The term ‘psychosis’ has a number of connotations, all of them negative. It’s often used in place of the word ‘madness’. It is also used as a term for schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder (manic depression), and paranoia. There is also a fairly widely held, though mistaken, view that psychotic individuals cannot …
The recent court ruling on Anders Breivik1 highlights a number of important issues relating to the nature of madness. The judges found that he was sane at the time he carried out the bombing of the government buildings in Olso and the subsequent shootings on Utoeya island. In other words …
In the wake of James Holmes’ shooting frenzy in Aurora, which left twelve people dead and at least 58 injured, arguments have already begun about his state of mind, and more specifically whether he is mentally ill or not. Interestingly, part of the argument seems to hinge on whether a …