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Definition: Insane |
InsaneAdjective1. Afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement; "was declared insane"; "insane laughter". 2. Very foolish; "harebrained ideas"; "took insane risks behind the wheel"; "a completely mad scheme to build a bridge between two mountains". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "insane" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Etymology: Insane \In*sane"\, adjective. [Latin expression insanus. See In- not, and Sane.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of being insane, forebodes disastrous results to some newly undertaken work, or ill health may work sad changes in your prospects. To see others insane, denotes disagreeable contact with suffering and appeals from the poverty-stricken. The utmost care should be taken of the health after this dream. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Slang | Adjective. Source: Unknown. Definition: The group uses this word as almost tripping out on some drug. They tend to think that everything is insane and can't control themselves. When things are insane they are very intense. Context: The group uses this word to mean almost illusions that might take them to a differetn dimension. Social Source: Lake Oswego "Rebels". Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Insanity is either:
- mental illness, lack of sanity, or
- a legal plea, see insanity defense.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Insane."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Please note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice. The insanity and incompetence defenses refer to possible defensess by excuse; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were mentally ill or mentally incompetent at the time of their allegedly "criminal" actions. This defense is based on a principle that punishment is only reasonable if the defendant is capable of both controlling their behavior and understanding that they have committed a "wrongful act". It is argued that some people, suffering from mental disorders, are not capable of knowing or choosing right from wrong, they should not be punished. A defendant making this argument might be said to be pleading "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI).
Psychiatric Treatment
Those found to have been not guilty by reason of insanity are often then required to undergo psychiatric treatment; except in the case of temporary insanity (see below). Defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity are generally placed in a mental institution. Unlike defendants who are found guilty of a crime, they are not institutionalized for a fixed period, but rather they are held within the institution until authorities determine that they are no longer a threat. Authorities making this decision tend to be cautious; as a result, defendants can often spend more time there they would have in prison (had they been convicted). In Foucha v. Louisiana (1992) the Supreme Court ruled that a person could not be held "indefinitely".
Psychosis and Schizophrenia
In practice, a finding of "not guilty by reason of insanity" almost always requires that the defendant have been in a state of active psychosis (at the time the law was broken) and usually such findings involve a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.
Incompetency, Intoxication, and Mental Illness
The concept of insanity is different from the concept of incompetency. Incompetency denotes the inability of a defendant to understand the charges against them, to participate in their defense, and relates to the defendant's state of mind at the time of trial. A trial cannot proceed if a defendant has been found incompetent, unless the defendant later becomes competent.The legal concept of insanity is different from the psychiatric concept of mental illness. Frequently, a person whose mental illness is not under dispute will be determined sane as the court will argue that despite a "mental illness" the defendant should still be held responsible; such a ruling is known as either a Guilty but Mentally Ill (GBMI) or a Guilty but Insane verdict. Michigan (1975) was the first state to pass a GBMI verdict. Sometimes a person without mental illness to be found to be insane, as for example, if a person who is acting under the influence of a drug that was involuntarily administered (though voluntary intoxication has been rejected by most jurisdictions as a defence to crime). (See: involuntary intoxication)
History of the Insanity Defense
The concept of defense by insanity has existed since ancient Greece and Rome. The first complete transcript of an insanity trial dates 1724. In Ford v. Wainwright (1975) the US Supreme Court ruled that insane prisoners cannot be executed.
Controversy Over the Insanity Defense
There are many different interpretations of "insane" and many different notions of how to deal with insane individuals.In the US (1982), the insanity defense came under increasing criticism following the acquittal of John Hinckley, Jr, who attempted to assassinate President Reagan. Critics of the defense argue that it relies too much on opinion and/or "permits" behavior by one group which is forbidden to another. Some opponents, including Thomas Szasz, believe that mental illness and insanity are part of a "mental illness myth". (See antipsychiatry). However, the main criticism was, and is, largely uninformed - it is not of defining insanity, but that people are "getting away" with a crime.
The insanity defense is not commonly used. In the United States, prior to Hinckley, the insanity defense was used in less than 2% of all capital cases and was unsuccessful in almost 80% of the trials.
Some US courts have begun to ban the use of the insanity defense and a 1994 Supreme Court ruling upheld the right of Montana to do so. Idaho and Utah have also banned this defense.
The McNaghten Rules
The McNaghten rules (England, 1844) state that a person "...is not guilty of a crime if, at the time of the crime, they either didn't know what they were doing, or didn't know that what they were doing was wrong." This rule was later adopted within the US.
The Irresistible Impulse
There is also an idea of an irresistible impulse, which argues that a person may have known an act was illegal; but, because of a mental impairment, they couldn't control their actions. In 1994, Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty of a crime, when her defense argued that an irresistible impulse led her to cut off her husband's penis.
The Durham Rule
The Durham Rule (1954) states that "... an accused is not criminally responsible if his unlawful act was the product of mental disease or defect". After the 1970s, US jurisdictions have tended to not recognize this argument as it places emphasis on "mental disease or defect" and thus on testimony by psychiatrists and is argued to be somewhat ambigious.
The Insanity Defense Reform Act
The Insanity Defense Reform Act (US - 1984) states that insanity is a "severe mental disease or defect...[which causes a defendant to be] unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of [their] acts."
