ICS Fellow Lectures
Description
Mental illness is not just a technical problem of psychology or public health: it is a cultural problem. Words such as "crazy," "nuts," ''wacko," "psycho," "mad," or "insane" reflect serious ambiguity about mental illness. This ambiguity about mental illness, embedded in Western culture, proves stronger than scientific and medical enlightenment. Because some notion of reason is so central to our notions of humanity and the self, perceived violations of reason are even more threatening than crossings of racial, cultural, and gender boundaries. We keep our own fear of mental illness at bay by constantly invoking it in jest and consigning whoever behaves differently to this category. In the majority of modem cultures, the mentally ill are everybody's Other.
Publication Date
Fall 10-8-1997
Keywords
German, Russia, Mental Illness
Disciplines
German Language and Literature | Other German Language and Literature
Recommended Citation
Howes, Geoffrey, "Mental Illness as Cultural Problem with Examples from Modern Austrian Literature" (1997). ICS Fellow Lectures. 28.
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ics_fellow_lectures/28