Revisiting Dr. Rosenhan. Between 1969 and 1972, seven friends embarked on what became known as the Rosenhan Experiment, posing as patients in a dozen psychiatric hospitals. While the medical staff diagnosed the poseurs as 'schizophrenic', their fellow patients quickly caught on to their ruse. The resulting paper, On Being Sane in Insane Places, became an instant classic.
posted by grounded on Jul 26, 2009 - 49 comments

Violin. Them Heavy People. Egypt. The Kate Bush 1979 Xmas Special (QLYT)
posted by fire&wings on Apr 26, 2009 - 21 comments

No matter their approach, the typical French physician who accepted the notion of male hysteria continued to think that its victims were in some way sexually abnormal: "Thus, despite Charcot's innovative work, the male victim of hysteria in late-nineteenth century French medical imagination was still frequently envisioned as an effeminate heterosexual, an overt homosexual, or a physical or emotional hermaphrodite." If not different sexually, male hysterics were said to be different in other ways, such as race or nationality, among whom African, African-American, south Asian, Arab, or Eastern European Jewish men predominated. Outside of France, other methods of denial appeared, such as the suggestion that male hysteria was restricted to Frenchmen. The medical literature of the time is full of evasions and denials and contradictions of the truths that Charcot had quite obviously demonstrated.

- Macho Misery, an extensive and interesting review of Hysterical Men: The Hidden History of Male Nervous Illness. [more inside]
posted by Kattullus on Apr 26, 2009 - 8 comments

Kelly G lifts people and asks them questions. Annoying, obnoxious, but everyone has to have a hobby. [more inside]
posted by cjorgensen on Mar 16, 2009 - 24 comments

At the beginning of windsuit base jumping, we were trying to get as far from the wall as possible...and now its getting boring so we play around. (money shot at 3:10)
posted by allkindsoftime on Jan 4, 2009 - 83 comments

The End of the Wall Street Era. “We always asked the same question,” says Eisman. “Where are the rating agencies in all of this? And I’d always get the same reaction. It was a smirk.” He called Standard & Poor’s and asked what would happen to default rates if real estate prices fell. The man at S&P couldn’t say; its model for home prices had no ability to accept a negative number.

The author of Liar's Poker on the collapse of the subprime industry.
posted by bitmage on Nov 11, 2008 - 57 comments

On April 3, The Memphis Flyer ran a story describing a town hall meeting in Shelby County in which citizens were instructed on the art of finding a potential terrorist. Among the 'qualifications' are having a camera and taking pictures of well known or important structures.
posted by theichibun on May 29, 2008 - 52 comments

Are you batshitinsane? Viruses and/or bacteria may be the cause.
posted by amyms on Apr 19, 2008 - 17 comments

Terminus. "After inadvertently offending a strange entity that accosts him on his way to work, a 1970s businessman quickly finds himself in the midst of a bizarre predicament." 205.2 MB Quicktime available here. [Via Neatorama.]
posted by homunculus on Nov 21, 2007 - 17 comments

Louis Wain became one of the most famous British illustrators of the late Victorian and Edwardian era after trying to cheer up his wife Emily by drawing portraits of their pet cat, Peter. In addition to publishing a popular children's book about kittens, he was a founder of the U.K's National Cat Club who was instrumental in promoting the Cat Fancy movement, which encouraged Britons of all classes to view cats as lovable pets instead of household pests. Unfortunately, after Wain's wife Emily died of breast cancer, Wain gradually went mad due to psychosis and late onset schizophrenia, ending up in London's notorious Bethlehem Hospital (the etymological origin for the word bedlam). While at Bedlam, Wain continued to draw, but his cat portraits transformed into pure geometric abstraction and psychedelic fractals, but some see harbingers of madness in cryptically titled works, such as Early Indian Irish and The Fire of the Mind Agitates the Atmosphere. For more insight on Wain, check out this 1896 interview and this short film dramatizing the progression of Wain's schizophrenia through his art.
posted by jonp72 on Aug 12, 2007 - 25 comments