The Substantial Capacity Test
The Substantial Capacity Test was defined by the American Law Institute, in its Model Penal Code: Official Draft and Explanatory Notes. This argues that insanity should be defined as a lack of substantial capacity to control one's behavior. Substantial capacity is defined as: "the mental capacity needed to understand the wrongfulness of [an] act, or to conform...behavior to the...law." This is related to the McNaghten Rule and the idea of irresistible impulse.
The Brawner Rule
The Brawner Rule (1972) argues that insanity should be decided by a jury. Under this proposal, juries are allowed to decide the "insanity question" as they see fit.
Temporary Insanity
The notion of temporary insanity argues that a defendant was insane, but is now sane. A defendant found to have been temporarily insane will often be released without any requirements of psychiatric treatment. This defense was first used by Representative Daniel E. Sickles of New York in 1859 after he had killed his wife's lover, Philip Barton Key, but was most used during the 1940s and 1950s. Since then, however, it has been becoming less successful.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Insanity defense."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A mental illness is a psychiatric disorder that results in a disruption in a person's thinking, feeling, moods, and ability to relate to others. Psychiatrists generally attribute mental illness to organic/neurochemical causes that can be treated with psychiatric medication, psychotherapy, lifestyle adjustments and other supportive measures. Compare rational-emotive therapy.
Mental illness is distinct from the legal concept of insanity.
Mental health, mental hygiene and mental wellness are all terms used to describe the absence of mental illness.
Advocacy organizations have been trying to change the common perception of psychiatric disorders as a sign of personal weakness and something to be ashamed of to an affliction akin to physical diseases (like the measles).
Prevalence of and diagnosis of mental illness
Mental illness is one of the most common causes of disability in the Western World. According to NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) an American advocacy organisation, twenty-three percent of North American adults will suffer from a clinically diagnosable mental illness in a given year, but less than half of them will suffer symptoms severe enough to disrupt their daily functioning. Approximately nine percent to 13 percent of children under the age of 18 experience a serious emotional disturbance with substantial functional impairment, and five percent to nine percent have a serious emotional disturbance with extreme functional impairment due to a mental illness. Many of these young people will recover from their illnesses before reaching adulthood, and go on to lead normal lives uncomplicated by illness.
Major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder all feature in the 'top ten' list of causes of disability in the Western World.
The treatment success rate for a first episode of schizophrenia is 60 percent, 65 percent to 70 percent for major depression, and 80 percent for bipolar disorder.
At the start of the 20th century there were only a dozen recognized mental illnesses. By 1952 there were 192 and the DSM-IV today lists 374. Depending on your perspective this could be seen to be
- due to some causative agent such as diet or the ever-increasing stress of everyday life, leading to a highly increased incidence of mental illness;
- an over-medicalisation of human thought processes, and an increasing tendency on the part of mental health experts to label individual 'quirks and foibles' as illness; or
- improved diagnostic and clinical ability on the part of the professionals.
Controversy over the nature of mental illness
The subject is profoundly controversial, e.g. homosexuality has been considered such an "illness" from time to time, and obviously this perception varies with cultural bias and theory of conduct.
It is important to note that the existence of mental illness and the legitimacy of the psychiatric profession are not universally accepted. Some professionals, notably Doctor Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Syracuse, are profoundly opposed to the practice of labelling "mental illness" as such. "There is no such thing as mental illness" is not an uncommon statement at gatherings of therapists emphasizing patient care and self-control, often decrying labels as suitable only for pill salesmen. This movement, known as anti-psychiatry argues against a biological origin for mental disorders, or else suggests that all human experience has a biological origin and so no pattern of behavior can be classified as an illness per se.
Neurochemical studies have proven that there are systemic lacks of certain neurotransmitters in the brains of certain individuals. Also, some structural differences between brains of people with behavioral differences can be detected in brain scans. Some mental illnesses tend to run in families, and there have also been strongly suggestive, but not conclusive, links between certain genes and particular mental disorders. Routine tests for these conditions are, however, not generally required for prescription of drugs, and are not always employed in law either. It is not clear whether these differences in brain chemistry are the cause or the result of mental disorders. Anti-psychiatrists argue that traumatic life experiences that exceed an individual's coping ability can result in lasting changes in brain chemistry. Patterns of learned behavior can also alter brain chemistry, for better or for worse. Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on changing patterns of thinking through learning, which may ultimately restore so-termed "healthy" brain chemistry.
Drug therapies for severe mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and clinical depression which are consistent with biochemical models have been remarkably effective, and there are reports of increasively effective treatments for schizophrenia. Anti-psychiatrists, however, argue that drugs merely mask the symptoms of mental suffering by physically crippling the brain's emotional response system. Studies have shown that many patient's symptoms return once drug treatment is ceased.
See the articles on anti-psychiatry and causes of mental illness for a fuller treatment of these topics.
