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Mental Illness As Cultural Problem With Examples From Modern Austrian Literature, Geoffrey Howes

ICS Fellow Lectures

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 …