Insanity : its classification, diagnosis, and treatment : a manual for students and practitioners of medicine /

Spine title: Manual of insanity.

On the nature, and proximate cause, of insanity

Mode of access: Internet.

The psychology of insanity,

Title within ornamental border.

A lawyer's story in and out of the world of insanity /

Mode of access: Internet.

Chance to put right the flaws in insanity laws

Opinion & Analysis: Chance to put right the flaws in insanity laws

Moral Insanity and psychological disorder: the hybrid roots of Psychiatry

This paper traces the significance of the diagnosis of ‘moral insanity��� (and the related the diagnoses of ‘monomania’ and ‘manie sans delire’) to the development of psychiatry as a profession in the 19th century. The pioneers of psychiatric thought were motivated to explore such diagnoses because they promised public recognition in the high status surroundings of the criminal court. Some success was achieved in presenting a form of expertise that centred on the ability of the experts to detect quite subtle, ‘psychological’ forms of dangerous madness within the minds of offenders in France and more extensively in England. Significant backlash in the press against these new ideas pushed the profession away from such psychological exploration and back towards its medical roots that located criminal insanity simply within the organic constitution of its sufferers.

Unpacking insanity defence standards: an experimental study of rationality and control tests in criminal law

The present study investigated the impact of different legal standards on mock juror decisions concerning whether a defendant was guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity. Undergraduate students (N = 477) read a simulated case summary involving a murder case and were asked to make an insanity determination. The cases differed in terms of the condition of the defendant (rationality deficit or control deficit) and the legal standard given to the jurors to make the determination (Model Penal Code, McNaughten or McNaughten plus a separate control determination). The effects of these variables on the insanity determination were investigated. Jurors also completed questionnaires measuring individualism and hierarchy attitudes and perceptions of facts in the case. Results indicate that under current insanity standards jurors do not distinguish between defendants with rationality deficits and defendants with control deficits regardless of whether the legal standard requires them to do so. Even defendants who lacked control were found guilty at equal rates under a legal standard excusing rationality deficits only and a legal standard excluding control and rationality deficits. This was improved by adding a control test as a partial defence, to be determined after a rationality determination. Implications for the insanity defence in the Criminal Justice System are discussed.

From the genius of man to the man of genius, part one: A slippery subject

The two articles that comprise this analysis springboard from the availability and increased popularity of the term genius to nineteenth and twentieth century educational scholars and its (temporary) location along a continuum of mindedness that was relatively new (i.e., as opposite to insanity). Three generations of analysis playfully structure the argument, taking form around the gen‐ root’s historical association with tropes of production and reproduction. Of particular interest in the analysis is how subject‐formation, including perceptions of non‐formation and elusivity, occurs. I examine this process of (non)formation within and across key texts on genius, especially in relation to their narrative structures, key binaries and sources of authority that collectively produce and embed specific cosmologies and their moral boundaries. The argument is staged across two articles that embody the three generations of analysis.

The Art of Madness

The nineteenth century was not an entirely kind time for the female artist. Coming of age as the 1800’s bridged into its latter half, literary artists Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Kate Chopin were all well aware of their uncharitable culture. Equipped with firm feminist bents and creative visions, each of three women produced a seminal work – The Story of Avis, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and The Awakening, respectively – taking that atmosphere to task. In these stories, each of the three women produces a female protagonist who struggles for having been born simultaneously an artist and a woman. The writers pit their women’s desires against the restrictive latitude of their time and show how such conditions drive women to madness, as a result of which they are forced to either escape into the blind mind of insanity or deal daily with their pain and inescapable societal condemnation. In an age where “hysteria” was a frequent hit in the vernacular, Phelps, Gilman and Chopin use art and literature as mediums to show that, indeed, there is a method behind the madness.

A (des)integralidade pela (in)diferença: um estudo sobre práticas assistenciais ao louco na emergência de um hospital quase geral