Categorization of mental illness
Many mental illnesses have been categorised into groups according to their common symptoms, in a diagnostic manual called the DSM-IV. There are thirteen different categories. Some categories contain a myriad of illnesses and some with only a few:
- disorders usually recognised in infancy, childhood or adolescence; e,g., mental retardation, autism, ADHD
- Delerium, dementia, amnesiastic and other cognitive disorders; e.g., Alzheimers disease
- mental disorders due to a general medical condition; e.g., AIDS-related psychosis
- substance-related disorders; e.g., addiction
- Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
- Mood disorders; e.g., depression, bipolar disorder
- Anxiety disorders
- Somatoform disorders; e.g., hypochondria
- Factitious disorders; e.g., Munchausen's syndrome
- Dissociative disorders; e.g., dissociative identity disorder
- Sexual disorders; e.g., gender identity disorder
- Eating disorders
- Sleep disorders
- Impulse-control disorders eg.kleptomania, pyromania
- Adjustment disorders
- Personality disorders
Symptoms of mental illness
In addition to the categorized illnesses, there are many well-defined symptoms of mental illness such as paranoia that are not regarded as illnesses in themselves, but only as indicators of one of the illnesses belonging to one of the classes listed above.
See also:
- Automatism
- Alphabetic list of mental illnesses
- Reality
- Sectioning
- Causes of mental illness
External links
- NAMI Fact and Figures about Mental Illness
- The History of Mental Illness (Ohio University, The Ridges)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mental illness."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Psychosis is a psychiatric classification for a mental state in which the perception of reality is distorted. Persons experiencing a psychotic episode may experience hallucinations (often auditory or visual hallucinations), hold paranoid or delusional beliefs and exhibit disorganized thinking. This is often accompanied by a lack of insight into the unusual or bizarre nature of their behaviour.Psychosis is one of the symptoms of severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic depression). It may also occur in severe cases of depression, brain injury, drug overdose or unusual negative reaction to drugs (particularly amphetamines and hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or mescaline), or extreme personal stress. Psychosis triggered by stress in the absence of any other mental illness is known as brief reactive psychosis.
The term psychosis should be distinguished from the concept of insanity, which is a legal term denoting that a person should not be criminally responsible for his actions. It should be distinguished from the state of delirium, in that a psychotic individual may be able to perform actions that require a high level of intellectual effort. Finally, it should be distinguished from mental illness. Persons with schizophrenia can have long periods without psychosis and persons with bipolar disorder and depression can have mood symptoms without psychosis. Conversely, psychosis can occur in persons without mental illness as a result of drug overdose or extreme stress.
Etymology: The word psychosis comes from the Greek psykhe (mind) and osis (diseased or abnormal condition). It is believed the word was first coined in 1846 and is derived from the term neurosis.
Psychotic experience
A psychotic episode can be significantly coloured by mood. For example, people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of depression may experience persecutory or self-blaming delusions or hallucinations, whilst people experiencing a psychotic episode in the context of mania may form grandiose delusions or have an experience of deep religious significance.
Although usually distressing and regarded as an illness process, a small number of people who experience psychosis find beneficial aspects and value the experience or revelations that stem from it.
Hallucinations in psychosis
Hallucinations are defined as sensory perception in the absence of external stimuli. Psychotic hallucinations may occur in any of the five senses and take on almost any form, which may include simple sensations (such as lights, colours, tastes, smells) to more meaningful experiences such as seeing and interacting with fully formed animals and people, hearing voices and complex tactile sensations.Auditory hallucinations, particularly the experience of hearing voices, is a common and often prominent feature of psychosis. Hallucinated voices may talk about, or to the person, and may involve several speakers with distinct personas. Auditory hallucinations tend to be particularly distressing when they are derogatory, commanding or preoccupying.
Delusions and paranoia
Psychosis may involve delusional or paranoid beliefs. Karl Jaspers classified psychotic delusions into primary and secondary types. Primary delusions are defined as arising out-of-the-blue and not being comprehensible in terms of normal mental processes, whereas secondary delusions may be understood as being influenced by the person's background or current situation.
Thought disorder
Thought disorder describes an underlying disturbance to conscious thought and is classified largely by its effects on speech and writing. Affected persons may show pressure of speech (speaking incessantly and quickly), derailment or flight of ideas (switching topic mid-sentence or inappropriately), thought blocking, rhyming or punning.
Lack of insight
One important and puzzling feature of psychosis is usually an accompanying lack of insight into the unusual, strange or bizarre nature of the person's experience or behaviour. Even in the case of an acute psychosis, the sufferer may seem completely unaware that their vivid hallucinations and impossible delusions are in any way unrealistic. This is not an absolute, however; insight can vary between individuals and throughout the duration of the psychotic episode.In some cases, particularly with auditory and visual hallucinations, the patient has good insight and this makes the psychotic experience even more terrifying in that the patient realizes that he should not be seeing demons and angels or hearing voices, but does.
Medical understanding of psychosis
There are a number of possible causes for psychosis. Psychosis may be the result of an underlying mental illness such as Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression), and schizophrenia. Psychosis may also be triggered or exacerbated by severe mental stress and high doses or chronic use of drugs such as amphetamines, LSD, PCP, cocaine or scopolamine.There is now growing evidence for a small but significant link between cannabis use and vulnerability to psychosis. Some studies indicate that cannabis use correlates with a slight increase in psychotic experience, which may trigger full-blown psychosis in some people. Early studies have been criticized for failing to consider other drugs (such as LSD) that the subjects may also have used before or during the study, as well as other factors such as possible pre-existing mental health issues. However, more recent, studies with better control have still found a small increase in risk for psychosis in cannabis users. It is still not clear whether this is a causal link, and it may be that cannabis use only increases the chance of psychosis in people already predisposed to it. The fact that cannabis use has increased over the past few decades, whereas the rate of psychosis has not, suggests that a direct causal link is unlikely for all users.
