The Unread Mind: Unraveling the Mystery of Madness

Throughout history, we have been intrigued and baffled by mental illness. Our confusion is nowhere more apparent than in the ways we have dealt with the mentally ill. We have tortured, exiled and burned them at the stake. Yet at other times we have supported, cared for and nurtured them. It is apparent that society has never quite known how to respond to the insane--whether to punish them for their acts or to pity them for their sickness.In an original look at the nature of mental illness and the distinction between sanity and insanity, Morris Rosenberg rejects most psychiatric, psychological and sociological theories. Instead, he defines insanity as "role-taking failure", the inability to grasp the thoughts and emotions of other human beings. According to Rosenberg, we characterize a person's ideas and behaviors as insane when we are unable to put ourselves in his place or to see the world through his eyes. If we can comprehend the reasons for a person's speech or action, we think of it as sane; if not, we consider it insane.He contends that it is society's confusion about the mentally ill, its inability to penetrate the unread mind, that actually defines mental illness. His radical thesis, that mental illness is characterized by society's response, not the individual's action, gives us a new way to look at a subject that has puzzled society for centuries.