Madness A Brief History

A question one must ask themselves is are the mentally ill treated correctly and are we responding in the correct way? While reading three pieces of writing that relate to mental illness during the course of my college English class, this was a question that I could never find an answer to. These three works included a book by Roy Porter called “Madness A Brief History,” a book by Sue Klebold titled “A Mother’s Reckoning,” and lastly a piece by Leslie Jamison called “Lost Boys.” These three pieces of work are are different types of writing, the first one titled “Madness A Brief History,” is exactly what it's called, a brief history of madness. This was a great cornerstone of my understanding of what we call madness. Following this was the short
According to the piece, there were many reasons that the boys were brought in, but many of them being the wrong reasons. One of the boys, Damien, was called a “satanist” (162). It continues to describe the boys by saying “they were known for wearing black, loving heavy metal, and sketching wizards. Their hair was long. They hated where they came from.” (162). These all being reasons why the boys were charged with a crime they did not commit, but because society saw them as someone that would commit this crime under the impression that they had a mental illness. Treating these boys in such a way that they were charged with murder, just because of how they look and act is wrong. If someone isn't diagnosed with a mental disorder then why should they be treated as such? Relating this situation to what Porter said in his book “Madness A Brief History,” these boys have pushed away from society for not being “normal.” The boys didn't fit the picture of what society thought was normal, making it easy for the law to take advantage of their situation. The law took advantage of the boys by being “interrogated for twelve hours straight… being guided… and corralled into admitting..” (164). One of the boys may have been a
In her book “A Mother’s Reckoning,” she explains that after her son shot up his high school, she was blamed in a way for what her son had done. She was blamed for not knowing about her son’s horrific thoughts and things going on after school regarding the planning and preparation for the shooting. With society blaming her tie back to what Porter said in his book “Madness A Brief History.” It relates to how he said that a “demonizing process” takes place when judging people mad. Demonizing by definition means “to portray as wicked and threatening” (Webster Dictionary). Society demonized her son Dylan a small amount before, but a ton after the event, not looking at what lead up to this happening. Her confusion on why people were blaming her for not realizing what her son was doing is an example of people assuming her son gave her the signs to take action. In her case Dylan gave off little to no signs, just what she thought was “normal for a teenage boy,” Sue says. This is why I posed the question of if the mentally ill are treated correctly and if we’re responding correctly? In the case of Dylan and Sue Klebold, I don't see how society responded correctly with blaming the mother of the shooter and the shooter instead of looking for who or what caused this. Mental illness could have played a huge role in his