jj (07/16/82)
The recent deluge of reports about the "sane" people who committed themselves in order to study the system's treatment and observations on known sane peopel seems to confirm the following premise which a person from the west coast (who refuses to either allow attribution or post this 'it'self) provided: "The only definition of sanity today is whether or not the doctor agrees with you or not. If the doctor, who may or may not be sane him/herself, pronounces you insane, you are, by definition, insane." Although I haven't had the experience myself, I have been told that this postulate results in mistreatment of most above average patients, merely because they don't agree with the doctor most of the time. If anyone has any comments, I would be interested. The sense of this postulate seems to be that any person of above average intellegence is insane unless that person deliberately makes choices that are not in his/her self interest. Making choices that are not in your self interest is also defined as insanity. Where to stop?