Brain imaging studies of people undergoing psychotic episodes have shown mixed results. In some cases, scans have revealed that the areas of the brain that reacts to sensory perceptions are active during psychosis. For example, a PET or fMRI scan of a person who claims to be hearing voices may show activation in the auditory cortex, or parts of the brain involved in the perception and understanding of speech.
On the other hand, there is not a clear enough psychological definition of belief to make a comparison between different people particularly valid. Brain imaging studies on delusions have typically relied on correlations brain activation patterns with the presence of delusional beliefs.
One clear finding is that persons with a tendency to have psychotic experiences (including healthy people who have paranormal beliefs) seem to show increased activation in the right hemisphere of the brain. Studies by Michael Persinger have shown that low level magnetic stimulation of the right temporal lobe can produce hallucination sensations and sensed presences, similar to those found in psychosis.
Some theories regard many psychotic symptoms to be a problem with the perception of ownership of internally generated thoughts and experiences. For example, the experience of hearing voices may arise from internally generated speech that is mislabelled by the psychotic person as coming from an external source.
Psychotic episodes may vary in duration between individuals. In "brief reactive psychosis", the psychotic episode is related directly to a specific stressful life event so patients may spontaneously recover normal functioning within two weeks. Patients who are undergoing brief reactive psychosis due to drugs or stress generally appear with the same symptoms as a person who is psychotic as a result of a mental illness, and this fact has been used to support the notion that mental illness has a biological basis.
Psychosis has been traditionally linked to the neurotransmitter dopamine, particularly an excess of dopamine in the limbic system (a structure deep within the brain). The development of effective antipsychotic medication played a large part in the success of this view, as the first effective antipsychotic drugs were dopamine blockers. In addition, drugs that increase the concentration of dopamine tend to trigger psychotic episodes.
Nevertheless, the connection between dopamine and psychosis is generally believed to be complex. First of all, while anti-psychotic drugs immediately block dopamine receptors, they usually take a week or two to reduce the symptoms of psychosis. Moreover, newer and equally as effective antipsychotic drugs actually block slightly less dopamine in the brain than older drugs whilst also affecting serotonin levels, suggesting the 'dopamine hypothesis' is vastly oversimplified. Psychiatrist David Healey has criticised pharmaceutical companies for promoting particular scientific theories that favour their medication and encouraging a purely biological account of mental illness.
The division of the major psychoses into bipolar disorder and schizophrenia was made by Emil Kraepelin, who attempted to create a synthesis of the various mental disorders identified by 19th century psychiatrists, by grouping diseases together based on classification of common symptoms. Bipolar disorder is characterised by problems with mood control and the psychotic episodes appear associated with disturbances in mood, and patients will often have periods of normal functioning between psychotic episodes even without medication. Schizophrenia is characterized by psychotic episodes which appear to be unrelated to disturbances in mood, and most non-medicated patients will show signs of disturbance between psychotic episodes.
See also antipsychotic, bipolar disorder, delusion, delusional disorder, neurosis, paranoia, psychiatry, schizophrenia, thought disorder.
Further reading: Medicine
- Degenhardt, L. (2003) Editorial: The link between cannabis use and psychosis: furthering the debate. Psychological Medicine, 33, 3-6.
- Healey, D. (2002) The Creation of Psychopharmacology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674006194
- Sims, A. (1995) Symptoms in the mind: An introduction to descriptive psychopathology. Edinburgh: Elsevier Science Ltd. ISBN 0702026271
Further reading: Personal accounts
- Dick, P.K (1981) VALIS. London: Gollancz. [Semi-autobiographical] ISBN 0679734465
- Jamison, K.R (1995) An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. London: Picador.
ISBN 0679763309- Wikipedia entry for James Tilly Matthews
- Schreber, D.P. (2000) Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. New York: New York Review of Books. ISBN 094032220X
External links
- http://www.mind.org.uk/information/factsheets/P/Psychosis/Psychosis.asp
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Psychosis."
