7-6-12 MASK OF SANITY
Posted by Vincente E. Woodward on Friday, July 6, 2012
In the groundbreaking book Mask of Sanity
Dr. Hervey Cleckley, M.D. (as in psychiatrist)
began to describe a psychological entity which he was seeing nearly constantly while working in a number of different psychiatric hospitals.
It was, as yet, not described as a distinct entity and was about as little understood as imaginable.
The chapters of the book contain a number of extremely interesting case histories, not dissimilar to how Freud writes his case histories and expects the student to carefully study each and every individual fact with great deliberation and attention to the most minute of details (also like Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame).
Yes, each case has many similarities to a fast action packed detective story.
And, as matter of fact, it was from the detectives that many of these people who had come to Dr. Cleckleys notice had been delivered to his doorstep at his institution.
These people are very similar to the main character in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (remember Nurse Ratchet, anyone?).
Who can forget Jack Nicholson's portrayal of this character when Ken Keasy's book was turned into a movie?
So, here we have it.
A very high functioning person who really does not seem all that insane who is able to manipulate situations and circumstances like few others you will ever see and who is non-stop trouble.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E is either happening or it is being cooked up in the brain of this person.
So, the person is really not appropriate for a mental ward, at all, and has only been placed there because no one can figure out what to do with this person after they have gone on a typically wild crime spree, but with all "low budget" crimes which are more of an annoyance to society than they are an overt threat to life and limb.
So, as the records which Dr. Cleckley studied would show, these persons bounce in and out of jails and psychiatric hospitals, one after another, for many years.
At the time the classifications system was simply too broad, so that persons with these types of personality disorders would find themselves in position to take over and manipulate the minds of fellow patients who really are terribly mentally ill, and certainly incapable of defending themselves against the assaults of these persons who do not belong there.
According to Dr. Cleckley, at the times in question such a person was first known as a "psychopath".
In 1952 there was a revision in the accepted terminology by which we gained the term "sociopathic personality" to replace the previously used term "pschopathic personality".
Then "psychopath", the older and better known term, and "sociopath" the new term, merged, by useage, into
"personality disorders" as a more generic term for everything which could possibly fall under this rubric.
Then in 1968 the term "sociopathic personality" was replaced with "personality disorder, antisocial type".
Then in 1980 DSM III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder) redesignated the term to
"antisocial personality disorder".
According to Cleckley, "The disgnositc category, personality disorder, officially includes a wide variety of maladjusted people who cannot by the criteria of psychiatry be classed with the psychotic, the psychoneurotic, or the mentally defective".
Prior giving these designations these disorders would be diagnosed on the patient's chart as:
1. No nervous or mental disease
2. Psychopathic personality
Dr. Cleckley explains that at the beginning of this century a number of abnormalities were all lumped together under one catch-all classification.
Such things as
mental deficiency
various brain and body malformations
developmental defects
sexual perversions
delinquent behavior patterns
and
chronically mild schizoid disorders
All would be classified (i.e. diagnosed) as
"constitutional psychopathic inferiority".
Eventually this term became unacceptable through useage and was changed to "psychopathic personality".
At the time that Dr. Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity
"psychopathic personality" was the designation which was given to a large and difficult to define group of characteristics and personality disorders.
It was through his work and the writing of this book in order to illuminate other members of his psychiatric profession that we have come to better understand just exactly what it is that we are here dealing with.
Now, I must assume that the poor reader must be wondering right now why we are off on this tangent.
The reason is because the effects of what I am talking about are all pervasive and destructive in the extreme.
Every lying politician, scheming pretended preacher, petty criminal, rapist and murderer are all operating on the same premises.
When one works in the field of criminal justice and it's closely related fields it will generally be a good idea, in my humble opinion, to know just who, and what you are dealing with.
This is how I originally got into this.
But as I look at the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, and the Fukushima catastrophe, both of which still hold the potential for causing far greater damage than they have so far done, and when I look at the absolutely clownish and ridiculous television programming and radio programming and mass media magazine madness, not to mention the trashy little rags which profess to be newspapers, I often wonder just exactly where the commonality lies.
What is it that ties all of this together into some huge and ungodly Gordian Knot which is badly in need of untying.
I can hear the voice of Alexander crying out from under the ground as I write this.
"Get out your sword".
These are intended merely as introductory remarks on the continuing saga a a narcissistic world hellbent on destroying itself.
Gee, what do you know?
Just like the people, as individual psychic containers and entities also want to do to themselves.
Oh, and how weird can you get?
Just as they studiously and busily work continuously on creating their little fantasy netherworld which will act as an alternate reality, whenever needed, so they create huge societal structures which can readiy be seen to be nothing more than what is going on inside their heads, now projected out onto society at large.
But for the ultimate nihlism this might not be such a bad thing.
But there is a really funny thing about that self-destructive impulse.
It WILL ultimately get it's way!!
vw
10:00 a.m. pdst,
and you know what that means.
COFFEE TIME!
Oh, woe is me.
What a terrible habit.
But, I certainly can think of far worse ones which I am really glad that I don't have.
