Madness

In order for one to fully understand the term “madness”, we first need to show what the word really means. After looking through numerous definitions and asking others on their views, the definition from the oxford dictionary seemed to sum up the general thoughts of my family and friends.

“…a departure from what is normal or accepted, a moral or mental lapse.”

These views might differ from person to person as morals and ideas change and societies accept different behaviors. Thus I believe “madness” generally changes it’s true meaning according to different societies perceptions.

Personally my belief is that “madness” comes in different “packages” such as mental illnesses like eating disorders, manic depression, schizophrenia and grief etc.

I only have personal experience with manic depression but for the purpose of the assignment I will also discuss others experiences with madness and will address how society in South Africa understands “madness”.

My first experience with madness was a highly traumatic event, when my older cousin of a few years attempted to kill himself.

My cousin was diagnosed as having a chemical imbalance in his brain and suffering from manic depression. In order to help him the doctors advised him to stay in Tara, a psychiatric clinic, for a few months with therapy and medication providing him with the help he needed. All my family has been able to do is provide the much needed support, love and encouragement as the nature of my cousins “madness” are feelings of worthlessness, hopefulness and helplessness as well as a destroyed self-esteem. This was my first experience with a so- called “madness”.

2.

It is believed that “madness” often occurs at adolescence because of developmental demands and a variety of biological and social changes. I can see through my experience with my cousin that the demands set by himself, his family and society as well as the chemical dysfunction led him to this so-called “madness”.

In discussing my ideas of “madness” I came across others, which had experienced different types of madnesses such as eating disorders. One experience that someone had was with as sister that was diagnosed as having Anorexia Nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder characterized by deliberate weight loss, sustained by the patient. The disorder occurs most commonly in adolescent girls and young women, but adolescent boys and young men may also be affected. The experiences that I heard about, showed the characteristics of this disease to be a very depressed, anxious, fearful person.