Synonyms: InsaneSynonyms: harebrained (adj), mad (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: sane (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Insanity | Verb: be insane; Adjective: |
Become insane; adj; lose one's senses, lose one's reason, lose one's faculties, lose one's wits; go mad, run mad, lose one's marbles, go crazy, go bonkers, flip one's wig, flip one's lid, flip out, flip one's bush. | |
Adjective: insane, mad, lunatic,loony; crazy, crazed, aliene, non compos mentis; not right, cracked, touched; bereft of reason; all possessed, unhinged, unsettled in one's mind; insensate, reasonless, beside oneself, demented, daft; phrenzied, frenzied, frenetic; possessed, possessed with a devil; deranged, maddened, moonstruck; mad-brained, scatter brained, shatter brained, crackbrained; touched, tetched; off one's head. | |
Violence | Turbulent; disorderly; blustering, raging; Verb: troublous, riotous; tumultuary, tumultuous; obstreperous, uproarious; extravagant; unmitigated; ravening, inextinguishable, tameless; frenzied; (insane). desperate; (rash); infuriate, furious, outrageous, frantic, hysteric, in hysterics. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Insane |
| English words defined with "insane": balmily, bedlam, Bethlemite, booby hatch, brain of ♦ certifiable, certified, certify, crazed, crazily, crazy house, cuckoo's nest ♦ daftly, dementedly, derange, deranged, dottily ♦ fey, funny farm, funny house ♦ George III ♦ half-crazed, harebrained ♦ insanely ♦ loony bin, lunatic ♦ Mad, madhouse, madly, madman, maniac, moonstruck ♦ nut house, nuthouse, nuttily ♦ sanatorium, snake pit ♦ To lose one's mind, To turn the head, touched, Toxicomania, Toxiphobia ♦ unbalance ♦ wackily. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "insane": administration durante corporis aut animi vitio ♦ Belly, But that, But what ♦ crawling horror ♦ Dymphna ♦ grilf ♦ Insane Root ♦ LOVE ♦ Orthography ♦ reality-distortion field. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "insane": OEstrus. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Insane" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (insane). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A vampire gone insane that pollutes it's own bed (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice) I am insane, and you are my insanity (Twelve Monkeys; writing credit: David Webb Peoples) Hope can drive a man insane. (The Shawshank Redemption; writing credit: Frank Darabont) Aaah! I am insane with anger (Signs; writing credit: M. Night Shyamalan) You're insane Goldmember (Austin Powers in Goldmember; writing credit: Mike Myers) | |
Lyrics | She must be insane. (I Care 4 U; performing artist: Aaliyah) When I was goin' insane (Amazing; performing artist: Aerosmith) I'M GOING INSANE (Never Ever; performing artist: All Saints) So you said that only proves that I'm insane (You May Be Right; performing artist: Billy Joel) Go insane and out of your mind (Maria; performing artist: Blondie) | |
Clever | The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. (references; author: Mark Twain) The way it is now, the asylums can hold the sane people but if we tried to shut up the insane we would run out of building materials. (references; author: Mark Twain) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Insane (1968) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Excited Ward, Infirmary, and Observation Ward, Boston Insane Hospital. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Eastern Hospital for the Insane, Kankakee, Ill. : Delivery Wagon for Baked Goods. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | Willard Asylum for the Insane : Branch- Infirmary for Women. Front elevation and first floor plan. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | The man is a paranoiac : he should be at once confined in an asylum for the criminal insane. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Cranial shape of skull of sane man in figure 3 and 4 compared to skull shape of insane man] / Maleuvre, sc. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Asylum for the insane and Casa Blanca, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Insane asylum, Binghamton, N.Y. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Washington arsenal, Insane Asylum in the distance. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Iowa State Hospital for Insane, Clarinda, IA. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "After a storm 29" by Jason Krieger Commentary: "After a nasty storm that hit my city, I ran outside to catch some shots of the insane looking clouds passing by.... For more of this series and more of my stick photos, check out - stock.kriegsnet.com ..." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Blither; blithering; idiot; idiotic; incomprehensible; insane; institutionalized; crazy; crazed; out of your mind; out of his mind; out of my mind; mentally ill; aberrant; bewildered; confused; crazed; delirious; demented; deranged; deviant; deviate; ding. | | Crazy; laugh; insane; insanity; bonkers; cracked; crazed; cuckoo; daft; delirious; demented; deranged; lunatic; mad; maniacal; mental; nuts; nutty; psycho; screw loose; screwball; screwy; unbalanced; unglued; unhinged; unzipped; wacky; whacko. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Edgar Allan Poe | I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. |
Henry Ward Beecher | In things pertaining to enthusiasm no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | An insane, but heroic defiance, for this old Faubourg is a hero |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He looked in wonder at angry people, wonder and uneasiness, as normal people look at the insane. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Children | Turkmenistan | There also is a hospital for the criminally insane in Lebap Velayat. (references) |
