Sane

What qualities are never regarded as symtoms of insanity?

Greed.
Selfishness.
Lust for power.
Hard-heartedness.

And why? Because the people who JUDGE us and put our diagnosis have them all!

Someone to turn to

Who doesn´t agree that I´m trash? God! (he never creates trash. In his eyes not a single human being is trash.)
Why do nut cases often identify with Jesus? Because he, too, was scorned, despised, rejected. By judges who definitely were NOT right.

Trash

You saw that person? (me.) Did you see that she is trash? No? But she is in the eyes of society. A worthless piece of trash! (even my sisters think so.) And why? (you know why. People think I´m a nut case. No use protesting. It´s as little use as it would have been for the Jews to protest in nazi-Germany.)

Credo

I think everybody in this world wants to be loved. Don´t you? (even baby Adolf. The adorable infant I adopted.)

Crucial decision

The next question is of course: how do you want to get healed? With love? Or with violence? (the word "psychiatry" means "soul-healing".)

Future

So. What world do you want? One ruled by weapons (violence) or one ruled by mental power?

The real issue

Who decides who is sane and who is not? People in power. And what determines people in power? Weapons!

Sanity?

It was sane to create this? It is sane to have created enough atom bombs to blow the whole planet up? (we´re all in this together. No point in single out SOME. And say THEY are the problem.) (generally psychiatric patients have no power whatsoever. You won´t see one of THEM pressing the button that causes WW III.)

Famous psychiatrists

Face 1: Ernst Rudin. (1874-1952.) Eugenicist and one of Hitler´s favourites.
Face 2: Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. (1889-1957.) Jewish psychotherapist (once married to Erich Fromm), immortalized as "Doctor Fried" in Hannah Greens (Joanne Greenberg´s) "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden". (had to flee from Germany in the 30-ies.)

Face 2

You would prefer this? (I bet.) (I´ll tell you later who these 2 were.)

Not my favourite face

You want to be treated by this psychiatrist? (I thought not.)

Faces

It strikes you that these patients all had warm loving facial expressions? While the "experts" on them did not?

A teenage idol

Don´t misunderstand. I don´t hate the Kennedys. I cried my heart out when I heard that Bobby had been murdered. We teenagers believed in him! (when JFK was murdered I was too young. Not into politics yet.)

Superstition rules

Well you know you have to realize the Kennedys were haunted by a FAMILY CURSE. (sure. All people from medieval times believe in this. THE CURSE that has been decided by - God? The Devil? A magician?)

Vegetable

And the lobotomy led to? This! (Rosemary spent the remainder of her life in a nursing home. Kept a secret to the world. Harldy ever visited by her family. Died in 2005.)

Free at last

Who needs frontal lobes anyway? (well Walter Freeman needed his own of course. But then he was "sane.")

Walter the Ripper

What happened to her? She met this man. The virtuoso with ice-picks! (yep. Hit here and hit there just above the eyes. Wiggle a little in some brain tissue. And taraa! A person with non-functioning frontal lobes!)

Famous loonies 2

And who have we here? Who is this radiant beauty? This is JFK´s younger (and Bobby´s older) sister Rosemary. She was a loonie? Nope. That is yes. That is she was regarded as - retarded! (I adress hencefort people who are good at reading faces.) She strikes you as retarded? No. She was just a bit too - self-asserting. A character-trait one would expect in a Kennedy!

Lotus

My big brother

I feel terribly alone. (don´t know why I go on living.) But I know there is one person in this world who understands me. This guy!

Amazing beauty (my good fairy)

No this is NOT a mixture of Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman. But my god-mother Greta von Born! (my grand-mother´s older sister. Loved films. And opera. And playing the piano.)

Midsummer

In "A Midsummer Night´s Dream" by Shakespeare Titania falls in love with the actor Bottom. Who temporarily has a donkey´s head. (she has been given a love potion. So as to fall for anyone.) Well this is my painting of cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Actor Erland Josephson said he is like a kentaur. Half man and half camera!

Hommage to Thelonius Monk

This is my hommage to a great genius! (really only a nucleus of a tune. I may do a longer and more elaborate version later.)

The neuroleptic paradox

But (I can hear you say) I thought you said neuroleptics cause apathy? (that´s right. Apathy and restless legs/soul. This is the torture.) (some lose interest in everything. Which is exactly what happened to the Monk during his last years.)

