How do you know when you're going crazy? I don't, thats why I'm asking. I know it's a weird question, considering that I haven't been on lately, but I just need your opinion/opinions.

If you think everyone in the world is wrong and you're right, then you know you're crazy :P
Everyone is a little crazy in some way, there's no one completely "normal" line of behaviour. As long as you don't allow yourself to cross a certain border and do something stupid, no need to worry too much. Go out and breath some fresh air, that should do the trick.

I hate air though.

The way to tell that you are crazy is to ask yourself "Am I crazy." You will recieve one of two responses, aye or nay. If aye, then you are fine, if nay, see a doctor. Only people who realize their own insanity are sane. If you think that you are not crazy, you are in denial.

This leads me to an interesting notion (I strongly suggest you don't take this too seriously :D)

Someone who is way psychotic and hear voices and see things, firmly believes all this is real. Can you make an absolute guaranty to yourself that you are not in fact say, a person of the opposite sex, 67 years old, living in the 16th century, hopping mad and locked up in a high security asylum somewhere, at this very moment?

Ok, on a serious note: I believe that "if you are right and everyone else is wrong, then you are mad" holds a great deal of truth. I think this will mostly only apply to the real nutcases, who find themselves opposing everything everyone else hold as true. Just because you disagree with everyone on one issue only, doesn't mean you're insane, but as the number of issues grow, the reasons to worry should also increase.

Let's see if this works:
"If you are always right and everyone is always wrong, then you are insane".
Leads to: "If you are not always right and everyone is not always wrong, then you are sane"

Yup, it seems fair to me.

Also: If you worry too much and question too much your own sanity, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going insane, but it means you are in some sort of trouble and ought to have a look at it before you walk up to the Dottyland Border and Customs Office.

A general rule of thumb (for me anyways) would be if the things that you see, hear and the way that you interact with people has changed significantly recently, or are begining to bother you, then it's probably a good time to go and have a chat with your doctor.

As people have already said, everybody has a different definition of crazy. Therefore, you and those close to you are really the only people able to see if your behaviour has become "different." If those you are close to have started to comment on, or question your behaviour, then once again, it might be worth talking to your doctor.

Although that grey squishy brain thing is still much of a mystery to scientists and doctors today, mental health care is no longer stuck in medieval times. So if you're worried about something like this, you shouldn't be worried about getting it checked out.

By the by, did you know that just prior to World War 1 I could have been sent to an asylum permantently for the following reasons - I'm a single female who enjoys a drink every now and then who is also left handed. Although WW1 was utterly horrific, it gave the medical community much needed insight into the workings of the human mind and psyche via shellshock.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mighty Midget @ Jan 18 2007, 01:57 AM) [snapback]275432[/snapback]</div>I would disagree with the "if you think you are always right, and believe everyone else is always wrong, then you are crazy" statement. I would say a person like that isn't so much crazy as just downright annoying. I think we all know someone who refuses to admit they could possibly be wrong about any of their opinions - it's a fairly common affliction ;P

The main reason that I disagree is because "what is right" is really a very subjective condition. What you are referring to should more appropriately be termed "social deviance" - meaning, that it is a condition in which an individual's mores and norms deviate from society's currently accepted mores and norms.

Social norms are fairly fluid, and in fact can be extremely different from culture to culture at any given time. Religion is a pretty good example of how people of one culture can consider another culture "crazy". I won't give any examples of that, but I'm sure most could come up with a few ideas on what I mean by following that train of thought.

In addition, social norms change over time, and our viewpoints on what exactly constitutes deviance therefore also change. Today's "crazy guy" may be tomorrow's genius ;)

Personally, I would only consider true chemical imbalances or neurological defects, and certain psychopathies and sociopathies (which are possibly chemically or neurologically linked) to be true insanity.

And the really scary thing is that the most "dangerous" types of insane people are those that you'd never even guess were crazy. I suppose having having an unattached (meaning a sort of imperical scientific observer's rather than a participating member's) perspective of "normal" social behavior makes it easier to emulate it.

You are right about disagreeing with that statement. I guess I should have rephrased that, be more precise and not going for snappyness. What I meant was, I've talked to people on both sides, and some of these patients firmly believed the voices was real or that the staff were aliens or that everyone was out to harm them. Everyone else, included other patients with their own problems, disagreed, but for that patient that would seem more like a conspiracy. So in these cases we're not talking about petty "are too, am not", but ideas that got stuck and caused the persons to not be able to function in society.

As for reasons why brains cease to work properly, I haven't got a clue. Well, I guess it has to do with chemicals/neuron, but we know so little of the brain and how external impressions may influence it both chemically and physically. Long term stress can cause a reaction, so can a one-time event that we couldn't "cope with" (I'm really out on my depths here, so it's mainly guesswork. I haven't actually thought this through).

It's true that people who was considered "crazy" by their contemporaries, later was hailed as geniouses, and it seems to me that there isn't a sharply drawn line between madness and genious. And I believe it is true that there are no such things as "universally moral" rights or wrongs.

(I'll leave it as this for the time being. Maybe I will get some more thoughts on it later. Then again, maybe not :D)

Good thing is always:
When people talk and you're with them, listen and check your thoughts. Think about your thoughts. Is everything :ok: ?

Or another one, for some maybe more simple one:
Think of a knife's edge. Both sides besides the edge are the extremes, and the edge is the "golden middle". Just try not to stray too far from the middle, and listen to your inner voice, or as some might say, "to your heart". Don't ask yourself too much if you're crazy, or you will surely become one, just be yourself and be in contact with other people often.