Abnormal Psychology (09/22/2005)

[crazyvampchick]

Class Roster. Signups are now CLOSED.

The classroom is dark, with the shades pulled down and the windows underneath it painted black. The electric lights have not been turned on, but instead candelabras have been lit and placed throughout the classroom. On the desk sits a blonde, fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked porcelain doll in a black dress. The doll is missing its eyes. Behind the desk is a chalkboard that has been covered completely with scribbles of various colors of chalk.

Drusilla stands in the front of the room, waiting for her students to attend.

"Lesson one," she says simply as they walk in and take their seats. On each desk is a photocopy of a chapter of a psychology text on various psychological disorders and a sheet entitled "HOMEWORK: Find a picture of insanity."

"Understanding insanity. How do you understand it? How do you define it? Discuss. Ask questions of each other and of me. And remember--" She gestures to the doll and smiles. "Miss Edith will be watching for troublemakers. And I'm absolutely brutal about detentions."

Comments

[medusae-x.livejournal.com]

Duce considers the question and asks, "Would you consider the side effects of long-term drug use to be a form of insanity, or merely a brain injury?"

[crazyvampchick]

Drusilla tilts her head and looks at Duce curiously. "What side effects? What drugs?" She smiles. "But a good question."

[medusae-x.livejournal.com]

Duce chews her lip for a moment, thinking about the answer to that question, "Drugs.. such as methamphetamines, hallucinogens, barbituates, opiates, or LSD, the ones known to have psychotropic reactions on both positive and negative scale, whose compounded use can lead to permanent psychological impairment. The side effects are normally paranoia, irrationality, excitability, image distortion, aggressive and violent behaviors, extreme anxiety, hallucinations, grandiose behavior.. "

Tilting her head thoughtfully, she says, "The side effects can mimic paranoid schizophrenia. Which tells us nothing, as we still haven't decided if that's a form of insanity, a form of brain injury, or simply an altered perception of reality."

Shrugging, she answers the question, "We try to understand it by attempting to see the same viewpoint as the person branded 'insane'. To date, we haven't been convinced there is such a thing as 'normal sanity'. Until we do, we can't give you our definition of it. Sorry."