A atual política de saúde mental brasileira aponta o hospital geral como parte integrante da rede de serviços substitutivos ao manicômio. É preconizado por essa política que os serviços substitutivos levem em consideração, entre outras premissas, o acolhimento, o vínculo e a integralidade na prestação do cuidado. Frente a isso, optou-se por estudar o atendimento ao louco no hospital geral. Este estudo foi realizado no setor de emergência do Hospital Estadual Pedro II, situado na cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O objetivo era analisar as práticas assistenciais ao louco em um hospital geral e os seus efeitos para integralidade. Para isso, buscou-se, especificamente, a) situar a unidade hospitalar e sua relação com a rede de serviços de saúde, destacando os aspectos sociais, políticos e culturais que se inserem; e b) compreender os sentidos e significados sobre integralidade, acolhimento e vínculo atribuídos pelos sujeitos envolvidos nas práticas assistenciais a clientela com transtorno psiquiátrico; e c) identificar a existência de nexos entre essas práticas e as diretrizes do movimento de reforma psiquiátrica, além de mapear os dispositivos de poder e seus efeitos nas práticas assistenciais. Optou-se pelo recurso metodológico do Estudo de Caso. Os dados foram obtidos através de observação, análise documental, entrevista e conversas do cotidiano. Identificou-se que o hospital funciona como a única emergência da região, além de ser a única porta aberta às emergências psiquiátricas. O espaço físico da emergência em pouco favorecia o desenvolvimento de uma atenção acolhedora, resolutiva e humanizada, seja ao louco ou a qualquer outro paciente. As práticas assistenciais ainda eram predominantemente pautadas pelo modo asilar. Acolhimento, vínculo e integralidade faziam parte do discurso, mas ainda não se materializaram nas práticas assistenciais. O estigma atribuído à doença mental foi percebido como empecilho a práticas acolhedoras. A noção de vínculo foi atrelada à responsabilidade. Porém a prática de alguns profissionais da emergência e do próprio serviço de saúde mental não revelou essa responsabilização na coprodução de saúde. As relações de poder no campo seguiam o modelo biomédico hegemônico, com centralidade na figura do médico. Elas foram consideradas empecilho à materialização da integralidade. A fim de possibilitar a concretização do hospital como parte da rede de serviços substitutivos julgou-se necessário investir em novos arranjos institucionais que coloquem o usuário como centro dos modos de produção de atos de saúde; inserir a dimensão cuidadora na formação e qualificação dos profissionais de saúde e, investir especificamente na dimensão sociocultural da reforma psiquiátrica para que o ideário reformista deixe de circular somente os guetos psiquiátrico e garanta um outro lugar para o louco na sociedade.

Literatura, loucura e imaginário social no Brasil: final do século XIX e início do século XX

O presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar o imaginário social sobre a loucura a partir das produções literárias de autores brasileiros do final do século XIX e início do século XX. O período escolhido para realização desta pesquisa deve-se ao fato de ter sido cenário do advento do alienismo no Brasil, com a criação do primeiro hospício brasileiro e da primeira lei de assistência aos alienados, o que revela um processo de transição da visão mística e religiosa em relação à loucura para uma visão científica. É neste contexto que se destacam as obras de Machado de Assis, Olavo Bilac e Lima Barreto que foram selecionadas para análise desta pesquisa e que têm em comum o tema da loucura e questões afins. Sob o aspecto metodológico a pesquisa teve como base fundamental o referencial teórico da sociologia compreensiva, proposta por Michel Maffesoli, particularmente na noção de imaginário social, a partir de uma crítica ao modelo dominante da produção de conhecimento. Foram elaboradas seis grandes noções, concebidas a partir das obras literárias, são elas: ciência, alienação, institucionalização, periculosidade, produção de identidade e medicalização. Além das discussões, vários fragmentos exemplificam e possibilitam uma melhor discussão de cada uma destas noções. Concluiu-se, em consonância com Antonio Candido, ser evidente a importância da literatura, assim como de outras formas de arte e cultura, para compreender o imaginário social de uma época sobre os temas em questão, da mesma forma em que a própria literatura contribui para produzi-los

Luctus est istic tuus,/ crimen novercae. Boskie i ludzkie szaleństwo Heraklesa na podstawie tragedii Eurypidesa i Seneki

One of the main, initial thesis of the article is that in the tragedies `Hρακλής μαινόμενος by Euripides and Hercules Furens by Seneca the main character falls into the madness twice. The first madness is sent by Hera/ Juno and is here defined, because of its origin, as a divine madness. The second one is so called human madness and Heracles/ Hercules is most probably overcome by it, after he has recognised, that he, driven by the involuntary fury, killed his own wife and sons. This state of the psyche of the hero is already independent from the deity and originates in such deeply human feelings like despair, anger, pain, shame. The strongly stirred hero plans to commit a suicide. According to the contemporary psychology this situation can be, because of some reasons analysed in the article, recognised as a symptom of irrationality. In the drama by Seneca Amfithryon, the father of the hero also defines the state of Hercules, who has become aware of the truth about his deeds, outright as furor. There is in the drama by Euripides, however, no reference to this second madness, which is connected with the somewhat different mentality that the drama originated in (the still kept in memory Homeric ethos and the attitudes towards the issues of honour, suicide etc. determined by it). Seneca as a stoic noticed and emphasized – although he generally also accepted the suicide – that Hercules, because of the anger, acts irrationally and, as a result, is in fact mentally unable to decide about his life and death. In the article is also presented in what an interesting way the above mentioned differences in the mentality of Euripides and Seneca manifest themselves in the case of the divine madness (among other things, the difference between Greek Lyssa and Roman Furor).

