Boston columnist considers stage redentions of mental illness out of context

Insanity is an irresistible metaphor except for those who've seen it close up. Our culture is filled with tales of madmen who are saner than the society that imprisons them, complete breakdowns that turn out to be creative breakthroughs, inner chaos that's more lovely and liberating than order could ever be, according to Louise Kennedy in The Boston Globe.

Those of us who have endured the disability of a beloved relative know better, she writes. Continuing, she says that we know that while people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or severe depression may have flashes of creative genius and almost spooky moments of intellectual and emotional insight, the facts of their illness are scary, repetitive, and debilitating. In the long run, it doesn't lift you up to be crazy; it wears you down. And so, try as we might to surrender to the power of psychosis as a symbol, we just can't stop noticing the difference between reality and fantasy.