M NESS
S
POSTHUMOUS
I GNOSIS
THOMAS
S
SZASZ
Untilrecently,peopleknewamadmanwhentheysawone.
Or
theythoughttheydid.Theyalsoknewwhattodowithamadman:they
put
himbehindbars,usual-
ly
forlife.Now,forthefirsttimeinmodernhistory,there
is
somereasontobelieve
that
thelongnight
of
thepsychiatric
Dark
Ages
is
comingto
an
end.Althoughneitherpsychiatrists
nor
lay-mencouldeversatisfactorilydefinesanity,theyallknewthatifapersonclaimstobeJesus,thenhe
is
mad insane
psychotic,schizophrenic,whatever.Butcrazy,forsure.Similarly,althoughnoonecouldclearlydefinethecriteriaforcommitmenttoaninsaneasylum,everyoneknew
that
ifapersonannouncesthathe
is
goingtokillhimself,thenheoughttobelocked
up to
protecthimfromhimself,tocurehispsy-chosis
or
schizophrenia
or
whatever.Ern-estHemingway,forexample,waslockedupandgivenelectricshocktreatmentsagainsthiswillforpreciselysuchreasons.Forseveralyearsbeforethecarnagein
THE
LIBERTARIANREVIEW
Guyana,theReverendJimJonesrepeatedlyclaimedthathewasJesus.
He
alsorepeatedlythreatenedtokill
himself
andtotakehisfollowerswithhiminamass
suicide if
peo-pledidn tdoashetoldthem.
Many
knewthatJimJonesmadesuchaclaimabouthimselfandutteredsuchathreatagainstothers.
Manywho
knewthiswereintelligentandin-fluential
some
of
themphysiciansandlawyers.Butnotone
of
themsaid
that
Joneswasmad
or
suggestedthatheoughttobecommittedtoamentalhospital.Whydidn tanyone discover
that
Joneswas mentallyill beforehedied,especiallysincethat diagnosis seemsnowsoobvioustoeveryone?Becausehe
had
powerfulpoli-ticalfriends?
That
cannotexplainit.Secretary
of
DefenseJamesForrestal
had
muchmorepowerfulpoliticalfriendsandsoughtonlyhisowndeath,whereasthe
Rev
Jonessoughtthedeath
of
hisfamilyandfollowersaswell.Never-theless,Forrestalwascaptured,confined,andpsychiatri-callydestroyed,
but
Joneswasnot.DidJimJonesescapepsychiatricdiagnosisanddetentionbecausehemadeagoodimpression
on
people?
That
cannotexplainiteither.MarilynMonroemadeamuchbetterim-pression,
but
wasmadetosuffertheindignity
of
involun-tarymentalhospitalizationnevertheless.Theanswer,
think,
is
simple.TheAmerican
people
and,mostimportantly,journalistsandjudgesandpoliti-
cians have
openedtheireyesandearsandarebeginningtolook
at
andlistentomadmenaswellasmad-doctors.WhenJonesdeclared
that
he
w s
Jesus,peopleinterpretedthistomeanthathewantedtobe
lik
Him,thathewantedtobeadmired
lik
heis,andsoforth.Thisview
of
madness
is
bothacauseandaconsequence
of
adramaticshiftinthepublicperception
of
madnessandthepublicpolicy
toward
it(eachaffectingtheother).Untilrecently,whenmadmenassertedcertain(possibly)metaphoricalclaims,theirassertionswereinvariablyinter-pretedliterally.Ifthe patient saidhewasJesus,then
everyoneinsistedcrazy.
It
was
of
no
plained,inwordan
that
hewantedlove,faual goods
that
manyeraand
that
wasthat.
Now
thetablesareturned.don'tknow,wecannotpossibly,
that
claimliterally
or
figuratively(or
0
thepublic,journalists,
politicians-acted
assertingametaphoricalclaim;
ergo
hewas
not
craz.moreJonesescalatedhisclaims,themore charismatic'
confident)-and
theless crazy (deluded)-.,.heappeareIndeed,eveninhispen\;lltimateperformance,onecouldndistinguishtheliteralfromthemetaphorical,therealfrothefake,from
what
Jonessaid.Thetruthabout
Jon
becameknownonlyafterthebodieswerecounted.
The
thechoruscalledhimcrazy. Why;'asksPatrickJ.Buchananuncomprehendingly, wasn'ttheSecretServicealertedtokeepMrs.Cartermiles:awayfromacertifiablemadmanlikethe
Rev.
JimJones?
What
Buchanandoes
not
understand,perhapsdoes
not
wanttounderstand,
is
that
whetheraperson
is
considered;;
mad
depends
not
on
what
hedoes
buton
howweinterpret
what
hedoes.Foranumber
of
reasons(amongwhichthe changingattitudetowardmadness
is
probablyonlyone), Jones'sself-definitionasJesuswasregardedasasymbol
of
his humanitarianism
-rather
thanasasymptom
of
hismegalomania;similarly,hisrituals
of
masssuicidewereviewedasthethunderings
of
anangry
prophet-rather
thanastheblackmailings
of
ablood-thirstyterrorist.PresidentandMrs.Cartersay
that
theyare born-again Christians.
We
interpret
that
claim
metaphorically-and
eitherapproveit
or
ignoreit.But
what
ifwegave
that
messagealiteralreading?
We
mightthenexpecteach
of
themtoproducetwobirthcertificatestosubstantiatetheir
,t y,
ifwe
6P,bornmore,Omatic
of
apsy-,,]/born-againChris- reted.Buttheanal-;
havebeen(mis)in-.ustsuch
<
e
yearsago,afterone
of
my
sin
whictt;,I,/madethispoint,acolleaguecameoldmethisstory.
As
asupervisingpsychiatrist'entalhospital,hewasaskedtoreviewarecentThepatientwasamiddle-agedwoman
who
had
f
intenseanxiety.Intheadmissionrecordshe delusional andwasdiagnosed psychot-tientsaidnothingtotheconsultant
that
he
<
usional;'heturnedtotheadmittingpsychia-
S
arecentimmigrantfromEasternEurope,forion. Shekeptsayingshehadbutterfliesinherepliedthedoctor,whomighthavebeenapoetin,ngue
but
wasdeaftothemusic
of
ametaphoricutteringinanEnglish-speakingstomach.world'sastage;'observedShakespeare.
He
is
;:;etry,politics,andpsychiatryallcomedownto
ge-to
theancienttruthwhichweforgetat
ourown
.
that
it
is
bycontrollingwords
that
wecontrol
:iLet
usrejoice
at
theprospect
of
aworldfreed
of
itspsychiatricblinders.Perhapsthetime
is
nownearwhenmadnesswillbeapurelyposthumousdiagnosis.
That
daywillbeanewdawnforliberty.
D
Thomas
S.
Szasz
is
professorofpsychiatryattheStateUniversityofNewYork'sUpstateMedicalCenterinSyracuse,andacontri-butingeditorof
Inquiry
He
haslongbeenaleaderin'thefightagainstinvoluntarymentalhospitalization.Hismanybooksinclude
TheMyth
MentalIllness TheTheology
Medicine Schizophrenia
and,mostrecently,
TheMyth
Psychotherapy
JANUARY
197935
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