Economic History | Uzbekistan | Suffrage: Universal at age 18 (unless imprisoned or certified as insane). (references) |
Human Rights | Russia | The experts reportedly concluded that Budanov was insane at the time of the murder. (references) |
Minorities | Russia | According to a press report, a Samara judge reportedly found the leader of a local group of "Satanists," Mikhail Pankov, responsible for the desecration of the cemetery in Samara and declared him insane. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | ORTHOGRAPHY, n. The science of spelling by the eye instead of the ear. Advocated with more heat than light by the outmates of every asylum for the insane. They have had to concede a few things since the time of Chaucer, but are none the less hot in defence of those to be conceded hereafter. A spelling reformer indicted For fudge was before the court cicted. The judge said: "Enough -- His candle we'll snough, And his sepulchre shall not be whicted." |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Bill Maher | That's right. It's insane the way they are trying to make it un-American, to have a different idea about the way we should handle a common problem. |
Rush Limbaugh | But to say that the way you are living your life is responsible for climate change is just as insane as saying you're the reason that there's corruption in campaigns. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Insane" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Insane" is used about 401 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 401 | 13,953 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "insane": become insane ♦ drive insane ♦ insane asylum ♦ insane person ♦ the insane. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "insane": half-insane. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "insane"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | mal (crazy, mad, nuts), besete (crazy, mad, nuts), bedol (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Albanian | i papërgjegjshëm (irresponsible, irresponsive, unaccountable), i marrë (Batty, crack-brained, crazy, Daffy, delirious, demented, deranged, dippy, mad, madman, phrenetic, wildcat, zany), i lojtur (crazy), i çmendur (anile, bedlamite, berserk, crack-brained, cracked, cracky, crazed, crazy, daft, demented, deranged, dippy, frantic, loony, lunatic, mad, madman, muddy, non compos, not all there, phrenetic, underwit, wild). (various references) | |
Arabic | ممسوس (mad, maniac, possessed, touched), معتوه (batty, cracked, crackpot, crazy, demented, dim witted, idiotic, imbecile, imbecilic, loony, lunatic, mad, madman, mentally deranged, off his head, possessed, screwy, sodden, soft-headed, stupid, up the pole, witless), مختل العقل (demented, lunatic, moonstruck, screwy), مخبل (crack-brained, crazy, demented, idiotic, imbecile, mad, mentally deranged), مخبول (crack-brained, crazed, demented, fool, idiotic, loony, lunatic, mad, mentally deranged, off his head, out of one's mind, potty, stupid, touched), مجنون (barmy, bedlam, bonkers, crazy, daft, demented, dotty, fool, mad, madcap, maniac, maniacal, nut, off one's nut, out of one's head, out of one's mind, scatty, screwy, tomfool, up the pole), جنوني (crazy, furious, lunatic, madcap, manic, terrific), بجنان. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ненормален (irregular, prodigious), безумен (cockeyed, frantic, lunatic, mad, wild), душевноболен (mental). (various references) | |
Chinese | 瘋 (mad, wild), 疯狂 (AMOK, Amuck, Craziness, Crazy, demented, frenzied, Frenzies, frenzy, insanity, mad, madness, maniacal), 有精神病 . (various references) | |
Czech | choromyslný (deranged), šílený (berserk, crackpot, crazy, demented, frenzied, furious, harebrained, lunatic, mad, manic, terrible, terrific, tomfool). (various references) | |
Danish | sindssyg (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Dutch | krankzinnig (crazy, mad, nuts), gek (absurd, crazy, lunatic, mad, nuts, odd, peculiar, ridiculous, strange), dolzinnig (crazy, mad, nuts), dol (crazy, drunk, foolish, furious, intoxicated, mad, nuts, rabid). (various references) | |
Esperanto | freneza (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Faeroese | vitleysur (crazy, mad, nuts), frá sær sjálvum (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Farsi | مجنون (Amok, Demented, Loco, Lunatic, Maniac), احمقانه (Highland, Infatuate, Puerile, Senseless, Silly, Spoony), دیوانه (Bedlam, Berserk, Crazy, Cuckoo, Demented, Fanatic, Fey, Gaga, Harebrained, Loco, Loony, Lunatic, Mad, Madbrained, Madcap, Manic, Natural, Nut, Nutty, Psychotic), بی عقل (Injudicious, Unmeaning). (various references) | |
Finnish | hullu (crazy, lunatic, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
French | fou. (various references) | |
Frisian | sljochtsinnich (crazy, mad, nuts), dwylsinnich (crazy, mad, nuts), dûm (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
German | wahnsinnig (brilliant, crazed, crazy, delirious, deliriously, demented, frantic, frenzied, incredibly, lunatic, mad, madly, maniac, maniacal, nuts, psychotically, raving, terrific), verrückt (Batty, crack-brained, crazily, crazy, daft, daisy, demented, dementedly, insanely, kinky, kooky, loco, loony, lunatic, mad, madly, mentally unbalanced, mind-boggling, nuts, potty, psycho, raving, scatty, screwy, unbalanced, wackily, wacky, whimsical, wild, zany), irre (confused, crack-brained, crazed, crazy, demented, freak, funky, loony, lost, lunatic, mad, madman, madwoman, maniac, mentally unbalanced, mind-bending, mind-blowing, morons, muddled, nuts, unbalanced, wild, wrong). (various references) | |
