[ExI] schizo/psycho continued

[William Flynn Wallace]

Maybe I am preaching to the choir, but let me make a point or two about
these words, which are vastly misused even by very smart people.

Schizophrenia's name came from the imagined split (schizo) between the mind
(phrenia - Greek) and the will.  Of course we no longer talk about the
will, so let's put it in Freud's terms:

The id (unconscious) overwhelms the ego (conscious) with tons of gibberish,
random dreams, lust, anger etc. and the ego projects that into the outside
world, perceiving it as coming from there rather than from his own
personality.  (You see how this ties in to paranoia, a very common type,
though undifferentiated is the most common).   It is as if he has lost
control and cannot control the contents of his mind.  Violence is quite
rare except for the paranoid type.  The others are just too crazy to make a
plan to act.  And the paranoids mostly plan, not do.

Freudian theory is not accepted in this context but makes good analogies.
No treatment worth.

You can see how the 'schizo' got turned into 'split personality' - i.e.
multiple personality (MP)  But MP is an entirely different case.  Two or
more separate personalities exist in the same body and mostly both or all
of them are sane.  'Sane' may be a stretch for those who have both male and
female personalities.

Now as for 'maniacal', such a laugh does not resemble that of Snidely
Oilcan, or whatever that villain's name is.  And if it is truly mania, then
it's part of manic-depressive and generally has no evil intent.

'Psychopath' has gone through many names:  psychopath, sociopath,
antisocial personality, supposedly getting more and more PC all the time.
Not insane by any measure accepted by a court of law (which is another
issue, as all those that are accepted are way way WAY outdated).  Violence
is common.

That's all for now.  Exam will be next Thursday.

bill w
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