How To Recognize A Madman

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Pretentiousness, mannerism of speech are signs of a mental disorder. The so-called "telegraphic style" - cut short phrases that have no logical connection with each other. “A jump of ideas” is when the interlocutor switches from one topic to another extremely quickly, without having time to logically finish the thought.

According to some reports, every fifth Russian needs the help of a psychiatrist. Or a psychotherapist at least. The number of mentally ill people is growing steadily. And it is growing - because during the time of perestroika and the formation of democracy, amazing laws were adopted. For which a person, not only cannot be treated forcibly, but even examining without his consent is prohibited. Until he committed a crime. Best of all is murder. Then you can examine.

And you can even isolate - by court order. And nothing else. And abnormal, sorry for the common term, full. Both in real life and in the virtual space, where they feel especially comfortable. Complete anonymity, the ability to share crazy ideas and throw out aggression. For a start - verbal. And, meanwhile, it is known that madmen are dangerous not only by their deeds and crimes. There is such a concept - "induction". Simply put, delirium is contagious. And the madman can be very convincing.

About two hundred years ago, doctors in an insane asylum for this very reason delegated their powers to bulky nurses. Doctors, you see, began to go crazy. Especially those of them who showed humanity and devoted a lot of time to talking with patients. Communication and personal therapy. Chekhov's story "Ward number six" is just about this. The thin, sensitive, impressionable doctor became mentally ill. And he took his place among his former patients.

So it was not just cruelty that dictated a harsh measure - the isolation of the sick. They are dangerous precisely because of the so-called "psychic infection" described by Le Bon. Mentally ill people have a detrimental effect on healthy people. The mechanism of transmission of mental illness is not yet well understood. But it has been scientifically confirmed that depression, alcoholism, mania, and agitation are transmitted. And an abnormal member of society walking in freedom becomes a source of "mental infection", like a tuberculosis sufferer or a carrier of a pale spirochete.

Since ancient times, society has puzzled over the question of how to deal with the mad. Even in cruel and bloody times, people understood that it was just about the disease. And there is nothing to punish for. On the other hand, everyone understood the danger posed by mentally ill people. And they acted accordingly. The quiet ones were not touched. The "blessed", the holy fools and the weak-minded even enjoyed the patronage of society. They were credited with mystical abilities, fed, pitied. Everything, up to bloodthirsty kings like Ivan the Terrible. And violent and dangerous abnormalities caused fear and confusion.

In the fifteenth century, the burgomaster discovered in his city a naked madman who ran, shouted, waved his arms. The burgomaster acted witty: he ordered to put the madman in the boat and send him to the other side. Where the other city was located. Fused, so to speak. Let the other burgomaster figure it out. And the famous "Ship of Fools" by Bosch was written based on the real practice of the Middle Ages: madmen were put on a ship and sent to sea. Someone set the sail, someone chose the captain, someone laid the route, and someone danced or twisted a hole in the bottom. And compared to the horrors of the Middle Ages, it was a rather humane way of getting rid of the mad. When people were quartered, burned, and chopping off the head was considered a mild punishment.

Then the mentally ill were kept in locked cellars, on chains. And on weekends, respectable townspeople could visit insane asylums for a small fee. Those who forgot an umbrella at home were given a stick at the entrance. To poke patients if they weren't violent enough. Indeed, the money has been paid. Let them jump and scream. And then next time we'll go to the gallows to watch. It's free there. Especially for schoolchildren. Terrible times, terrible attitude towards the sick.

The humane methods helped a lot. And some doctors began to release patients, removed their chains, and allowed them to play with animals. And some patients even recovered - a historical fact. But the same fact is that in some humane hospitals, patients, enjoying freedom and humane treatment, killed all the staff. So the history of the issue is very many years old - probably as long as the history of mankind.

Recognizing a madman is not easy, I assure you. Of course, if a person behaves inappropriately, shouts, dances naked or does something else like that, everything is immediately visible. But such patients are few, and they do not pose a danger to society - precisely because they are easy to recognize.

Mentally ill people can be quite normal in appearance. And it is quite intelligible and understandable to talk. And even rub into trust and convince you that you are right. Sometimes experienced psychiatrists are forced to conduct research and examinations for months, to convene a consultation, to apply various methods and means to identify the disease - and then they can be mistaken and delusional.

After all, the cunning of a madman has become proverbial. And some mental illnesses do not result in a loss or decline in intelligence. The patient carefully and cunningly conceals his illness. “So that no one sees me, on walks I hide like a coward, raising the collar of my coat and pulling my cap deeper,” - this is how Bryusov's poem “Crazy” begins.

They hide, disguise themselves, hide their delirium. Then to deal the fatal blow. The madmen are dangerous, unpredictable, and their crimes are distinguished by incredible cruelty. And they are often directed at absolutely strangers, whom the mentally ill person considered "persecutors". Such attacks and murders are called “persecuted persecutor”. The patient kills and attacks precisely because he considers the other person a dangerous enemy. Voices in his head tell him this firmly. And close observation …

Psychotic disorders are precisely insanity. The patient is firmly convinced that you are his enemy. Foreign intelligence agent. Space hostile alien. Enemy of the people and humanity. In general, the enemy. And the only way to protect yourself from you is to kill you. Psychiatrists know this very well, and that is why in the Soviet years it was forbidden to publish the doctor's phone number in the reference book.

Such a patient can be recognized by talking about the hostility of the world. About the persecution. About secret enemies who bother him and follow. Perhaps they get into the apartment without his knowledge, rearrange furniture, read correspondence or even thoughts in his head. If the person expresses such ideas, stay away from them. Otherwise, he may “include you in the picture of delirium”. And to understand that you are what you are - his main enemy and persecutor.

Sometimes such patients express overvalued or delusional ideas. Cosmic scale. They talk about conspiracies, great discoveries, extremely important information. They are prone to fruitless philosophizing, projects divorced from reality. These are dangerous patients. Extremely dangerous. On the Internet, they are easy to recognize by their desire for political discussions, the expression of "important ideas" of the reorganization of society. And yet - reasoning. "On the one hand … On the other hand …" - and so on ad infinitum. Tedious fruitless reasoning.

And, of course, a sure sign is aggression. When, for no reason, a person shows rage and anger for little or no reason. Expresses vicious hatred in the comments. There is no need to communicate with such characters. Delirium does not lend itself to dissuasion, this is the main tenet of psychiatry. And the slightest criticism causes inhuman rage.

We cannot do anything about it - in our country it is impossible to forcibly treat abnormal people. But it is necessary to block - attempts to "talk", "convince" and so on will only anger the abnormal person. Sometimes, when in doubt, doctors use the "method of provocation" - they say something critical. A mild note. The madman immediately throws off the mask and bursts into such anger and rage that the diagnosis becomes clear.

And yet, mentally ill people are especially annoyed at a hint of their diagnosis. Which they already once put. Or they vaguely assume it in themselves - mentally ill people are often not stupid and read a lot. Especially specialized literature. And psychiatrists are hated. Well, psychologists at the same time. For insight and insight.

The real madmen are psychotics. And the number of crimes they commit remains at about the same level.

But there are more and more psychopaths. I will not go into subtleties, a lot has been written about psychopaths. But their main features: complete lack of conscience. Compassion. Repentance. They have the so-called "repression" - the psyche simply "displaces" everything unpleasant and bad. And self-esteem remains high, no matter what. “They brought me to this!” Are typical words of a psychopath. The so-called transfer of responsibility to the victim.

The psychopath treats other people as insects that interfere or inconvenience him. And he has no doubts that he is fighting for truth and justice. Because the measure of truth and justice is himself. For the time being, psychopaths are quite normal and behave just like ordinary people. Until something annoys them. Someone's article or comment. Or clothes. Or behavior. Or - political views. No matter. The irritant can be tiny and the reaction terrible.

You can identify a psychopath by the reaction to criticism, to a trifling remark. Only sometimes it's too late to determine - a former decent man pounced on you with a howl. Or he began to write such that you almost fainted from horror. Communication in this case is meaningless and dangerous. And it will hardly be possible to put such a character on a ship - this is not a quiet maddened or gullible megalomaniac, with whom you can somehow communicate, if you do not contradict delirium.

Pay attention to the manner of expressing: pretentiousness, mannerism of speech are signs of a mental disorder. The so-called "telegraphic style" - cut short phrases that have no logical connection with each other. “A jump of ideas” is when the interlocutor switches from one topic to another extremely quickly, without having time to logically finish the thought.

Or sluggish, low-toned speech, without emotion. The tendency to scholastic disputes, the so-called "pouring from empty to empty", lack of logic: "there is an elder in the garden, but in Kiev there is an uncle." Don't communicate. As in the unforgettable "The Hound of the Baskervilles" - "if reason and life are dear to you, stay away from the peat bogs." And dubious strangers who crave companionship.

Outwardly, there are also some features by which one can understand that something is wrong with a person.

"Wax facial expressions" - smoothed, frozen facial features. Or, conversely, a tendency to grimace. "Laughter for no reason" - idiotic jokes, unfunny humor, giggling, chuckle, cackle and horse laughter … Strange clothes. Although the person himself considers himself a connoisseur of fashion and the owner of an artistic taste. This is especially noticeable in women of a certain age.

Wild headdress. Inadequate makeup, when the lady looks like King Montezuma in the heyday of the Inca empire. Greasy skin and hair. Disregard for personal hygiene. No wonder psychiatrists have the expression "the smell of schizophrenia." Which applies not only to a specific smell. But also to actions, at first glance, quite harmless.

Psychiatrists say, "It smells like schizophrenia." Let's say a person was embarrassed to enter the boss's office and rode in there on a bicycle. A harmless joke. But absurd behavior is also a sign of mental illness. Sometimes the madness is disguised. Namely - alcohol or drugs. We think we have a drinker in front of us. And that's why he behaves so strangely. And this is disguised schizophrenia.

So deviant behavior and the presence of addictions also hint that not everything is in order with the psyche of such a person. And I sincerely advise you to be careful and immediately interrupt communication if it makes you feel confused or anxious. Unfortunately, there is nothing more we can do to help a mentally ill person. We can't even take him to a doctor if he doesn't want to. So it's worth thinking about yourself and your safety. In real life and on the Internet …