9781422285763

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CURSE OR GIFT?

Even in ancient times, not everyone believed that madness was a curse. The Greek philosopher named Socrates supposedly said, Madness . . . is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings. . . . Madness is a finer thing than sober sense . . . madness comes from God, whereas sober sense is merely human. Sophocles was saying that “insane” people have special insights the rest of us can’t understand. This idea can still be found in books and movies today, where the “crazy” character

is the also the wisest. But this stereotype is not very helpful to people with mental disorders. They are not better or worse than other people. They are human beings, just like everyone else.

“fool’s tower.” It’s possible that some of the people who were burned as witches in colonial America were mentally ill. Today we know that there is no catch-all category of “madness.” Instead, there are many specific kinds of mental disorders. These disorders aren’t curses, and they don’t come from the sky. Mental disorders do not make you a bad person. And they are nobody’s fault. What Is Schizophrenia? What we now call schizophrenia was described in the 1800s by Dr. Emil Kraepelin. He called the condition “dementia