ABSTRACT

Personal troubles are social issues. Madness is a personal trouble that gains much of its context from its society. Its meaning and direction are shaped by social attitudes (which may be tolerant or prejudicial) and social institutions (the main one of which is the biologically biased subdivision of the profession of medicine –psychiatry). Society contributes or causes many personal troubles. In this book violence, inequality, selfishness, insecurity, and stupidity have been presented as societal insanities directly or indirectly linkable to psychological distress. Emphasising societal factors in the making of madness is not intended to discount, devaluate, or denounce biological and psychological contributions. But in this book, there is an emphasis on correcting the imbalance between evaluating madness as the fault of the individual or the fault of society. Finally, there is plea for sociologists and other societally attuned academics have a social responsibility to work with psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists to make society saner and thereby mitigate personal madness.