What Constitutes Mad Behavior?

Abstract

Abstract The history of psychiatric diagnoses is characterized by both stability and change: stability, since some social behaviors are continuously included in symptoms of psychiatric diagnoses, and change, since others vary in such diagnostic inclusion and are only sometimes perceived as signs of madness. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, a medical framework replaced the Christian view of madness in Sweden, as in many other European countries. In the present chapter, social behaviors incorporated in diagnoses in 1821 are compared to those incorporated in diagnoses used in 1980 (DSM-III), exemplifying the changing emphasis among the biopsychosocial perspectives used to explain and understand mental disorders. These patterns of stability and change are considered within the grand narrative of mental disorders through diagnoses. The author discusses the practical implications of these changes over time, focusing especially on addictive behaviors and sexuality. Reasons for such stability and changes are discussed, as well as potential ramifications for psychiatric praxis today.