The 50 Craziest Pop Stars Ever - unsurprisingly, there is some crossover with the 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars.
posted by madamjujujive on Feb 25, 2007 - 51 comments

Great White Sharks feeding on a whale carcass. Ever wanted to see what a dead whale looks like? Find it here. How about multiple great white sharks feeding on said carcass? Find it here. How about a mad scientist who climbs on said carcass? And films said sharks with fricken' lazer beams feeding on stinking whale carcass?
posted by KokuRyu on Feb 10, 2007 - 39 comments

Wow. And I thought California property was expensive. Lordy.
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 23, 2007 - 61 comments

"This was painted by a person with a rare and severe mental disorder. He was constantly seeing his own fantasies all around him. He also had a certain phobia..." (via Digg). The image is an imperfect reproduction of a particular postcard dated 1972. A blogger (in Russian) claims his psychiatry professor found one aspect of this eerie painting that reveals the patient's disorder. Allegedly, only one of his students in the past 15 years has figured it out. The psychoanalytic mystery has piqued the interest (in Russian) of the online community. A number of supplemental hints from the professor and thousands of guesses later, the case remains unsolved. Skeptics have already decried the mystery as a traffic-boosting hoax, but a few signs still point to its authenticity. Most notably, the artist's reproduction of another classic painting contains the following note: "transferred in 1990 from Moscow mental hospital."
posted by themadjuggler on Dec 3, 2006 - 113 comments

I'm Paul R Nelson, and I approve of this message anything that might get me elected. Why? Well, his congressman Ron Kind is the (cue menacing music) WRONG KIND. For starters, he pays for sex, but not soldiers (wmv). On top of that, he also voted to let illegal aliens burn the American flag (wmv). But worst of all? Because of him, we're dependent for oil on islamic fascists and nations that support terrorism. Elect Paul R Nelson, and he'll finish the job he started 23 years ago (wmv). Best. Smear ads. Ever. Check out the radio ads and his photo collection for even more stomach-churning right-wing meretriciousness.
posted by nTeleKy on Oct 19, 2006 - 33 comments

Interesting update on Maxon Crumb, fascinating guru brother of counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb.
posted by crunchland on Oct 4, 2006 - 33 comments

Two girls, three wheels, 10,000 miles: an epic overland adventure from Bangkok to Brighton. Two women are about to embark on a very long and very uncomfortable voyage: driving a "tuk tuk" from Thailand to Britain to raise £50,000 for the mental health charity Mind.
posted by soiled cowboy on May 16, 2006 - 22 comments

The Monks
Formed in the early '60s by American G.I.s stationed in Germany. After their discharge, the group settled in Germany to concentrate on finding a unique sound, and soon began to shave their hair into Monk's tonsures and appear in cassocks. One of the truely original bands of the 60's, The Monks are now often refered to as 'proto-punk'. The Monks experimented fervently, developing a unqiue sound, with heavy bass, repetitive but amelodic rhythms, nursery rhyme style, yet powerful vocals and a good helping of feedback. They recorded only one albumn, Black Monk Time, until their 1999 reunion.
Hear some tracks from the albumn (in realmedia), See and hear The Monks Live in Germany, Also, check out Monks - The Transatlantic Feedback, a documentary (with trailer, though there seems to be something wrong with it). [Trivia: the song I Hate You can be heard in the background in one scene in the bowling alley in The Big Lebowski]
posted by MetaMonkey on Apr 21, 2006 - 24 comments

Wikipedia's Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense category is a veritable goldmine of...well. I had never heard of a Mushroom Tattoo, for example, nor did I know about the tragic exploitation of the Gnomish Nation or the truth about the American Revolution. Towards the end, Ronald Reagan's condition was even sadder than I thought. And why shouldn't we believe in Atlantis, or for that matter the bearatross or Alphonse W. Turkeyman?
posted by Gator on Dec 8, 2005 - 15 comments

Mad Meg does all of her work with a black ball point pen on notebook paper.
posted by crunchland on Sep 7, 2005 - 38 comments

