Defining madness, dementia and psychosis
The terms madness, dementia and psychosis are used in order to describe a broad spectrum of both individual and group behaviors that are characterized by certain patterns, mental or behavioral of abnormal nature. You can consider all violations of social norms, including people who become a source of danger for themselves and society. Conceptually, mental madness is also associated with a socio -biological factor such as the contagion phenomenon by which the suicide rate given in similar circumstances is increased in similar circumstances.
At present, the term madness is the informal and non -scientific word that is used to refer to mental instability, generating a negative stereotype that can further influence this delicate emotional or cognitive balance.
In medicine, the general psychosis is used to include the presence of delusions or hallucinations or both in a patient;And psychiatric disease is considered as a psychopathology and not as true mental madness.
In English, the word ‘sanne”, sane in Spanish, derives from the Latin adjective Sanus which means ‘healthy’. Juvenal’s phrase "Mesna healthy in corpore healthy" is often translated as a healthy mind in a healthy body ’. From this perspective, madness can be considered as poor health of the mind, not necessarily referring to the brain as an organ, but to the defective function of mental processes such as reasoning and learning. Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is ‘compos mentis’, and a euphemistic term for madness is ‘non compos mentis’. According to the law, the term "mens rea" means having had a criminal intention, or having a guilty mind as a result of having committed the criminal act.
More informally, the term madness is used to denote something or someone considered highly unique, passionate or eccentric, even in a positive sense. The term can also be used as an attempt to discredit or criticize ideas, beliefs, particular principles, desires, personal feelings, attitudes or their defenders, as in politics and religion.
Madness, the non -legal word for dementia, has been recognized throughout history in all known societies. Some traditional cultures have resorted to witch doctors or shamans to apply magic, herbal mixtures or popular medicine to free people upset of evil spirits or strange behavior, for example. Archaeologists have discovered skulls that have small and drild round holes using flint tools. It has been conjectured that the subjects could have been possessed by spirits and that the holes would allow them to evict the body of the person. However, a more recent investigation into the historical practice of "climbing", or drilling the skull, supports the hypothesis that this procedure was of a medical nature and intended to be a means to treat cranial trauma.
The inhabitants of ancient Greece seemed to share some of the secular and holistic vision of today, believing that the afflictions of the mind did not differ from body diseases, this can be evidenced in ancient manuscripts where they recounted how they observed that several mental and physical illnessesThey were the result of natural causes added to an imbalance in body moods. The main exponent of this belief is Hippocrates himself, who wrote greatly in several of his writings that an excess of black bile resulted in irrational thought and behavior.
The Romans made other contributions to psychiatry, in particular a precursor to a particular contemporary practice. They presented the idea that strong emotions could lead to developing body ailments, which is considered the basis of the current theory of psychosomatic disease. The Romans also supported the human treatment of the mentally ill, and in doing so they codified in law the principle of madness as a mitigation of responsibility for criminal acts, clearly establishing a criterion for madness: the defendant had to be found ‘no compos mentis’,A term that means ‘no sound of mind’, referring to the absence of what is commonly known as the voice of consciousness that allows us to discern the good of evil.
The Middle Ages, however, witnessed the end of the progressive ideas of the Greeks and the Romans. During the 18th century, the French and the British introduced a human treatment of clinically crazy, although the criteria for diagnosis and placement in an asylum were much more flexible than today, and often included conditions such as speech disorders, epilepsyand depression or be pregnant outside of marriage.
While the oldest psychiatric asylum in Europe was the precursor of the current real hospital of Bethlem in London, then known as Bedlam, which began admitting the mentally ill in 1403 and which is mentioned in the tales of Canterbury de Chaucer, the first asylumAmerican was built in Williamsburg, Virginia, around 1773.
Before the nineteenth century, these hospitals were used to isolate the mentally or socially excluded ill from society instead of healing them or maintaining their health. The images of this era portray patients tied with a rope or chains, often to beds or walls, or retained in force shirts.
Currently, in the United States, dementia is no longer considered a medical diagnosis but a legal term derived from its original use in common law. Disorders previously covered by the term covered a wide range of mental disorders now diagnosed such as bipolarity, organic brain syndromes, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Each state of the United States differs a bit in its definition of dementia, but most follow the guidelines of the Criminal Code Model. All jurisdictions require a sanity evaluation to first address the question of whether or not the defendant has a mental illness. Most courts accept a serious mental illness, such as psychosis, but do not accept the diagnosis of a personality disorder for the purposes of madness defense. The second question is whether mental illness interfered with the defendant’s ability to distinguish the right of wrong. That is, did the defendant knew that the alleged behavior was illegal at the time the offense was committed?. In addition, some jurisdictions add the question of whether or not the defendant had the control of his behavior at the time of the offense. For example, if any aspect of his mental illness forced the accused to commit the illegal act, the defendant could be evaluated as not in control of his behavior at the time of crime. Forensic Specialists in Mental Health present their evaluations to the Court. Since the question of sanity or madness is legal question and not a medical one, the judge and / or jury will make the final decision on the state of the accused regarding a defense of madness. In most jurisdictions within the United States, if the declaration of madness is accepted, the defendant undertakes a psychiatric institution for at least 60 days for an additional evaluation, and then reevaluated at least annually after that.
Madness is generally not a defense in a civil lawsuit. However, in civil cases, the claimant’s madness can affect the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit until the plaintiff has recovered from this condition, or until a rest statute has been executed.
Fake madness is the simulation of a mental illness to deceive. Among other purposes, madness is pretended to avoid or reduce the consequences of confrontation or condemnation for an alleged crime.
A series of treaties on medical jurisprudence were written during the nineteenth century, the most famous of which Isaac Ray was in 1838;Others include Ryan, Taylor, Wharton and Stille, Ordronaux, Meymott. The typical techniques described in these works are the background for the widely recognized guidelines of the DR. Neil s. Kaye who indicate an attempt to pretend madness. An particularly famous example of someone pretending madness was the case of the head of the Mafia Vincent Gigante, who pretended to suffer from dementia years, and he was often seen wandering aimlessly by his neighborhood in pajamas muttering himself. However, the testimony of informants and surveillance showed that Gigante had total control of its faculties. All the time, and ruled on his mafia family with an iron fist.
Today fake madness is considered an indicator of real mental illness. In a judicial case of 2005, United States V. Binion, the defendant was prosecuted and condemned for obstruction of justice because he pretended madness in a competence evaluation to support a trial.
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