Greek | παράφρων (demented, frantic, paranoiac), παραφρονάσ (lunatic), φρενοβλαβήσ (lunatical), ακαταλόγιστοσ (non compos mentis), τρελλόσ (berserk, loco, loony, luny, mad, maniac, nut, nuts, rompish). (various references) | |
Hebrew | משוגע (crazy, lunatic, mad, maniac, scatty), לא שפוי בדעתו (crazy, demented, not all there, out of his senses), לא שפוי (unbalanced, unsound), שגעוני (crazy, loony, mad, manic), חולה רוח (mad, mental case, morbid, psychopath). (various references) | |
Hungarian | elmebeteg (lunatic, madman, psychotic, sicko, to be nuts). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gila (crazy, daft, demented, frenzy, luny, mad), edan (crazy, frantic, mad, wild). (various references) | |
Irish | dÚsachtach (crazy, nuts). (various references) | |
Italian | matto (crazy, dull, false, imitation, loco, loony, Loopy, lunatic, mad, madman, madwoman, Matt, moonstricken, moony, nut, nuts, nutty, screwy). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 頭がおかしい , 狂的 (fanatic). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きょうてき (fanatic, formidable enemy, treacherous enemy, vibrating pipe), あたまがおかしい. (various references) | |
Korean | 미친 (Crazy, mad). (various references) | |
Malay | gila (crazy, fool, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Manx | keoie (crazy, fiery, frenetic, frenzied, furious, lunatic, maniac, savage, vicious, wild, wild as person). (various references) | |
Norwegian | sinnsyk. (various references) | |
Papiamen | loko (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | insaneay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | insano (crazy, nuts), louco (brain sick, bughouse, crack-brained, crazed, crazy, delirious, demented, distraught, far gone, fey, fool, foolish, frenetic, loco, lunatic, mad, madman, maniac, maniacal, nuts, phrenetic, raving, wacky). (various references) | |
Romanian | nebun (bad, bedlamite, bishop, brain sick, cracked, crazy, daft, delirious, demented, demoniac, distracted, distraught, extravagant, fool, foolish, frantic, frenzied, infatuated, lunatic, mad, mad about, madcap, madman, maniac, maniacial, moon-struck, potty, raving, reckless, unruly, wild), mintal (ideally, mental, mentally, phrenic, spiritual), dement (crazy, demented, mad, madman, raving), alienat (alienated, lunatic, madman). (various references) | |
Russian | безумный (crazy, demented, mad, nuts, off one's head). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | umno poremećen, mahnit (frantic, furious, mad), lud (berserk, bonkers, buggy, crazy, daft, demented, distraught, head: off his head, loco, lunatic, mad, nut, nut: off one's nut, nuts), duševno bolestan, bezuman (witless). (various references) | |
Spanish | insano (morbid, unhealthy), que no tiene sano, demente (crazy, demented, frenzied, lunatic, mad, mad person, maniacal, mental bankrupt). (various references) | |
Sranan | law (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Swedish | vansinnig (crazy, demented, lunatic, mad, moonstruck, nuts), tokig (barmy, Batty, bonkers, cock eyed, cockeyed, crack-brained, cracked, crackers, crazy, cuckoo, Daffy, daft, demented, Dotty, fruity, gaga, loony, mad, madcap, moony, nuts, ridiculous, touched, wrong), sinnessjuk (lunatic, mentally deranged, mentally ill, unsound). (various references) | |
Tagalog | balíw (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
Thai | ซึ่งขาดสติ. (various references) | |
Turkish | delilere özgü, delice (buggy, bughouse, crazily, insensate, madly, maniacally, splitting), deli (Batty, bedlamite, bonkers, crackers, cracky, crazy, daft, delirious, dement, demented, demon, demoniac, demoniacal, dippy, distracted, distraught, gaga, loco, loony, lunatic, mad, mad about, madman, madwoman, meshuggah, not all there, nutcase, nuts, nutty, off one's onion, out of one's mind, out of one's senses, phrenetic, possessed, potty, touched), anlamsız (absurd, barren, blank, dead pan, empty, expressionless, for the birds, frivolous, grotesque, inane, incoherent, inept, inexpressive, insignificant, meaningless, nonsense, nonsensical, of no significance, pointless, purposeless, ridiculous, senseless, sodden, unmeaning, unreasonable, vacuous, vain, yeasty), çılgın (berserk, bonkers, crackpot, crazed, crazy, delirious, demented, demon, demoniac, desperado, distracted, foolhardy, frenetic, frenzied, kook, kooky, lunatic, mad, maniacal, moonstruck, nut, phrenetic, possessed, raving, rip roaring, ripsnorter, scatty, wild), çıldırmış (bereft of reason, bereft of senses, crazy, distraught, frantic). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | божевільний (addle-brained, addle-pated, batchy, bedlam, brainsick, crack-brained, crackpot, crazed, crazy, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, frenetic, loony, lunatic, mad, madman, moonstruck, non compos, nuts, nutty, possessed, rabid, scatty), безглуздий (absurd, addle-brained, addle-pated, barmy, blind, brainless, brute, crack-brained, crazy, foolish, idiotic, idiotical, impertinent, ludicrous, meaningless, nail biting, nonsensical, pointless, preposterous, senseless, wanton, wet). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | mất trí (chump, distracted, distraught, loose, nut, nutty), điên cuồng (demented, distracted, distraught, frantic, frenezied, loco, wild), điên (bedlamite, brain-sick, crazily, demented, mad, maniacal, screw-ball). (various references) | |
Welsh | gwallgof (mad), gorffwyllog (mad). (various references) | |
