Carole’s answer to “I find Esther's descent into insanity a little rushed or hasty, but I have never experienced mental…” > Likes and Comments
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Insane is a broad and relative term. You can be psychotic and delusional and be cognizant of what's happening. That doesn't make you sane.
I do agree with you, Donovan, that you can be cognizant and psychotic at the same time. I like to think of insanity in terms of how "appropriate" or reasonable a person's actions are to there surroundings. In this way I merely looked at Esther as giving up. Not insane though, more depressed. What do you think?
Having experienced psychosis personally, "appropriate," "reason," and "logic" are extremely relative to the psychotic. It's whether those actions and behaviors are appropriate to that person's true self as viewed by others, because although they can be cognizant, rarely do the psychotic know they are sick, just as I didn't. The point I wish to stress is that both depression and "insanity," or to be specific, psychosis, are undervalued in their seriousness and people often lack the appropriate empathy in their attempt to understand. The only people who truly understand "madness" are those who have suffered it, and it is not something I would wish upon anyone. That said, stories such as Sylvia Plath's and the novel I'm writing (hopefully) help reveal the unpredictability and tragedy of mental illness, and it would behoove us all to take these stories seriously and respectfully, if only for a better personal understanding if not a greater social awareness. All of that said, your review didn't bother me, you just obviously had some questions.
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Insane is a broad and relative term. You can be psychotic and delusional and be cognizant of what's happening. That doesn't make you sane.
I do agree with you, Donovan, that you can be cognizant and psychotic at the same time. I like to think of insanity in terms of how "appropriate" or reasonable a person's actions are to there surroundings. In this way I merely looked at Esther as giving up. Not insane though, more depressed. What do you think?
Having experienced psychosis personally, "appropriate," "reason," and "logic" are extremely relative to the psychotic. It's whether those actions and behaviors are appropriate to that person's true self as viewed by others, because although they can be cognizant, rarely do the psychotic know they are sick, just as I didn't. The point I wish to stress is that both depression and "insanity," or to be specific, psychosis, are undervalued in their seriousness and people often lack the appropriate empathy in their attempt to understand. The only people who truly understand "madness" are those who have suffered it, and it is not something I would wish upon anyone. That said, stories such as Sylvia Plath's and the novel I'm writing (hopefully) help reveal the unpredictability and tragedy of mental illness, and it would behoove us all to take these stories seriously and respectfully, if only for a better personal understanding if not a greater social awareness. All of that said, your review didn't bother me, you just obviously had some questions.
I loved this book. There was such a lack of description about Esther's actual depression, her thoughts and feelings but much more about the actions she took during those months of depression. Very different than what I'm used to reading.