An LSAT game a day until the October 1st Test - Interesting and maddening/unique visual puzzles for preparation of the upcoming LSAT, posted one a day throughout the summer. From Jesse Fuchs, NYC LSAT tutor who also created the equally maddening and very fun Spooneye! The Card Game.
posted by Peter H on Jul 19, 2005 - 27 comments

The greatest story ever told or The Tale of the Mad Feces King: Two slightly different edits of the same ultimate bad room-mate story, originally posted on the Something Awful forums.
posted by boymilo on Jun 21, 2005 - 54 comments

On being sane in insane places [via]
posted by dhruva on May 20, 2005 - 16 comments

Smell The Brimstone --Have you ever asked yourself, "Self, what if the folks at JibJab made another political cartoon, but before doing so were to remove their souls, morals, intellect, decency, and common sense?"--Good as You's review of this little flash piece, from the GodHatesFags crew (Phelps). I think it's so poorly done and insane, it's actually funny, but NSFW and offensive.
posted by amberglow on May 7, 2005 - 75 comments

Is this a joke? I'm sorry, can you repeat that Mr. Nugent?
posted by shoppingforsanity on Apr 20, 2005 - 100 comments

Provacateur, Lunatic or Revolutionary? (great WashPost story) "Hello Everyone, my name's Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country. Now I'm coming forward, to explain that this killing was also an action against corporate irresponsibility." Andrew Mickel, AKA Andrew McCrae - a student at Evergreen State College and former Army Ranger is charged with killing a police officer in Red Bluff, California. He freeley admits that he did it. His defense? He is starting the revolution! Mickel believes, as does the prosecution, that he isn't insane. He is also the "CEO" of Proud and Insolent Youth Incorporated
posted by punkbitch on Apr 4, 2005 - 169 comments

"The purpose of the Fellowship Baptist Creation Science Fair is to get kids excited about Creation and motivate them to discover the truth of our Lord on their own."
Winning exhibits this year include "My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)", "Women Were Designed For Homemaking", and "Using Prayer To Microevolve Latent Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria".
Via
posted by Mwongozi on Mar 24, 2005 - 74 comments

While others are busy writing fan fiction about Dune, it’s nice to see that someone has discovered the TRUTH.
posted by Pockets on Jun 28, 2004 - 24 comments

The facinating story of Seti Scanlan - After a mental meltdown, he went on a crime spree of robberies, in the process killing 2 victims. He fled from California to Oregon where he... gave himself up. Since then, he has pled guilty to all charges and waived his right to a trial. He attempted to wave his sentancing trial and accept the death penalty, but the judge would not allow it. Scanlan himself says that he just wants to stand up and face the consequences of his crimes.
posted by falconred on May 2, 2004 - 12 comments

Is Dave Sim going mad? Speculation has been running rampant in the Interweb comic book community that Dave Sim, writer and artist of Cerebus, arguably one of the greatest comic book series of all time, has lost his mind. Granted, many of Sim's essays have been misogynist, and he has publicly challenged Bone creator Jeff Smith to a fist fight for a somewhat trivial slight, but that is hardly evidence of insanity. Has he crossed the line from extremist to madman? Is his writing a Swiftian satire or, as one critic called it, the Mein Kampf of misogyny?
posted by Joey Michaels on Aug 27, 2002 - 39 comments

"The last Nazi was there. I shot and killed him. And Hitler was there. I shot and killed him." Is this the Godwin's Law defense? If the trial isn't therefore automatically over, and if Michael McDermott isn't crazy, at least he seems to have started planning his defense for quite a while - his first words when arrested were "I don't speak German".
posted by yhbc on Apr 12, 2002 - 49 comments

Are you insane? a quick easy test to see whether you are insane. Looks like I am insane, what about yourself.
posted by johnnyboy on Jan 23, 2002 - 18 comments

President Lincoln narrowly avoids insanity. Had he not changed his medication early in his presidency, Lincoln might have conducted the war very differently.
posted by ljromanoff on Jul 17, 2001 - 6 comments

On Jul 9th 1999, Sarah Guinn had a brush with insanity and death.
posted by tomcosgrave on Jan 21, 2000 - 0 comments