“The Cuckoo’s Nest”
Many individuals may find themselves in a cuckoo’s nest. Not everyone merely is normal or abnormal, sane or insane, but live their everyday lives estranged by society. The society’s environment is constantly changing. Take a look at the economy; observe the wealthy and poor, evolving relationships, some who desire change, and those who don’t. These differences produce cultural abnormality and no-one knows where to fit in. The world is a cuckoo’s nest with revolving doors.
The article Rosenhan exemplifies how no-one knows how to fit in. For instance, there were prestigious people selected to take part in an experiment to determine whether they were ...view middle of the document...
However, one must ask a question; by whose standard can one define what’s right or wrong? Is it the rules and regulations developed in the beginning of a culture; then, when a child grows older he or she develops the right and wrongs of that culture? I do believe ignoring what is right or wrong in that cultural society is determined by self. Wherefore, that person has chosen to be insane or abnormal by circumstance. Inevitably, when cultural rules are broken by an individual, they are then considered abnormal or insane by that society. But, “those who are really abnormal are actually people who have problems controlling their thoughts and the way they think (Comer, 2013).”
In “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” all characters may have been diagnosed with being abnormal, but in my opinion there were only a few. Chief for instance, was a normal guy. He was probably considered abnormal because of the diagnosis of his father (Forman, 1975). He was not of the same culture as the others. Instead of being in that type of asylum, Chief just needed social skills training, and would probably be diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. He was deviant, distressed and dysfunctional. However, Nurse Ratched in my opinion was insane. Instead of helping her patients resolve their inner issues, she acted as if she wanted to cause some type of dysfunction and harm to her patients (Forman, 1975). She wanted to control them, one by using some type of hypnotic music. According the H.Meltzer, he quotes an interesting thought on the presence of music, “The studies present a nice balance between objective measures of the organic effects of music, such as motor phenomena induced by certain selections, and introspective accounts of effects on thought, feeling, and action.” Nurse Ratched had her patients getting the medicine along with the tune. Their thoughts, feelings and actions were all affected.
R. McMurphy also had generalized anxiety disorder; he didn’t want to function in his environment and acted crazy for undying attention. Although, McMurphy was a normal guy, his actions caused his own danger. Therefore, he may have been considered insane in some way, but I wasn’t convinced. Taber was indeed different but not abnormal, he was normal in and out of his environment (Forman, 1975). He was able to adjust to his settings, basically playing the roles.
In the mental health...
