Talk:Insanity

message: A recent discovery of "Indigo Children" has given another context to the term "insane", redeclaring the long-thought ideology that the ones deemed insane by society are truly gifted by God, and misunderstood among the unbelieving masses.
. . . Huh? What is this supposed to mean? 65.116.19.243 19:53, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Nonsense, I assume. I deleted it. Sietse 19:56, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I've put it back (slighly modified) because someone objected to its deletion. Sietse 15:57, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Early discussion

message: use any bigger words and you'll make me feel even more intellectually inferior. 
although mental health is a fascinating subject.  
Hey, insanity is not the disease!, sanity is! (yes, i am serious)
*...Makes sense.Maxwell's Daemon 03:56, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  insanity 

message: I must oppose the proposed merge to Criminal insanity.  The latter concept is deliberately more restrictive than common speech.  Typically, criminal insanity is determined by a subject's ability to distinguish right conduct from wrong conduct.  On this basis, for example, Jeffrey Dahmer was found not criminally insane.  Notwithstanding this decision, it is common practice to consider Dahmer (as well as anyone else who stores human heads in a freezer for later elective consumption) insane.  To eliminate the fundamental distinction which gave rise to the stricter legal definition is inaccurate and misleading. Xoloz 11:06, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed Merge 

message: The German article on this topic is a featured article, and appears to be significantly more thorough than this one.  Unfortunately my German reading is passable at best, and not up to the task of translating an article of that length and complexity.  Can anyone with better German move over some of the good parts of that article that are missing here?  We have pretty good articles on the more specific medical and legal topics of mental illness and criminal insanity respectively, but the cultural-historical-sociological aspects of insanity are poorly covered on the English Wikipedia. --Delirium 21:18, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Any German speakers? 

message: These days, if someone says that they hear God speaking to them, they are medicated and institutionalized. Before mental disorders were addressed this way, such people were made into prophets and the like, whose teachings some of us still follow today. If we were to meet them in the street, however, we might say that lithium is in order. William Blake and John the Baptist sound a great deal like schizophrenics, Catherine of Siena was bulimic. Perhaps something about the cultural shift involved there might be good to have in this article?MerricMaker 05:35, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: If you could find RSs, sure. I think it'd be entirely appropriate to talk about how society's views on the insane have shifted over time, and how religion has interacted with it - some of the insane have been seen as religious luminaries or become religious leaders, while others were regarded as satanic or cursed or cast away from god. Always fun. Titanium Dragon 15:05, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Religious Connections?

message: I've deleted the Gaming section under the impression that it's patent nonsense. I've never heard it used this way and I do a LOT of fragging. The only uses I've heard are within the "foolish" catagory, indicative of performing deeds so nominally unlikely to succeed as to indicate that the doer of said deed must have been somewhat lacking in sanity in order to attempt such a thing, in spite of its success (or not, as is most often the case). C.F. Crazy Good. 207.177.231.9 15:57, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: G@m3r d00d

message: When one queries the word "batsh*t," Wikipedia's search engine redirects to the insanity article.
Not sure of the relevance, but I found it humorous.
--67.177.170.218 23:52, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. Someone's idea of fun but a kid on a school project (about bats &/or bat guano) might find this unhelpful. I'll get the redirect removed. Also, WP is not censored for minors, so there is no need to be coy about language --Rodhullandemu (talk - contribs) 23:58, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, this now redirects to Fertilizer#Organic fertilizers, where it is of most use. --Rodhullandemu (talk - contribs) 00:17, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Batshit is a normal term for insanity and should redirect here, bat shit should redirect to the fertilizer article.--The Dominator (talk) 20:41, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: "Bat shit" already redirects to Fertilizer#Organic fertilizers, changed redirect for "batshit" to point here. I hope nobody's confused but nobody's mentioned it before. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 20:54, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Consider creating a disambiguation page.  Of course, it'd consist mostly of guano and this page.  I'd say that guano is the more proper of the two, as bat shit accurately describes guano, while the insanity reference is colloquial and could be restricted in an international context.  WLU (talk) 20:59, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