Yucatec | chokow pol (crazy, mad, nuts). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | demens, demens, dementis, inasnum, insani, insanis, insanum, insanus. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | lunatique. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | John Chapter 10, Verse 20 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Elegon de polloi ex autwn daimonion ecei kai mainetai ti autou akouete |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Dicebant autem multi ex ipsis daemonium habet et insanit quid eum auditis |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | Manega heora cwæðen. Deofel yson hym. & he wët. hwy hlyste ge hym. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And many of hem seiden, He hath a deuel, and maddith; what heren ye hym? |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And many of them sayd. He hath the devyll and is mad: why heare ye him? |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And many of them said, He hath a demon, and is insane; why hear ye him? |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And a number of them said, He has an evil spirit and is out of his mind; why do you give ear to him? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | John Chapter 10, Verse 20 |
| Cebuano | Daghan kanila ang nanag-ingon, "Kini siya giyawaan ug nagsalimoang. Nganong mamati man kamo kaniya?" |
| Chinese | 內 中 有 好 些 人 說 、 他 是 被 鬼 附 著 、 而 且 瘋 了 ． 為 甚 麼 聽 他 呢 。 |
| Croatian | Mnogi su od njih govorili: "Zloduha ima pa mahnita! Što ga slušate?" |
| Danish | Og mange af dem sagde: "Han er besat og raser, hvorfor høre I ham?" |
| Dutch | En velen van hen zeiden: Hij heeft den duivel, en is uitzinnig; wat hoort gij Hem? |
| Finnish | Ja useat heistä sanoivat: "Hänessä on riivaaja, ja hän on järjiltään; mitä te häntä kuuntelette?" |
| French | Plusieurs d`entre eux disaient: Il a un démon, il est fou; pourquoi l`écoutez-vous? |
| German | Viele unter ihnen sprachen: Er hat den Teufel und ist unsinnig; was höret ihr ihm zu? |
| Haitian Creole | Anpil jwif t'ap di: Li gen yon move lespri sou li! Li fou! Sa n' bezwen pèdi tan n' ap koute yon nonm konsa fè? |
| Hungarian | És sokan mondják vala közülök: Ördög van benne és bolondozik, mit hallgattok reá? |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Banyak yang berkata, "Ia kemasukan setan! Ia gila! Untuk apa kalian dengarkan Dia?" |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka banyak daripada mereka itu sudah mengatakan, "Ia ada bersetan, dan gila, apakah sebabnya kamu mendengarkan Dia?" |
| Italian | Molti di essi dicevano: «Ha un demonio ed è fuori di sé; perché lo state ad ascoltare?». |
| Maori | He tokomaha o ratou i mea, He rewera tona, e haurangi ana; he aha koutou ka whakarongo ai ki a ia? |
| Norwegian | og mange av dem sa: Han er besatt og gal; hvorfor hører I på ham? |
| Portuguese | E muitos deles diziam: Tem demônio, e perdeu o juízo; por que o escutais? |
| Rumanian | Mulyi dintre ei ziceau: ,,Are drac, este nebun; de ce -L ascultayi?`` |
| Russian | нОПЗЙЕ ЙЪ ОЙИ ЗПЧПТЙМЙ: пО ПДЕТЦЙН ВЕУПН Й ВЕЪХНУФЧХЕФ; ЮФП УМХЫБЕФЕ еЗП? |
| Shuar | Untsurí tiarmiayi "¿Urukamtai ántarum Wáuruk tausha. Yajauch wakanin takaktsuk?" |
| Spanish | y muchos de ellos decían: --Demonio tiene y está fuera de sí. ¿Por qué le escucháis? |
| Swahili | Wengi wao wakasema, "Ana pepo; tena ni mwendawazimu! Ya nini kumsikiliza?" |
| Swedish | Många av dem sade: "Han är besatt av en ond ande och är från sina sinnen. Varför hören I på honom?" |
| Uma | Wori' -ra to mpo'uli': "Kahawia' -ile! Wuli-i! Napa-pi kalaua-na tape'epei lolita-na." |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "insane": insanely, insaneness, insanenesses, insaner, insanest. (additional references) | |
| |
"Insane" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: angsana, ansae, Ihsan, inana, inanae, inano, inany, Iniscarn, inlane, insage, insain, insake, insame, insance, insece, inseng, insize, inzane, Jinshan, kinsani, Nieswand, nisan, Nishanov, Qinshan, unsane. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "insane" (pronounced i'nsā"n) |
| 3 | -s ā" n | sain, sane. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: inanes, sienna. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-n-n-s" | |
-1 letter: anise, inane, nines, senna. | |
-2 letters: ains, anes, anis, inns, nans, nine, sain, sane, sine. | |
-3 letters: ain, ais, ane, ani, ens, inn, ins, nae, nan, sae, sea, sei, sen, sin. | |
-4 letters: ae, ai, an, as, en, es, in, is, na, ne, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-n-n-s" | |
+1 letter: asinine, canines, encinas, fannies, inanest, insaner, insnare, nancies, nannies, siennas, stanine. | |
+2 letters: adenines, aginners, alanines, ancients, aneurins, anginose, anilines, annelids, anserine, antigens, canniest, canonise, crannies, cyanines, eanlings, earnings, enamines, enations, encasing, enchains, engrains, entrains, fanzines, finances, gentians, grannies, guanines, infantes, insanely, insanest, insectan, insnared, insnarer, insnares, instance, leanings, lindanes, linesman, mannites, meanings, melanins, narceins, nuisance, panniers, pinnaces, raisonne, reinsman, sanguine, saponine, shannies, sirenian, sneaking, sneaping, solanine, sonatine, speaning, stanines, stannite, vainness, zaniness. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Familiar 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Quotations: Spoken 14. Usage Frequency 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Translations: Ancient 19. Bible Trace 20. Derivations | 21. Rhymes 22. Anagrams 23. Bibliography |
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