CAUTION MORE CRAZINESS AND DEVIANCE!!

When you think of the word crazy what are the images that come to mind?  Padded rooms and straightjackets, serial killers with a maniacal laugh?  How about the girl next door, your mom, or even yourself?  Even more important than the image itself is how do you feel about that image? Do you feel fear?  Do you feel curiosity? Do you feel dismissive?  Do you think of “crazy” as someone else’s problem? Do you feel compassion?  How society defines crazy and labels people as crazy creates a stigma, but through reclamation those suffering from mental illness can start to gain hope for better understanding and treatment.

Crazy is defined both in a formal context and informal context.  Dictionary.com provides the formal definition as being “mentally deranged, senseless, totally unsound”.(1)  As a slang term Dictionary.com defines crazy as “intensely enthusiastic, very enamored, intensely anxious”.(1) Even among these types of definitions there is a sense of extremeness and being absolute.  Another thing all these definitions have in common is that crazy is used to describe or explain the source of emotional and/or behavioral attributes.  These definitions for the term crazy are relatively new and how the term is defined has changed over time.  Historical definitions also vary I found definitions from “full of cracks and flaws from 1580’s” to “a slang term used in the jazz scene to mean cool and exciting from 1920’s”.(2)  In centuries past being labeled crazy could mean various things from an individual being possessed by a demon, morally repugnant, or of a criminal nature.  These meanings to the label crazy conjured up feelings of fear and people labeled crazy often ended up in prison.  Whether the term is used in the formal way or as slang it is used to describe extreme states of being or behaviors.  With the implication of extremeness comes fear, fear of possibly going too far away from social norms.  The difference between the formal usage and slang usage is that as a formal definition it is an overtly pejorative term, but when used in slang the same term becomes a covertly pejorative term.  For the purpose of this analysis crazy will be used to describe the label given to someone diagnosed with a mental illness.  At the core of this definition is that the term crazy is not only a label but a deviant label. 

According to Becker’s labeling theory people are deviant because they are labeled so by a part of society due to being caught engaging in an act or behavior that goes against a social norm, or agreed upon rule made up by and enforced by society.  This interaction between the individual and society creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of the person being deviant.  This happens because the label itself comes with assumptions, other meanings and feelings toward the label by society.  Society then treats the individual according to their label not their individual traits, creating a lens through which the individual’s behavior is viewed.  The individual is also excluded from socially accepted conventional groups as part of being labeled deviant.  Due to these interactions with society and self the individual starts to identify with the label and act according to the traits of that label. (3)

As a deviant label Becker’s labeling theory can be applied to the term crazy to better understand the social interaction that goes on when someone is labeled crazy.  An example of this can be seen when looking at the behavior of hoarding and how people who engage in this behavior are labeled as being crazy.  Often when people lose someone close to them or have a hard time engaging in personal relationships they become attached to material objects.  If the person breaks the social norm of having a neat and clutter free environment in an extreme way it can get the attention of society.  The person might be labeled as being a hoarder and mentally ill.  All other behaviors are seen as symptoms of being crazy.  Society ostracizes the person for their behavior, creating more stress and anxiety.  This often leads the person to further isolate themselves from people and surround themselves with inanimate objects, increasing the hoarding behavior.  The individual sees themselves as a hoarder deserving of the negative image, which also encourages isolating and hoarding behaviors.  This theory also shows how once someone is labeled crazy it is difficult to change that label.  As Rosenhan stated “A psychiatric label has a life and influence of its own.”  Once labeled crazy it is near impossible to remove the label.  You can be viewed as in remission or managing symptoms well, but once you are labeled crazy that becomes your master status among those who know your diagnosis.  This comes with expectations of future symptoms, breakdowns, or episodes.  These expectations feed into fear, anxiety, stress, and self doubt for the patient, making the label of crazy a sticky label.(4)           

