Madness, The Non-Legal Word For Insanity

‘And those who were seen dancing, were thought to be insane, by those who could not hear the music.’ This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche is provocative in describing insanity. Madness, the non-legal word for insanity, has been recognized throughout history in all societies. Primitive cultures turned to witch doctors or shamans to apply magic, herbal mixtures, or natural medicine to rid deranged people of what they believed to be evil spirits. The many mistakes made by those in the past need to be addressed. Judging the mentally ill by how different they were, discarding them, hiding them. For those considered to be insane, and living in medieval times, life was literally, a living hell.

The attempted treatment of insanity is historic. Beginning
In most cases, it even caused to worsen their mental state and it most certainly didn't help that they were put on display, shackled and locked away in seclusion. Fortunately, in 1841, a Boston school teacher, Dorothea Dix, saw the treatment of the mentally ill and was understandably horrified. She aimed to do something to fix that and fought for new laws and greater government funding to improve the treatment of people with mental disorders. Dix also personally helped establish 32 state hospitals that offered moral treatment to those who were in dire need of it. She influenced the beginning of The Moral Treatment Movement which had a huge impact on asylum construction and practice. There was high belief in the curability of mental disorders, especially in the US, and statistics were reported showing high recovery rates. We can concur with Dix that treating patients with kindness, respect and care, worked far better than shocking them or locking them up and keeping them in
Although we can agree with them, that we have most certainly come a long way since the era of an illogical and uncivilised society, we must still strive to learn from our mistakes. Insanity has been recognised and treated throughout history and it was nothing short of horrifying. The medication and management of insanity 500 years ago was nothing more than using patients as lab rats. It is shocking to think that civilisation back then deigned to call themselves civilised! Thanks to some righteous and strong willed individuals, there was a period of time where things got better for the insane. Unfortunately, this didn't last forever. The treatment of those with insanity is still not as acceptable as it should be. Warwick Davis quoted, ‘The world worries about disability more than the disabled do.’ Are you treating the insane with the humanity and respect that they