text: That seems OK, I've thought about an tag but someone coming to this article some other way would probably find it confusing to see "for other uses, see Organic Fertilizers" at the top. I suppose a DAB page wouldn't strain the server since it's unlikely ever to expand. I'll do it if nobody objects. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 21:05, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

text: It is not appropriate to have this at the top of the page.  I don't think "Bat shit" or "Batshit" is commonly used by anybody that we need to worry about it.  But it's insensitive to include it at the top, and unencyclopedic.  --David Shankbone 21:16, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Not an ideal solution, I would agree. Would a DAB page work better after all? Just trying to find an efficient solution. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 21:19, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think a DAB works best.  --David Shankbone 21:35, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Which the redirect page has now become. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 21:47, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Now the real question - should bat shit redirect to the DAB page, or to guano?  I leave this a question for the experts, but I'd say it should redirect to the DAB page.  WLU (talk) 21:57, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Odd.  There's a page for Bat Shit, but not bat shit.  That shouldn't be a redlink.  WLU (talk) 21:58, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

text: Convention is that apart from proper names, only the first letter of a title is capitalised, so bat shit is out of spec, whereas Bat shit is a proper article name but is still a redlink. People can type all variations in the search box and I'm not sure how that is normally dealt with. Both Bat shit and bat shit redirect as Bat Shit does, so that's OK, there is no need to deal with them. But the Bat Shit page needs to be moved to Bat shit anyway. I'll do that in a little while after all interested parties have commented. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 22:03, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: "Batsh*t" search

message: Insanity is often used to mean irrational, or not behaving in one's own best interest.  Or behaving in random ways.
The following quote is not an example or alternative definition of insanity--  Notice Thoreau is suggesting the man IS NOT INSANE, but only SEEMS to be insane (to some).
This use of insane is illustrated by the following quote from Henry David Thoreau's A Plea for Captain John Brown, an essay supporting the well-known militant abolitionist:
I have deleted the quote. The links to other Wiki articles here, also, do not elucidate anything about different views of insanity or historical perspectives on insanity but simply link for the sake of being linkable.
Quotations or better yet, citations that elucidate "insanity" as behaving randomly, unpredictablely, would be more appropriate.
Cuvtixo (talk) 02:56, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This sort of edit requires consensus to be established. But since you raised it, I'm sure other editors will voice an opinion. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 03:10, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I have to admit that I do not find that quote helpful at all and agree that if a quote is used, it should more clearly delineate an alternative or past usage of the term, preferably not in outdated English. English is my first language and I can barely understand what that quote is trying to add to the understanding of the term "insanity".  Mattisse 18:53, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  "insane" is being daringly unconventional  

message: Insanity is never a mitigating factor so I removed that section. Perhaps this stems from a confusing of "insanity" with "mental disorder". Insanity is a purely legal term when used in courts of law in the United States and has no medical meaning. Insanity can be used as a defense and if successful, the person legally is not guilty. Mental disorders, which are terms medical/psychological conditions, can be used as mitigating factors. Mattisse 18:32, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mitigating factor 

message: It may be time to semi-protect Insanity. Virtually all the edits in my watchlist on this page are vandalism and rvv's; it is a frequent target for IP vandals desiring to bash someone (e.g., Insanity is John). This isn't the most active page, and with all the vandalism, it doesn't leave us much time to improve the article. Thoughts? --Mizu onna sango15/水女珊瑚15 17:57, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Semi-pp'd for a month. We have better things to do here, I think. --Rodhullandemu 18:04, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks! --Mizu onna sango15/水女珊瑚15 18:06, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protect? 

message: First sentence: "a danger to HIMSELF and others"? What, women don't go nuts? 220.235.171.197 (talk) 17:40, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, it's not intended to convey a distinction. The encyclopedia is normally written so that references to the male includes the female unless a contrary meaning is intended. To try and write it with constructs such as "himself or herself" or "him/herself" is a barbaric use of language and unhelpful to the reader. And "nuts" is something of an archaism here. --Rodhullandemu 18:03, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Whoever wrote this is insane

