Reason of going mad

[steve19800]

Hello all,

Just a general talk, not about Sutta or meditation.
Does anyone know or have thoughts as to why a person(s) goes mad when they for example have to served sentence in jail particularly if they are live most of the time in isolation? What is the spiritual explanation they are going mad? Thanks.

[binocular]

Does anyone know or have thoughts as to why a person(s) goes mad when they for example have to served sentence in jail particularly if they are live most of the time in isolation? What is the spiritual explanation they are going mad?

One explanation I've heard (but I don't remember the exact source; it seems rather self-evident anyway) is that when a person doesn't know how to be alone, how to cope with loneliness, they go mad.
Prisons and hospitals tend to be the places of suffering they are precisely because people don't know how to cope with aging, illness, death, and separation.

Search Access To Insight for the keyword "separation" to get some ideas.

[befriend]

I have two serious debilitating mental illnesses what you might call mad, and it was caused by unconsciously repressing the greif of my brothers death when I was younger most likely. he died 20 years ago and I cry now about him like he died just recently. only now after practicing dhamma has this correlation between my illness and its cause been brought to my attention.

[Modus.Ponens]

Hello all,

Just a general talk, not about Sutta or meditation.
Does anyone know or have thoughts as to why a person(s) goes mad when they for example have to served sentence in jail particularly if they are live most of the time in isolation? What is the spiritual explanation they are going mad? Thanks.

IMO, although the overwhelming majority of "madnesses" have genetic components to them, they clearly also have psychological ones. It's usualy something we cannot accept. It's a sort of an extreme reaction to emotions, or facts, or experiences we cannot accept healthily. Each person will have a mental illness according to what their genetics are and the emotions/facts/experiences they are unconsciously denying.

In particular, the case where you are in isolation you probably think, and overthink, and overthink,... endlessly, about something you cannot accept, be it loneliness, lack of freedom, fear, boredom, etc. The mental tension builds up to an unbearable point, after which you "break".