The mad genius

This is how the world remembers him. I take it you´ve all seen him moving about on stage? Looking "crazy"? (with his cap on all the time.) Well it is SO obvious that he suffered from akathisia (side-effect of neuroleptics). A condition that makes it IMPOSSIBLE to sit still. (believe me. I´ve been through it. It´s torture.) And these medications very often cause blurred speech!

An inventor´s s fate

Round about 1947 (when he was 30) he started the modern jazz. (called be-bop.) Not exactly a blockbuster! (his records sold so-so.) In the 50-ies he ended up in psychiatry. And was given ECT-treatment, anti-psychotics and lithium. (even more in the 60-ies, according to his son.) The fully fledged schizophrenic! (some say bipolar.)

A black man´s fate

So here we have this highly gifted (and sensitive) black guy. In the 30-ies and 40-ies. In a world of white men. Hearing all the new modern "classical" composers. But still holding on to his jazz. Any wonder he got into trouble? (looked down upon by whites, not understood by his own people.)

The Monk

I take it you all saw it was Thelonius Monk? Well he was self-taught. But still was permitted to the Juilliard School of Music. They must have realized he was a genius! (and handsome too. If I had met him and had been his age - 17 here - I would probably have fallen in love.)

Famous lunatics

Why single out one person? We´re all part of a CONTEXT. So why single out some?
I´ll present some famous loonies. Let´s start with this guy. Possibly the greatest jazz pianist who ever lived!

Timeless poetry

"I am the enemy you killed, my friend." (Wilfred Owen.)

Logical consequence

Of course, if we are the same we can´t very well go around and killing each other. (or using violence.) It would be like killing oneself! (or self-mutilation.)

Evolution

Mankind has developed. First there was the LAWS. (I´m thinking especially of the Torah.) Which of course was a progress. We can´t just go around killing people, stealing and being unfaithful! (that´s how I imagine they were thinking.) Of course, establishing laws was easier once humans had learned how to WRITE. And then (a thousand years or so later) some said "Wait a minute. That´s an awful lot of stoning. (and ripping out eyes.) How about some MERCY? And forgiveness??" The time was ripe for Buddha. And Jesus. And Lao Tse. (you have to bear in mind the different time aspect in God. Or in evolution, if you will. A thousand years is like - not much.) Of course then people started to TRAVEL. And meet people in other countries. The television was invented. And then the computer. And we now realize WE ARE ONE WORLD. So how long can we go on thinking we are not the same? (we have the best chance ever of making peace.)

Heartwarming story (not)

This is a little event that took place in my home recently. Two social workers in this municipality (community) psychiatry responded to my suggestion that they go study Mother Teresa´s nuns in Calcutta for a week or two (to learn about loving care) :"Well you know we have a JOB to do. Which we get PAID for. Love and stuff is all very well for nuns!"

Municipality psychiatry

Remember I told you about our municipality psychiatry? It is so called psychiatry performed by communities (kommuner) when patients are released from hospitals. (not all. Just the heavy cases.) But how on earth could socialworkers (in Swedish: socialsekreterare) work with psychiatry? With no supervision whatsoever from psychiatists or psychologists?? (they call it "social psychiatry". I would say 30.000-40.000 patients all over Sweden are affected.) I deem this an issue for the UN!

Reflection

Strange word. Mid-wife. (in Swedish: barnmorska.) Shows something of the closeness between the woman giving birth and the one helping her! (my painting is more socratean. An image of how it feels to give birth to an idea.)

The philosopher as a midwife

Socrates called himself a midwife. (interesting metaphor.) I bet my dad´s grand-mother Christina Concordia would have understood. She actually WAS a midwife!

Diotima

Anyway. Diotima comes up with a very clever idea. She says love (or wisdom) is something in BETWEEN a godess and a human being. That is, a deity (daemon?) which serves as a go-between. (since the god or godess never communicates directly with humans.) This deity is partly divine, partly human. (she/he needs to be human to be able to communicate with humans. And divine to raise people to a higher level.)
I don´t know but I thought this made more sense than the usual Christian explanation. Even more sense than the Buddhist explanation!

Symposion

Anynone who read Plato? No? Well I highly recommend him. (even if you don´t agree with him.) If he had lived now he would have gained the Nobel Prize, for sure. He was boring? Well try Symposion. It´s all about Plato, Socrates, Agathon and the rest of the gay gang having a party. Joking, drinking and discussing love! (no Love I mean. Who as we all know is a Godess.) No? I´m being delirious? Read it yourself! (well I have to admit they didn´t drink that much. Most of them suffered from hangovers from the party the night before.)
Anyway. Socrates tells the amazing story how he was taught philosophy (as a young man) by a woman! Diotima! (nobody knows anything about her. Or if she even existed.)
Since nobody know what she looked like she might have looked like this!