message: An apparent version of this article on Insanity (beginning "Insanity, or madness, is a semi-permanent, severe mental disorder typically stemming from a form of mental illness.") appeared in this film at about 55:33.  The Hogarth engraving of Bedlam can be seen.  There are two typos, "sever" for "severe" and "sympton" for "symptom" though! Шизомби (talk) 20:45, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Asylum (2008 film)]] 

message: that is all, maybe a section with picassos blue period and PKDs VALIS or movies, faucaults book some religious depictions etc.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.158.136.36 (talk) 18:59, 7 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  yeah, i want some art references 

message: Could I suggest changing the name of this article to "madness" and making it about the social, as opposed to medical or narrowly legal (as in insanity defence) definition of madness? Freekra (talk) 04:09, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Page Name Change 

message: What about adding some Szaszian criticism to this article related to madness and/or the insanity defense? EME44 (talk) 06:38, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not opposed to it per se, but I think most of that would better go in more specific articles, such as: Anti-psychiatry, Insanity defense#Controversy over the insanity defense, and Mental illness#Society and culture. --Delirium (talk) 01:56, 9 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text:  I think the article is bias from that start when it states "insanity, has been recognized throughout history in every known society" there is no proof of this. In our past history we had religion, and in religion people were susceptible to sin. Today sin is called mental illness or insanity. Gluttony for example used to be a sin coming from choice/freewill, now it is a medical disease called morbid obesity and can be treated with Gastric_bypass_surgery.
“In our fervor to medicalize morals, we have transformed every sin but one into sickness.
Anger, gluttony, lust, pride, sloth are all the symptoms of mental diseases.
Only lacking compassion (kindness) is still a sin.” Thomas Szasz.--Mark v1.0 (talk) 18:01, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Szaszian criticism? 

message: Nobody should pushWikipedia:NPOV, right? Gill run H20 (talk) 17:38, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  V-I-O 

message: "A notable example has been the use of the phrase 'insanely great' in the launch of the Apple Macintosh, subsequently also used to describe one of its developers." What relation does Apple have with insane people? Besides, its citations prove nothing, merely that the word "insane" was used in that sense in one particular situation. It would be much better to find perhaps a source from a thesaurus or a similar source indicating that "insane" has become a slang word for good. I suggest removing product references until this is done. 93.139.75.10 (talk) 21:24, 12 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree, and I'll remove it. Lova Falk talk 19:55, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thinly veiled advertisement 

message: Makes no sense to have a separate, poor, page on sanity. Neurohz (talk) 21:04, 12 September 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Makes more sense to me to combine them as Sanity.  What does the Mental illness article look like, BTW?PopSci (talk) 02:09, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Mental illness redirects to Mental disorder.  That is the article that this would redirect to if people were looking for information on "insanity" itself.  This article seems to be about the concept of insanity, which could be merged with the concept of sanity.  Not sure if I'm making sense.PopSci (talk) 02:12, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merger proposal 

message: The term "barking mad" redirects to this article. A redirect disambiguation hatnote should be added pointing to the article for the television program Barking Mad. 2600:1702:4C0:9B60:3169:6D85:26F3:31F3 (talk) 05:12, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Done  — Ammarpad (talk) 05:58, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Just saying. I'm no policy expert.  But that has the effect of putting a promotion for the TV show on the top of this page, along with the other hatnote for the opera.PopSci (talk) 02:14, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 5 November 2017 

message: Insanity is a psychological inconsistency independent of behavior. Jahansen.28.28 (talk) 23:05, 30 April 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: No specific change requested. Natureium (talk) 23:21, 30 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-protected edit request on 30 April 2018 

message: There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Madman (disambiguation) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you.  —RMCD bot 13:16, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move discussion in progress 

message: Context:
 “Another Latin phrase related to our current concept of sanity is "compos mentis" (lit. "sound of mind")”
I assume this stands for “literally”. Is this a known term I’m not familiar with? I feel that although it isn’t indecipherable, enough readers wouldn’t “get it” that a change could/should be warranted.
Thoughts?
UsersLikeYou (talk) 11:45, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clarity concern: “lit.” 

message: Crazy 24.147.46.144 (talk) 05:13, 23 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Insanity 

message: The redirect 🤪 has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached.  Edward-Woodrow :) [talk] 12:08, 27 August 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "[[:🤪]]" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]]