7-6-12
Ventura, California, USA
Dr. Hervey Cleckley, M.D. (as in psychiatrist)
began to describe a psychological entity which he was seeing nearly constantly while working in a number of different psychiatric hospitals.
It was, as yet, not described as a distinct entity and was about as little understood as imaginable.
The chapters of the book contain a number of extremely interesting case histories, not dissimilar to how Freud writes his case histories and expects the student to carefully study each and every individual fact with great deliberation and attention to the most minute of details (also like Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame).
Yes, each case has many similarities to a fast action packed detective story.
And, as matter of fact, it was from the detectives that many of these people who had come to Dr. Cleckleys notice had been delivered to his doorstep at his institution.
These people are very similar to the main character in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (remember Nurse Ratchet, anyone?).
Who can forget Jack Nicholson's portrayal of this character when Ken Keasy's book was turned into a movie?
So, here we have it.
A very high functioning person who really does not seem all that insane who is able to manipulate situations and circumstances like few others you will ever see and who is non-stop trouble.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E is either happening or it is being cooked up in the brain of this person.
So, the person is really not appropriate for a mental ward, at all, and has only been placed there because no one can figure out what to do with this person after they have gone on a typically wild crime spree, but with all "low budget" crimes which are more of an annoyance to society than they are an overt threat to life and limb.
So, as the records which Dr. Cleckley studied would show, these persons bounce in and out of jails and psychiatric hospitals, one after another, for many years.
At the time the classifications system was simply too broad, so that persons with these types of personality disorders would find themselves in position to take over and manipulate the minds of fellow patients who really are terribly mentally ill, and certainly incapable of defending themselves against the assaults of these persons who do not belong there.
According to Dr. Cleckley, at the times in question such a person was first known as a "psychopath".
In 1952 there was a revision in the accepted terminology by which we gained the term "sociopathic personality" to replace the previously used term "pschopathic personality".
Then "psychopath", the older and better known term, and "sociopath" the new term, merged, by useage, into
"personality disorders" as a more generic term for everything which could possibly fall under this rubric.
Then in 1968 the term "sociopathic personality" was replaced with "personality disorder, antisocial type".
Then in 1980 DSM III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder) redesignated the term to
"antisocial personality disorder".
According to Cleckley, "The disgnositc category, personality disorder, officially includes a wide variety of maladjusted people who cannot by the criteria of psychiatry be classed with the psychotic, the psychoneurotic, or the mentally defective".
Prior giving these designations these disorders would be diagnosed on the patient's chart as:
1. No nervous or mental disease
2. Psychopathic personality
Dr. Cleckley explains that at the beginning of this century a number of abnormalities were all lumped together under one catch-all classification.
Such things as
mental deficiency
various brain and body malformations
developmental defects
sexual perversions
delinquent behavior patterns
and
chronically mild schizoid disorders
All would be classified (i.e. diagnosed) as
"constitutional psychopathic inferiority".
Eventually this term became unacceptable through useage and was changed to "psychopathic personality".
At the time that Dr. Cleckley wrote The Mask of Sanity
"psychopathic personality" was the designation which was given to a large and difficult to define group of characteristics and personality disorders.
It was through his work and the writing of this book in order to illuminate other members of his psychiatric profession that we have come to better understand just exactly what it is that we are here dealing with.
Now, I must assume that the poor reader must be wondering right now why we are off on this tangent.
The reason is because the effects of what I am talking about are all pervasive and destructive in the extreme.
Every lying politician, scheming pretended preacher, petty criminal, rapist and murderer are all operating on the same premises.
When one works in the field of criminal justice and it's closely related fields it will generally be a good idea, in my humble opinion, to know just who, and what you are dealing with.
This is how I originally got into this.
But as I look at the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, and the Fukushima catastrophe, both of which still hold the potential for causing far greater damage than they have so far done, and when I look at the absolutely clownish and ridiculous television programming and radio programming and mass media magazine madness, not to mention the trashy little rags which profess to be newspapers, I often wonder just exactly where the commonality lies.
What is it that ties all of this together into some huge and ungodly Gordian Knot which is badly in need of untying.
I can hear the voice of Alexander crying out from under the ground as I write this.
"Get out your sword".
These are intended merely as introductory remarks on the continuing saga a a narcissistic world hellbent on destroying itself.
Gee, what do you know?
Just like the people, as individual psychic containers and entities also want to do to themselves.
Oh, and how weird can you get?
Just as they studiously and busily work continuously on creating their little fantasy netherworld which will act as an alternate reality, whenever needed, so they create huge societal structures which can readiy be seen to be nothing more than what is going on inside their heads, now projected out onto society at large.
But for the ultimate nihlism this might not be such a bad thing.
But there is a really funny thing about that self-destructive impulse.
It WILL ultimately get it's way!!
vw
10:00 a.m. pdst,
and you know what that means.
COFFEE TIME!
Oh, woe is me.
What a terrible habit.
But, I certainly can think of far worse ones which I am really glad that I don't have.
7-6-12
Ventura, California, USA