Since the deviant label of crazy is a sticky one mental illness is seen by society as a chronic condition.  The fact that mental illness is seen as a chronic condition is part of the reason there is a lot of fear and stigmatization around the term crazy.  Goffman has defined stigma as “any physical or social attribute or sign that so devalues a person’s social identity that it disqualifies that person from full social acceptance.”(5)  The stigma of being labeled crazy comes with many beliefs about the person by society.  Some of these beliefs are; that the person is unstable, incapable of rational thought, prone to fits of outrage, dangerous, possibly violent towards others or self.  Also, many people think that crazy people are just seeking attention or even that crazy people are processed by the devil.  These stigmas attached to mental illness and the label of crazy can have many adverse effects on a person.  People labeled as crazy can face discrimination in the workplace, in education, or when trying to find housing.  There is a lack of understanding by others for those with mental illness.  There is also a belief that the mentally ill cannot improve their situation. (6)  The stigma attached to the label needs to be removed but this cannot be done simply through telling people that it is a physical disorder like other physical disorders. The stigma remains because it is seen as something that doesn’t go away – there is no cure.  Also people have different feelings about the brain compared to other parts of the body. (7) Hopefully through education and awareness the stigma can start to fade so that those with mental illness are seen as the complex individuals they are and not boiled down to one attribute – their mental illness.  Reducing the stigma of the word crazy can also be done by reclaiming the word by those within the mentally ill community.                

Reclaiming language is a way in which a marginalized minority group can take an offensive word, claim it, and redefine the word to suit them, and highlight positive attributes.  Women have done this by reclaiming the word bitch.  Some say it means “Babe In Total Control of Herself”.  Others use the word bitch to mean a strong powerful woman. (8)  Reclaiming the word crazy has been done by those within the mentally ill community with varying meanings and with the help of the internet and social media these meanings have spread.  One blog post used it to describe genius.  Also there is a common quote on-line about the meaning of crazy; “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” (9) Some have redefined it to mean magical thinking, creative and intuitive. (10)  Also being crazy can be seen as being brave enough to be different.  Even with all these positive outlooks on the word crazy there are mixed opinions on reclaiming the word crazy.  It can be empowering, but the context in which the word is used is a very important consideration to be taken before using it, even if it is a reclamatory fashion. (10,11)

Crazy is a powerful word, this power can be used for good or evil.  It can be used positively as we have seen in the reclaiming of the word.  However, crazy has traditionally been used by society to label people and then treat them as deviants not deserving of equal treatment or compassion.  People labeled crazy to be feared and not trusted.  This traditional usage is evil and needs to be changed.  As a society we need to see people suffering from mental illness as complex individuals deserving of equal treatment and compassion.  

word count: 1,436

REFERENCES

1.Dictionary.com. 

 http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/crazy
2.    Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=crazy
3.    Becker, Howard. 1963. “Labeling Theory.” Pp.39-41 Readings In Deviant Behavior, edited by A. Thio, T.C. Calhoun, A. Conyers. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
4.    Rosenhan, David. 1973. “Being Sane In Insane Places.” Pp133-137 in Readings In Deviant Behavior, edited by A. Thio, T.C. Calhoun, A. Conyers. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
5.    Kendall, Diana. 2010. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
6. The Mayo Clinic. “Mental Health: Overcoming the Stigma of Mental Illness.” http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mental-health/MH00076
7.    Wyckoff, Whitney. “Despite Deeper Understanding Of Mental Illness, Stigma Still Lingers." https://lms.wsu.edu/section/content/default.asp?WCI=pgDisplay&WCU=CRSCNT&ENTRY_ID=1E37BB054E3C46C2A62E056B3753C45D 
8.  “Social Justice – Reclaiming Language. Jan. 23, 2010. http://brilliantmindbrokenbody.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/social-justice-reclaiming-language/
9. Braiden, Sue. Feb. 21, 2011. “Here’s to The Crazy One’s.” http://g33ksquared.com/grok/menu-top-aha/154-aha-ad-apple.html
10.  Not singing the bi-polar blues blog. "Call Me Crazy Please" posted Sept. 2011. http://notsingingthebipolarblues.blogspot.com/2010/09/call-me-crazy-please.html  
11.  This aint livin' blog. "Reclamation: Marginalized bodies, Self Labeling and Empowerment" posted April 2010. http://meloukhia.net/2010/04/reclamation_marginalised_bodies_self_labeling_and_empowerment