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Are You Sane?

Illustration by Gemini AI


A few months back, a clinical psychiatrist asked me whether anyone in my family ever suffered from insanity. “All of us are insane to some degree,” I wanted to tell her. But I didn’t because there was another family member with me. We had taken a youngster of the family for counselling.

I had forgotten the above episode until something happened the other day which led me to write last post. The incident that prompted me to write that post brought down an elder of my family from the pedestal on which I had placed him simply because he is a very devout religious person who prays a lot and moves about in the society like the gentlest soul that ever lived in these not-so-gentle terrains. I also think that the severe flu which descended on me that night was partly a product of my disillusionment. The realisation that one’s religion and devotion that guided one for seven decades hadn’t touched one’s heart even a little bit was a rude shock to me.

What does religion mean to people like him? This question reminded me of the episode at the psychiatrist’s. Can religion too be a form of insanity?

I do have a streak of insanity, I’m well aware of that. That’s the primary reason why I keep myself away from society including church. I live alone with my wife. Even at my workplace, school, I restricted my social interactions with my students in the classroom. I would have made a fool of me if I tried to do anything more than that.

What about others, especially those who look so serene, so religious, so gentle, so whatever? This question made me search for the guidelines that determine our sanity. Below is what I got from my query to Artificial Intelligence, the know-all.

1. Medical / Psychiatric Perspective

Psychiatrists generally avoid the term “sane” and instead assess whether a person has a mental disorder that impairs thinking, perception, or behavior. Indicators of sound mental health include:

  • Awareness of reality (not suffering persistent hallucinations or delusions).
  • Rational thinking and logical connections in speech.
  • Emotional stability appropriate to circumstances.
  • Ability to take care of oneself and maintain social/occupational functioning.
  • Insight into one’s own condition and actions.

When these are severely impaired, a clinician may diagnose a psychiatric illness rather than saying the person is "insane."

2. Legal Perspective

In law, sanity usually refers to whether a person is responsible for their actions. Courts often apply tests such as:

  • M’Naghten Rule (common in Anglo-American law): Does the person understand the nature of the act, and do they know right from wrong?
  • Irresistible Impulse Test: Was the person unable to control their actions even if they knew it was wrong?
  • Durham Rule (U.S., limited use): Was the act the result of mental illness?

So legally, someone may be considered “insane” if mental illness prevents them from understanding or controlling their behavior.

3. Everyday / Philosophical Perspective

In everyday language, “sanity” often means:

  • Acting with reason, balance, and proportion.
  • Not being overwhelmed by irrational fears or obsessions.
  • Being able to live harmoniously with others.
  • Having consistency between thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Philosophers like Michel Foucault even noted that definitions of sanity can shift depending on culture and power structures.

 

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Comments

  1. vanderloostAugust 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM

    I think everyone of us is s little insane if not in action to then in thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 28, 2025 at 1:06 PM

      I agree with you. There's a bit of insanity in all of us when that bit becomes large... And in what all forms!

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanAugust 28, 2025 at 1:37 PM

    Hari Om
    Normal is a flexible concept... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 28, 2025 at 4:38 PM

      Like for centuries in Europe, being left-handed was seen as abnormal, even sinister!

      Delete
  3. Jose D. MaliekalAugust 28, 2025 at 2:32 PM

    I am glad that you ended with hinting at Foucault's take on Sanity arenowned painter nd Madness, both as constucts and Epistemes. Epistemes are the thoughts and ideas which govern the thought and actions of a civilizatiin, for a few decades or centuries. So, the origins of asylums in France, aof ppearing around 16th century has their roots in the governing Episteme of Reason and Reasonable behaviour, of that era. That is the Archaeology of Madness. Be sure, in the madhouse, for the inmates, only the doctors, nurses and wardens ate MAD. Thhey themselves are SANE. Van Gough, the renowned painter painted the sun spherically. They called him mad. But a decade later, science realized that sun was just that. Spherical and round. We are not born mad. We are made mad, like Mammootty in Thaniyavarthanam Movie, And be sure those who appear very sand and normal are very abnormal and inhuman. To be human is to be Imperfect and realize ineself to be so. Like Van Gogh's sun, we are sll shapeless... Warped.. Insane.. More than half the saints of the Church would have been labelled abnormal and indsne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 28, 2025 at 4:47 PM

      First of all, Foucault ending was contributed by ChatGPT, though I was aware of it too. I liked your saying: "To be human is to be Imperfect and realize oneself to be so."

      Van Gogh fascinated me particularly because of Irving Stone's novel "Lust for Life'. What a tragedy that life was! It's hard to be a genius. And I guess genius is another level of insanity.

      Delete
  4. magiceyeAugust 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM

    Sanity is subjective.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 28, 2025 at 7:42 PM

      No doubt. For mad people the normal people are mad and vice-versa. If we take the normal people only, again normality is vague. Mysterious too.

      Delete
  5. Liz A.August 29, 2025 at 6:23 AM

    It's better to be a little insane in this world, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  6. rupam sarmaAugust 29, 2025 at 7:51 AM

    Great post

    ReplyDelete

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