Let's do a little thought experiment.
Say you have a friend, someone you met in college. A classmate. You hit it off. She's intelligent, funny, slightly artistic, down to earth, etc. Over the course of a few months your friendship grows, a bond forms. Then one sunny day in May you notice a dotted line carefully drawn on your friend's right arm, a few inches above the elbow. Naturally, you ask, "What's with the line?"
Your friend's expression darkens. She looks around anxiously before approaching you and whispering, "That's where I want my arm to be cut off."
Whoa. What do you say to that? What do you say to a friend who you've seen do Calculus integration and heard insightfully interpret the film There Will Be Blood, but who also wants her arm chopped off at a specific location because it feels "intrusive"?
Do you think she's crazy?
This is a real disorder by the way, called apotemnophilia. It has been studied in depth by a budding hero of mine -- renowned neuroscientist/psychologist Dr. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. Apotemnophilia is a result of some unusual "wiring" of neurons in one's brain: One part of our cortex contains the construct of our body image -- how we see ourselves if we were to close our eyes or turn the lights off. In people with apotemnophilia, the part of the construct pertaining to their unwanted limb is missing. When they picture their body, their right arm is not included in the picture. Therefore they consider the limb an "intruder" deserving of amputation. Knowing the basic neurology behind it, is it fair to call apotemnophiles crazy? I don't think so.
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| Ramachandran at work. Please note how badass he is. |
Using the term "crazy" is a classic example of humans simplifying something they don't understand. We often say someone is "crazy" if they are generally abnormal. The abnormality could be something biological -- like apotemnophilia. "Crazy" people could also perform certain behaviors or harbor beliefs we see as odd or outlandish; people who have visible and unique differences from the rest of humanity but aren't neurologically askew (think "Crazy Cat Lady" or conspiracy theorists). We also use it to describe someone that's excessively demonstrative or irritable or stubborn -- someone with an extreme personality, most likely due to strong environmental factors in their life (e.g. heavy stress, intense pressure, tragic circumstances, etc.) In any usage, "calling crazy" always ignores a broader concern. "Calling crazy" is a way to explain something that seems inexplicable. It's a heuristic. It's convenient.
And it's bogus.
Let's go back to our thought experiment. Your friend just divulged that she desperately wants to rid herself of her arm because she feels it doesn't belong there. I'll bet your first reaction would be like "Okay, this person is weird." I know I would be taken aback. That's just not something you hear every day.
But after the shock subsided, we should ask why -- why does she have this intractable urge? In every other way she is normal except for this. To me, that's not crazy. It's not normal either, but clearly some abnormal science is at play. She doesn't deserve to be labeled as crazy; she deserves an explanation of why she wants her arm chopped off. Most importantly, she deserves treatment for her illness.
Consider mentally handicapped people. Do we label these people as retarded? Do we make fun of them for how stupid they are? Maybe as kids, but we quickly grow out of it because, as adults, we realize how absurd and cruel it is. Mentally handicapped people can't help that they are mentally handicapped. Similarly, mentally ill people can't help that they are mentally ill. So why do we still call them crazy or weird? We should realize that these mentally ill people need help, just like someone with a physical illness needs help.
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| Depression is one of the most prominent of these illnesses -- it's the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44. |
In the ER where I work I have heard patients labeled as crazy. It's not meant to hurt or harm anyone. It's lighthearted, intending to brighten the often dark and stressful mood. It can be fun to talk about how "crazy" this patient is acting and to laugh about it. It might even be necessary as a way to handle stressful patients. They're spending enough cognitive resources in struggling to treat a difficult patient that few resources are left over to think about why they are difficult to treat. It's hard to think about what might be causing one's "craziness," or to consider the circumstances that patient experienced that led them to act the way they do. But every time I interact with those "crazy" patients they seem anything but. Many of them are living in absolute turmoil. Others have addictions that bring out the worst in them. Still many more are completely normal, and when I treat them reasonably, they instantly reciprocate.
When you think about it, we're all a little crazy. I talk to myself incessantly. I argue with myself. I make funny faces in the mirror and laugh hysterically (in the literal sense of the word). I scream songs in the shower. Sometimes I make weird noises just because they sound novel, followed by more hysterical laughter. Other times I converse with characters in video games. I even hallucinated once as a kid (in fact, as much as 10% of the population has hallucinated). It's these quirks that contribute to my individuality. How could I judge anyone who displays similar oddities, biological or not?
In my opinion, no one is truly "crazy", and we should stop using the word to describe people. Crazy doesn't tell us what's really going on with someone. It does the opposite -- it neglects the underlying physiology or environmental factors that produce the "craziness". Crazy trivializes. Crazy makes one's biology and social environment the butt of a joke, which in turn discourages those with actual disorders from telling people about their symptoms.
"Crazy" people don't exist. Disordered people exist. Mentally ill people exist. Extremely stressed people exist. The more widespread this notion becomes; the more understanding we become of "crazy" people; the more we recognize the pressures of a person's environment; the more we encourage those with illness to discuss their abnormalities and the less we judge/label/stigmatize them, the better off humanity will be. Instead of being afraid of persecution and ridicule, those suffering from disorders can be accepted for who they are biologically. They can receive treatment earlier and live a more "normal" life. Wouldn't you want that if you suffered from mental illness or extreme stress?
My plea is this: Let's stop taking this easy way out and labeling people as crazy. If someone is acting particularly strange, there's probably a good reason why, a reason that's likely beyond his or her control. And who cares anyway? Diversity is the cornerstone of our success as a species. It's the cornerstone to any species' success. Instead of admonishing, trivializing, fearing, or dismissing this diversity -- instead of labeling it as weird or crazy -- we should embrace it. Our differences make us who we are. They separate me from you. They define us. And they should not be grounds for ridicule.
No one is crazy. We're just human.
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| This cat, on the other hand, is completely bonkers. |
Patiently edited by Ken McGurran
