seen that they do their job even if the person is really crazy.