Madness Explained Quotes

“There is no clear boundary between mental health and mental illness. Psychological complaints exist on continua with normal behaviours and experiences. Where we draw the line between sanity and madness is a matter of opinion.”
― Richard P. Bentall, Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature

“Go to hell, World! I cannot die in peace and safety. I cannot face the slightest breath of real life or death or ugliness. But I hurt for being such a coward. I was always a coward – socially, physically, mentally, sexually, emotionally. If I go insane, am I brave? I will, because then, and only then, I am brave, not a coward. [An excerpt from the diary of Jean Bouricius' son]”
― Richard P. Bentall, Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature

“All scientific theories, even those in the physical sciences, are developed in a particular cultural context. Although the context may help to explain the persistence of a theory in the face of apparently falsifying evidence, the fact that a theory arises from a particular context is not sufficient to condemn it. Theories and paradigms must be accepted, modified or rejected on the basis of evidence.”
― Richard P. Bentall, Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature

“has been suggested that the average age at which women develop schizophrenia symptoms is later than the average age for men because the female hormone oestrogen confers protection against psychosis (apparently, oestrogen shares some of the pharmacological properties of the neuroleptics, the class of drugs most widely used in the treatment of psychotic patients).9”
― Richard P. Bentall, Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature