Poll What Is Your Reaction To The Word "crazy" When Someone Says It To You?

[Anna]

It depends who says it and how they say it. If it is a friend joking around I see it as a joke too. If my partner and me are arguing and they say it like an insult then it makes me really really angry.

 

[kate behag]

The only person to ever call me crazy was my boyfriend because I was having a meltdown over something he saw as small. The ironic thing is he has aspergers and has meltdowns from things like car horns and having schedules changed. I'm the one to comfort him when he has those meltdowns. On the rare occasion that I have mine, he just seriously calls me crazy. :(. I get so angry that I feel like running somewhere or yelling at him.

 

[mamachick]

My mother had nervous breakdowns before I was born. She was hospitalized and got shock treatments against her will. She was an alcoholic and raged alot. My sister carried fears of going crazy like our mother did. I think she felt doomed in a way. I think she did not think she had any control of the situation. I also think her fear led her to give her children to her alcoholic husband.

I was just the opposite. I set out to be the best parent in the world. I read everything I could, got therapy, training, etc and practiced it. I did very well. When my kids got to the teen years and most call their parents, crazy, nuts, psycho, etc-I was crushed. I had a severe reaction to this. Of course it was said out of meaness and teens do this when they are becoming more autonomous, but to me, it planted a lot of self doubt.

I came to understand how my sister felt all of these years. It can be very hurtful. But the other side is, if someone is not a little "crazy" in their own thinking, habits, behaviors, etc in some way-they must be really boring. I can say that now that those teens are grown. I was a little crazy. I was over protective in some ways.

 

[krikkit]

It doesn't bother me. I'm not crazy. My brain is logical, it is trying to protect me from immense trauma. Its reasoning makes no sense in the real world, but neither does the trauma I went through. I am not insane. I'm just a person who is coping with an experience most people will never have. I have spent time in mental hospitals - even the "insane" and "crazy" there are logical people. Their brains just give them false information about the world. I am never upset about the word. Throw it around if you want. I know what I am. It's not crazy.

 

[Let It Be]

I grew up where my sister was the favorite, the one who knew it all, and thus my mother would always compare me to her, in soooo many things. So, when my sister would throw out that word "crazy" to anyone, everyone would believe her.

I so, didn't want my sister to call me crazy. She did, however, admit that I wasn't, but the rest of the family, she would just yell at me, "they're crazy!!"

I have always wondered what that word truly meant to her. How that word became so negative to her and almost like a disgrace. So I did my best to always walk on eggshells around her.

Kinda feels good to say what I just did, and how much energy that word took on in our family and how it was still there for me.

 

[Red Feather]

I don't like it if there is an offensive tone. I usually can sense if someone is being judmental. I hate people like that. Otherwise, it is normal to be crazy. That's just being fun.