Insanity

thumb|300px|Engraving of the eighth print of ''A Rake's Progress, depicting inmates at Bedlam Asylum, by [[William Hogarth]] Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors caused by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to other people. Conceptually, mental insanity also is associated with the biological phenomenon of contagion (that mental illness is infectious) as in the case of copycat suicides. In contemporary usage, the term insanity is an informal, un-

In Greek mythology, Lyssa (, ; ), also called Lytta (; ) in Attic Greek, is a minor goddess and the spirit of rage, fury, and rabies in animals. In myth, Lyssa is often portrayed driving people insane and leading them to their doom, and would occasionally be portrayed as a dog.

historic mental disorder consisting of abnormal emotions and behaviours without psychosis