Healing meeting

You saw the demons leave the man? (I don´t believe much in exorcism. I believe more in this.)

Jesus the therapist

In Mark 5 verse 1-20 Jesus appears (behaves) like a therapist. The loonie is asked "What is thy name?" ("thou" and "thy" is more intimate than "you" and "your".) (in Swedish: "du" och "ditt".) The loonie responds "Legion. For we are many." (in the concept of those days it meant many demons possessed him.) This is the first (only) time Jesus asks the NAME of someone he heals. And obviously he then sits down and TALKS to the man. (the trick with the swine I never took seriously. I regard it as the evangelist´s surrender to the public´s expectation.) And when the people come back, there he sits dressed, clean and calm. Brought back to his senses! (the reaction among the people is not what one would expect. They become terrified. And ask him to leave the place!) (the fate of each inventive therapist. Ingratitude.)

Seeker

Jesus was mad?

In Mark chapter 3 verse 21 it says "When his family heard this they went out to take charge of him. Because they said "He is out of his mind!" (in another translation "He has lost his senses". And in the King James bible "He is beside himself".) Why did they think so? Well he had just started his healing. Out among people! So his family (mother and brothers) thought he had gone mad?? He ought to have been thrown into the loony-bin?
In Luke chapter 4 verse 23 Jesus says: "You will probaly quote this proverb to me: "Physician, heal yourself!" (he was in a synagogue. The people there began to doubt him when they saw that he was the son of Josef, the carpenter.) What did he mean? He was known as a sick person? A lunatic maybe?

Persona

Hommage

Where would I be without Buddhism? (dead. Ignorant.)

Diagnosis

I was simply suffering from a hell of a lot of anxiety! (show me an 18 y o who is NOT anxious and I´ll show you - a dog who doesn´t bark, a cat who doesn´t miaoow, an actor who isn´t an exhibitionist...) (create your own examples.) The doctor wrote in my file: neurosis angoris! (anxiety neurosis.) (agoraphobia was included in my case.)

Psychotic or not psychotic, that´s the question

But if I was on anti-psychotics (neuroleptics) for 25 years, the I must be psychotic? (faulty logic, as any beginner of logic studies will find out.) (you will get such an example at lesson 1.) They gave (and still, but to a lesser extent, give) neuroleptics to all and sundry! The myth of them being specifically anti-psychotic is a - myth. Simply false history! (anaestethics are never specifically targeted. Except for the target of putting people to sleep.) Of the 20 persons they first experimented on only 2 were schizophrenics. But. They were all exalted! (aggressive, insomniacs, climbing walls.) And what are last straws for if not clinging to?

Out of the psychiatric closet

Of course if you have reached a position in society you can come out as a loonie. "I am a bipolar!" (or whatever your diagnosis is.) (often the reaction is not as you expect. People don´t faint in shock. They say like "Oh yeah?? Tell us something else we didn´t know!") This is my favourite gay person. Stephen Fry, the bipolar bear! (other famous outed loonies: psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison and Swedish theologian Ann Heberlein.)

Anti-psychiatry?

This lunatic (psychiatrist R. D. Laing) actually believed that schizophrenics were PEOPLE. Just like you and me! (he adressed them as such. How stupid can you get?)

The psychiatry farce

In the world of psychiatry the one who puts a diagnosis (the psychiatrist) is by definition sane. "The world is but a stage. And we must play our parts." (said Shakespeare.) The psychiatric world certainly is. Some have been given the parts "patients". And some (the stars of the performance) play "the doctors". And everyone believes in it! (not R. L. Stevenson. That´s why he wrote Dr. Jekyll and mr. Hyde.) This is Emil Kraepelin. (1856-1926.) The father of modern psychiatry! (a model of sanity.) (a touch of pedophilia never hurt anyone.) (his brother Karl by the way was an expert on scorpions.)

Coca Cola

Coca Cola once contained cocaine? (obviously.) Listen to me singing the famous Coca Cola jingle!

Nice remedy

What do you MEAN cocaine is bad?? Children can take it!

Sigmund Freud

Freud´s opium den! (haha no he smoked only cigars. And snorted cocaine.)