Fitness to stand trial : how discourses of rationality, reasonableness and culpability inform the law and psychiatry to create standards of normal

The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the importance of the concepts of rationality, reasonableness, culpability and autonomy that inform and support our conception of both the person and the punishable subject. A critical discourse analysis tracing these concepts through both the law and psychological tools used to evaluate the fitness of a person reveals that these concepts and their implied values are inconsistently applied to the mentally disordered who come into conflict with the law. I argue that the result of this inconsistency compromises a person's autonomy which is a contradiction to this concept as a foundational principle of the law. Ultimately, this thesis does not provide a solution to be employed in policy making, but its analysis leaves open possibilities for further exploration into the ways legal and social justice can be reconciled.

Le miroir brisé : le délire à l’œuvre dans Trou de mémoire et L’Antiphonaire d’Hubert Aquin

Ce mémoire aborde la question de la folie dans l’œuvre d’Hubert Aquin, en particulier dans deux romans : Trou de mémoire et L’Antiphonaire. Deux types de désordre de la personnalité font l’objet de l’étude : le délire psychotique dans le cas de Trou de mémoire, et l’épilepsie pour ce qui est de L’Antiphonaire. La question de la maladie mentale ou neurologique est envisagée tant du point de vue thématique que du point de vue structurel. Bien que l’aspect thématique occupe la majeure partie du mémoire, l’analyse de la structure du récit y tient une place importante, l’une des hypothèses de départ étant que le désordre mental affecte la composition narrative des deux romans d’Aquin. Plusieurs sources non littéraires sont utilisées pour apporter des éléments d’analyse susceptibles de confirmer les hypothèses proposées. En plus de faire appel à des sources médicales et à des textes relevant de la psychologie, cette recherche trace un historique de l’épilepsie, en faisant ressortir les différences entre la conception qu’on en avait à l’époque de la Renaissance et celle qui prévaut aujourd’hui. Tout en empruntant à des domaines divers du savoir, cette étude s’intéresse à une question peu traitée par la critique ayant abordé le thème de la folie chez Aquin : celle de ses répercussions sur la structure du récit.

Creep show suivi de "Je est des autres" : de l'esthétique borderline chez Marie-Sissi Labrèche

Dans Creep show, un narrateur présente ses creeps, les malades de son entourage, des schizophrènes inadéquatement nommés, afin de les ramener à la vie par ses mots. En se souvenant de certains moments où la folie se manifestait à lui, il veut déterrer ses ensevelis, les faire parler en leur prêtant son écriture. Dans un récit morcelé pouvant évoquer une galerie de portraits en mouvement, les protagonistes sont présentés comme des monstres, des rêveurs ou des sources d’inspiration selon le moment relaté par un narrateur affecté qui se replonge littéralement dans un passé s’échelonnant entre l’enfance et l’âge de dix-huit ans. Portant autant sur la maladie mentale que sur la honte et la peur des mots, Creep show est un texte sur le silence et l’impuissance, sur l’incapacité de nommer adéquatement la folie ; il s’agit d’un court récit de dix-sept scènes encadrées par un prologue et un épilogue où l’écriture d’un traumatisme se vit comme une histoire d’amour. L’essai intitulé “Je est des autres.” De l’esthétique borderline chez Marie-Sissi Labrèche décrit la genèse d’une esthétique « borderline ». Dans une approche à la fois psychanalytique et narratologique, fondée sur les concepts de la mélancolie, du kitsch et de la crypte, l’analyse tente de montrer quel type de construction thématique et formelle soutient cette esthétique. À partir d’éléments représentatifs de l’univers de Marie-Sissi Labrèche (la question de la limite, la pulsion de mort, le rapport au corps et l’instabilité), l’essai s’intéresse à la façon dont la narratrice de Borderline (2000) donne à lire une identité sédimentaire, un autoportrait masqué-fêlé, où « Je est [des] autre[s] ». En regard de ces éléments, l’hypothèse d’une machine textuelle fonctionnant – thématiquement et formellement – dans et par l’instabilité et l’altérité oriente la réflexion vers l’idée d’une écriture du trauma qui pourrait représenter une tentative de réappropriation identitaire passant par l’esthétique dite « borderline ».