Nursing Mental Diseases

dpoint no definition of insanity is possible, for a person mentally ill may be entirely competent according to the Statutes which provide that the test of competency is the person's fitness to attend to the ordinary common affairs of life. The mental activity may be perverted or disordered in only one particular field, or limited to a single subject as shown by the impulse to do certain acts or by a particular delusion, and at the same time the patient may be quite capable of transacting business and be rational in all other ways. It is only when mental disease disables socially, when the individual is unable to adequately cope with his environment and is incapable of making the ordinary adjustments in domestic, social and business relations, or commits an illegal act that the question of insanity is raised and his responsibility must be determined. Responsibility has been held by the courts to mean that " the person is able beyond doubt to comprehend the nature and consequences of his acts, and has sufficient power of will to overcome impulses to commit crime." While by far the largest number of individuals showing mental aberration are not in hospitals, and do not become really mentally sick, there are many whose symptoms are so severe that sequestration is indicated. Some of these patients have no insight or understanding of their realcondition and refuse treatment and resist admission to hospital; or if they enter voluntarily, will after a few hours or ... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.