insanity (redirected from insanities)

in·san·i·ty  (n-sn-t)

n. pl. in·san·i·ties

1. Persistent mental disorder or derangement. No longer in scientific use.

2. Law

a. Unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility.

b. In most criminal jurisdictions, a degree of mental malfunctioning sufficient to relieve the accused of legal responsibility for the act committed.

3.

a. Extreme foolishness; folly.

b. Something that is extremely foolish.

Synonyms: insanity, lunacy, madness, mania, dementia
These nouns denote conditions of serious mental disability. Insanity is a grave, often prolonged condition that prevents a person from being held legally responsible for his or her actions: was judged not guilty for reasons of insanity.
Lunacy often denotes derangement relieved intermittently by periods of clear-mindedness: yelled wildly in a moment of utter lunacy.
Madness often stresses the violent aspect of mental illness: a story about obsession and madness.
Mania refers principally to the excited, or manic, phase of bipolar disorder: prescribed drugs to control the patient's periods of mania.
Dementia implies mental deterioration brought on by an organic brain disorder: underwent progressive stages of dementia.

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insanity

Noun

pl -ties

1. the state of being insane

2. stupidity

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Insanity

See also disease and illness; manias; phobias; psychology.

abalienation

Obsolete, insanity.

acromania

a violent form of mania; incurable insanity.

amentia

1. a congenital condition of low intelligence.
2. a form of temporary insanity. Cf. dementia.

amenty

Obsolete, amentia.

bedlamism

behavior characteristic of insanity. See also order and disorder.

bedlamite

a mental patient.

catatonia

one of various forms of schizophrenia characterized by stupor, sometimes alternating with excited behavior and mechanical, repetitive behavior, accompanied by muscular rigidity. — catatonic, n., adj.

delirium

a state of maniacal excitement characterized by restless behavior, confused speech, and sometimes hallucinations.

dementia

madness or insanity. Cf. amentia.

dementia praecox

schizophrenia.

demonianism

1. Obsolete, the doctrine of demoniac possession.
2. Archaic. demonomania. — demonian, n., adj.

demonomania

Medicine. a monomania in which a person believes he is possessed of devils. Also called demonopathy.

diabolepsy

Medicine, Obsolete, a state in which a person believes he is possessed by a devil or has been endowed with supernatural powers.

hallucinosis

a disordered mental condition in which the sufferer is prone to hallucinations.

hebephrenia

a form of insanity or dementia praecox that can appear at puberty, characterized by foolish behavior and deterioration of the mental faculties.

hypermania

an acute mania.

lunacy

1. periodic insanity, once thought to be caused by the phases of the moon.
2. any form of insanity. — lunatic, adj.

lypemania

an abnormal tendency toward deep melancholy.

lyssophobia

an abnormal fear of becoming insane.

maniaphobia

an abnormal fear of madness.

megalomania

1. Medicine. a form of mental illness characterized by the unreasonable conviction in the patient of his own greatness, goodness, power, or wealth.
2. an obsession with extravagant or grand actions. — megalomaniac, n., adj. — megalomaniacal, adj.

melancholia

a condition of abnormal gloom or depression, often of an intensity to become a form of insanity. — melancholiac, n., adj. — melancholie, n., adj.

melancholian

Obsolete, a person suffering from melancholia; a melancholiac.

narcosynthesis

a form of treatment for mental illness that involves placing the patient under the influence of a narcotic.

orthosis

the process of correcting bodily or mental distortion.

paranoia

a mental disorder characterized by behavior that stems from an elaborately constructed system of delusions of persecution and grandeur. — paranoiac, n. — paranoid, adj.

paranoidism

a state resembling paranoia.

pathomania

moral insanity.

psychosis

any severe mental disorder or disease. — psychotic, n., adj.

schizophrenia

a psychotic condition marked by erratic behavior, withdrawal from reality, and intellectual and emotional deterioration. Also called dementia praecox. — schizophrenic, n., adj.

schizothymia

a mild form of schizophrenia, characterized by withdrawal, inversion, etc. — schizothyme, n. — schizothymic, adj.

submania

a mild mania.

zoanthropy

a form of insanity or mental disorder in which the sufferer imagines that he is an animal. — zoanthropic, adj.

zoopsia

a form of hallucination in which the sufferer imagines he sees animals. Also called zooscopy.

zooscopy

zoopsia.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

insanity - relatively permanent disorder of the mind mental disease, mental illness, psychopathy - any disease of the mind; the psychological state of someone who has emotional or behavioral problems serious enough to require psychiatric intervention insaneness, lunacy, madness - obsolete terms for legal insanity dementedness, dementia - mental deterioration of organic or functional origin irrationality, unreason - the state of being irrational; lacking powers of understanding derangement, mental unsoundness, unbalance - a state of mental disturbance and disorientation craziness, daftness, flakiness - informal terms for insanity saneness, sanity - normal or sound powers of mind

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insanity

noun 1. madness, mental illness, dementia, aberration, mental disorder, delirium, craziness, mental derangement << OPPOSITE sanity

noun 2. stupidity, folly, lunacy, irresponsibility, senselessness, preposterousness << OPPOSITE sense

USAGE The word insane has a specific legal use, as in insane and unfit to plead. The word insanity, however, is not acceptable in general mental health contexts, and many of its synonyms, for example mental derangement, are also considered inappropriate or offensive. Acceptable terms are psychiatric disorder or psychiatric illness.

Translations

insanity [ɪnˈsænɪtɪ] n → demencia, locura

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insanity [ɪnˈsænɪtɪ] n → folie f;

(Med) → aliénation (mentale)

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insanity [ɪnˈsænɪtɪ] insane n → Wahnsinn m;

(Med) → Geisteskrankheit f

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insanity [ɪnˈsænɪtɪ] n → follia;

(MED) → alienazione f mentale