What is Mad?

Mental health is like a black and white photo, people think of it as just that purely black and white, but its not. Look again and you will see that most pictures are in fact almost entirely made up of shades of grey. This is how we at Sussex Mad see mental health, its not a case of sane or mad, most people are in fact somewhere in the grey area between. Look at the world today and think if you can honestly say that you think the majority of people are 100% sane? Even the most 'sane' person will do something at some time that afterwards may seem nuts / crazy or out of character.

I also think that the word mad gets used for the wrong thing too much. How many times do you hear things like:

My Mum would go mad if she saw me dressed like this.

That new worker really drives me mad.

I am really mad about racing cars.

You must be mad if you think I am going out in that rain.

I am mad about Robbie Williams.

Are any of those really meant to be about actual madness? The funny thing is that people say the M word a lot and don't bat an eyelid, but if you tell somebody that you are actually a bit mad and mean it, then you get a very different reaction sometimes! Also I do think in some ways that those sayings may actually be true in some cases. Would a sane person stand in the pouring rain for eight hours just to get a glympse of Robbie Williams? Would a dedicated fan? The line between being mad about somebody and really being mad about somebody can get pretty thin sometimes!

The human brain is not really that good at working out whats real and whats not anyway. How many people have cried over a completely fictional film? I admit that I have. Why would we do such a thing? Its a couple of actors reading lines some writer has created about people that do not exist, but in our minds it is so much more. That sounds like insanity to me! I know quite a few people that have watched Chicken Little and really identified with the character, its a computer generated talking chicken!!! Does that sound sane to you? I am not saying that doing things like that means you have a mental health problem, just that it shows what a strange thing the human brain can be!