I will try to explain what is currently understood by “madness” as well as the effect of this approach on the treatment given to those who suffer from it in a society like ours.
Let us advance as an introduction that the concept of madness until the end of the 19th century, referred to a certain behavior of those who rejected the established social norms and deviated from the norm due to a mental imbalance that caused unhealthy delusions and inappropriate for the normal functioning of reason. and were reflected by the performance of strange and destructive acts.
There are still cases in which society stops taking care of these people
Let us consider that the concept of madness has varied over time and that certain symptoms of certain diseases not considered psychiatric today, such as epilepsy, were classified as madness and even demonic possession.
(1) From psychology and psychiatry, there are certain disorders, such as SCHIZOPHRENIA, that in the past (and even today in serious cases) were considered irreversible and relegated to palliative treatment at the mercy of their deterioration. Although fortunately, thanks to modern psychiatry, and with the latest generation antipsychotics that hardly produce side effects, satisfactory degrees of socio-laboral integration have been achieved for patients who were once considered crazy.
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But let us not forget that despite this, even today, in areas of dire socio-sanitary conditions, there continue to be cases in which society stops taking care of these people without even questioning what are the causes of their disorder and If this could have a solution.
(2) Let us consider that certain pathologies, such as the currently popular BIPOLAR DISORDER (known years ago as manic-depressive psychosis), allow those who suffer from it, in most cases, to lead a relatively normal life as long as they have the “lucky” to live in a social environment that takes care of his illness, offering him access to adequate treatment as well as support for his family so that they are attentive to any manifestation that falls outside of the “normal” and may be indicative of a manic or depressive period of the process.
Although in periods of crisis a bipolar person may require, even today, hospital admission, let us consider that in the not-too-distant past, those who suffered from this illness were stigmatized by society and pigeonholed into the exclusive stereotype that in each era has defined to madness.
THE SOCIAL FACTOR
Many psychiatric deficiencies and pathologies have their origin in genetic factors, but environmental factors can also cause or trigger these “abnormalities.” Dysfunctional families, deprived or very conflictive environments can be configured as causes that activate the onset of a mental disorder.
It is possible that the causes of many psychiatric disorders are found within the family or in the matrix of a society that is not being able to sustain “reality” for some people; Therefore, sometimes, a person may alter their reality when it is unsatisfactory and intolerable.
Environmental factors can be causes or triggers of these “anomalies.”
Throughout the history of humanity, society (considered mentally healthy) has almost never taken responsibility for these issues and has blamed the “mentally ill” for their own disorder without taking into account the harmful influence that ‘healthy’ individuals and society itself may have exerted influence on them in implementing their alienation.
This is due, in large part, to the fact that mentally ill people have always bothered and/or scared those who were considered “normal” and their natural tendency was to always push them away and relegate them to waste away in a life without any meaning.
MADNESS ACCORDING TO GUILLERMO BORJA
From the perspective of Mexican psychiatrist Guillermo Borja, “Madness is trying to be before dying. Madness is the search for health and requires a lot of courage on the part of the subject. Let us remember that one of the greatest terrors is losing control.”
This implies that the path to madness is probably traveled in the form of a search to be well, when the situation or conditions are not appropriate. This is how, in the case of schizophrenia, for example, we reach, probably through a path of searching for solutions, a dissociation that implies a break and the loss of judgment of reality. Probably if we had the possibility of reconstructing people’s path to madness, we would realize that it would have been possible to channel it in a kinder and more appropriate way for the person in some of the stages traveled.
“Healing” should not be considered in terms of “normalization” or “adaptation.”
Borja believes that health goes beyond aesthetic functionality, that is, what looks good in terms of appropriate behaviors and socially desirable ways of being. This implies that “healing” should not be considered in terms of “normalization” or “adaptation,” but rather in terms of well-being for the person and those around them.
Let us ask ourselves then if it is valid to sentence those who have lost the connection with the reality to which we continue to cling to isolation, seclusion and despair, and if doing nothing to heal them does not also imply a passive form of violence that can be more Even more serious than that perpetrated by caregivers who physically and psychologically abuse those who, through no fault of their own, at some point lost the “ability to be in the world” that we share.
Article previously published and provided for publication in by its authors: Clotilde Sarrió – Gestalt Therapy Valencia and Dr. Alberto Soler Montagud – Private Psychiatry