|
Case
studies in abnormality?
|
 |
|
William Buckland … genius, geologist and gastronome!
William Buckland (1784-1856) was an interesting man. He
was Oxford University’s inaugural professor of geology
and the first person in England to recognise that
glaciers had once covered much of the northern parts of
the UK. Buckland supervised the laying of the first
pipe drains in London and was responsible for
introducing gas lighting to Oxford.
He also ate bluebottles, moles and, having been shown it
by a friend, the embalmed heart of the executed King
Louis XIV of France! Living near London zoo he would be
first on the scene when a rare species died… you guessed
it! He once returned from holiday to find one of their
leopards had died whilst he’d been away. He dug it up
and cooked it! His dining table was made from
fossilised dung and his favourite snack was toasted
dormice.
|
Is
this abnormal behaviour? Most of us would consider it odd at
the very least! However, when I say ‘us’ to whom am
I referring? Western society is about the only culture on Earth that does
not consume insects. Other people would find it odd that we do
not eat such invertebrates, since we consider their watery
cousins (prawns, cockles etc.) such a delicacy! Similarly moles
are a mammal. We eat cows, pigs, sheep, how are moles any
different? We find it disgraceful that cat or dog is so
favoured in some parts of the World whilst other cultures find
it appalling that we eat cows or pigs! Many of these tastes are
culturally relative and are due to conditioning and the way we
have been brought up! However, I reserve judgement on Louis
XIV’s heart!
 |
|
John Forbes Nash whose case was made famous by the film
‘A beautiful Mind.’
Nash was a mathematician and economist who’s work on
game theory saw him co-awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize
in economic sciences. Nash was also schizophrenic. He
experienced severe paranoia and erratic behaviour. At
one stage he wrote to foreign embassies in Washington DC
telling them of his intention to set up a World
government. Nash was compulsorily detained and
prescribed antipsychotic drugs which he stopped taking when
he returned home. In later stages of the disorder he
did report hearing voices and now admits that he stopped
reporting these in order to be released from hospital.
Since 1995 Nash claims to have been thinking rationally
again.
In 2001, Nash faced the ultimate indignity when he was
portrayed by Russell Crowe! |
|
Defining abnormality
Why
do we bother? You’d think that it would be obvious, and in some
cases perhaps it is. However, there are lots of cases when
things are not so clear cut; William Buckland (left) for
example.
We
all feel down from time to time or have swings in mood or feel
anxiety when perhaps we wouldn’t expect to. At what point does
this become depression, manic depression or clinical anxiety?
The issue is further clouded by cultural differences and
history. Behaviours we find odd in this country don’t get a
second look in others and behaviours that were once seen as
abhorrent are now accepted by the vast majority. Similarly
actions requiring immediate institutionalisation in the lower
classes are seen as merely eccentric in the upper classes!
In
less ‘enlightened’ times abnormal behaviour was considered the
work of the devil and of being possessed by evil. Techniques
such as exorcism (still practised) were developed. During the
Dark Ages abnormality was attributed to witchcraft with the
person being cursed. Odd people were tried (sometimes by
dubious techniques) and if found guilty occasionally *burnt at
the stake; a sure-fire cure!
*In
fact the number of witches actually burned at the stake was very
small and nowhere near as common as texts such as the Da Vinci
Code would have us believe.
Linda Blair before her exorcism! Impressive
bit of spinning… even for a Blair!
In
more recent times we have seen the advent of asylums to house
the abnormal or mentally ill. These have given way in the West
to specially designed hospitals or clinics. Admission to these
places is governed by doctors and by a third person such as a
social worker.
When
defining ‘abnormality’ we will consider the way definitions
differ between cultures (even within Western Societies), how
definitions change over time and how what is considered
‘abnormal’ and worrysome in one place at a particular time is
considered ‘normal’ or even desirable elsewhere at a different
time.
We
shall start this topic by looking at possible ways of defining
‘abnormal.’ None of these can be seen as telling the whole
story.
I
'm a Mansfield lad and spent much of my mid-twenties drinking in
its town centre. I
spent many a happy evening in a bar called the Brig-o-doon, oft
chatting to a ruddy faced old chap Mick Grimmer. He was famed
locally for his bizarre fund raising activities, one of which I
read about some years later in an old copy of the Daily Mirror!
Mick had spent two weeks in a local public house sat on a
porta-loo wearing a woman’s nightgown, eating nothing but cold
baked beans (hence the toilet presumably) and listening to Des
O’Connor records. Was Mick abnormal? Even if we consider it
abnormal does it constitute mental illness. Lots of questions;
so few answers!
Next page
|