The opium wars

Great Britain conducted 2 opium wars with China. (1839-42 and 1856-60.) They tried to stop Chinese opium traders? On the contrary. They tried to stop China from stopping British illegal opium trade with them! (typical example of Victorian hypocrisy. Gladstone later said this was the stupidest war they had ever fought.)
Here we see 2 Chinese opium smokers!

Thomas de Quincey

When I was about 12 I found a book with an exciting (but strange) title at the village library. "The Confessions of an Opium-eater" by Thomas de Quincey! (1821.) (what on earth is opium? And does it taste good?) I read it with a mixture of fascination and horror. (especially the different stages of opium intoxication.) And regularly went back to read it! (hoping the librarian wouldn´t see what I was reading.)
And this is Thomas! (looks as bit like mr Hyde.) A very talented writer. And Oxford drop-out! (lived like a tramp for a while.) At 20 or so he got stuck in Laudanum. And appear to have been addicted for the rest of his life! (but still manageing to publish articles and some books. And to get married and have 8 children.)

Laudanum

No not Laudate Dominum but Laudanum. The opium in wine which was the Prozac of the 19th century! (some died of overdoses.)

Opium for the people

Opium is the ancestor of all tranquilizers. Did you know? It started maybe 200 years ago. (in the West.) And to make it acceptable (?) the opium was dropped into alcohol.(wine.) And was sold in neat little bottles. Perfectly legally! (a lot of people became addicted. Among them Lincoln´s wife and Charles Dickens.)

Legitimate question

You think now you can see who is "crazy" and who isn´t?

Solution

This is the answer:

1. is ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (considered a genius.) Who spent decades in mental hospitals. Before he died at 60 in 1950! (incidentally he died on April 8th which by some traditions is considered Buddha´s birthday.)
2. is the first patient in psychoanalysis ever, Bertha Pappenheim. She who created the "talking cure"! (not a patient of Freud. But of his mentor Josef Breuer. Freud simply pinched the whole concept.)
3. is Eugene Bleuler. The psychiatrist who invented the term "schizophrenia". A hundred years ago! And. He treated Nijinsky.
4. is author Janet Frame. Who were seconds from being lobotomized. But was saved because of her praised début as a writer! (if you have seen the film "An Angel at my Table" you know.)

No. 4!

No. 3!

No. 2!

Interesting test

I´m going to present 4 photos to you. Who is the psychiatrist?. And who are the famous loonies? This is no. 1!

Crazy behaviour

Who imitated who? (for those who did not see: this is Swedish author of books for children Astrid Lindgren. The man in the previous post was pope John Paul II.)

The eye of the beholder

Of course if you specifically WANT to see raving mad people in psychiatry that´s what you´ll see. To a fanatic loonie-hunter anyone could be tracked down! (for example this man. Definitely psychotic.)

Psych-apartheid

You think "they" are different from yourself? The mentally ill are not like you? Well here are news for you: There is no difference. We are all the same. The concept of a division ("sane" versus "insane") is just a myth. We all have psychological problems. This is part of the human condition! (a discovery Buddha made 600 years B.C.)

I have a dream

Let´s abolish psychiatric slavery!

Abolitionism

This is Gustavus Vassa, freed slave. (1745-97.) He was brought from Nigeria (according to his own memoirs) to Great Britain and his owner gave him this weird name. (weird in the eyes of Swedes.) A latinized form of the name of our Swedish king Gustav Vasa! (I mentioned him on our National Day June 6th.) He was taught to read and write. And managed to buy his freedom! (it cost 40 pounds.) His memoirs caused a sensation. (when it was published in 1789.) He worked in the abolitionist movement. Trying to convince Britons that slavery must be abolished. And many listened! He also married a white British woman. (he had become a Christian very early on.) And they had 2 daughters. A very courageous pioneer!

Rejoice

The lost sheep

Jesus told them this parable: "Which of you men, if you owned a flock of a hundred sheep, and you lost one in the wilderness, wouldn´t leave the other 99 and search for the lost one until you found it? And then you would carry it on your shoulders, rejoicing!" (I know now what he means. If you save one soul you save the world.)

Miraculous change

And this is after! (off depot neuroleptics for the last 3 -4 weeks.)

Transformation

You want to see another "before" and "after"? Check out his guy. (long time mate at the half-way house.) This is before. (on heavy neuroleptics.)

Free at last

This is how you feel when you´ve come off them!