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Battle of Hampton Roads

2007-09-16T00:33:21Z

MMing: /* Prelude */ spelling

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:Cwlogo.png|200px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy no-repeat scroll top left;"|Battle of Hampton Roads
|-
|Begun
|March 8, 1862
|-
|Ended
|March 9, 1862
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy no-repeat scroll top left;"|USS ''Monitor''
|-
|Commander
|LT [[John L. Worden]], USN
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: gray no-repeat scroll top left;"|CSS ''Virginia'' (ex USS ''Merrimac'')
|-
|Commander
|CAPT [[Franklin Buchanan]], CSN
|-
|}
The '''Battle of Hampton Roads''' was a two-day naval engagement of the [[American Civil War]], which took place on March 8-9, 1862 in the waters off Hampton, Virginia. This battle is remarkable for the first fight between two ironclad warships: USS ''Monitor'', and CSS ''Virginia''.

==Prelude==
The status of the United States Navy in January 1861 was woeful. Years of bureaucratic ineptitude and red tape left the Navy in poor condition. The fleet consisted of 90 warships; of these, 48 ships were out of commission, and the rest, or in reality the ones able to make steam or sail, were showing the flag in foreign seas. Manning them were about 9,000 officers and men, which were trained in the art of defending a harbor or ship-to-ship fights at sea, but not for the war that was just weeks away. As it were, Lincoln had just three commissioned warships at his disposal, not much for the blockade of Southern ports he had declared on April 15th. And added to his woes were the names of 237 Naval officers who resigned their commissions and "headed south" as soon as secession in their respective states took place (TL 3, pg 10).

Southerners were not surprised nor disenheartened by their own navy, meager as it were. The few vessels the new Confederacy had were revenue cutters seized from Federal port authorities during the secession. Further, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephan Mallory was a progressive in matters of naval design; he had once been chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs committee, and had told the Southern cabinet that he professed interest in fast surface raiders to go after the Union Navy on the high seas, as well as proposing a very ugly craft that would change naval history:
:''I regard the possession of an iron-armored ship as a matter of the first necessity. Such a vessel at this time could traverse the entire coast of the United States, prevent all blockades, and encounter, with a fair prospect of success, their entire Navy.''
[[Image:Virg2.jpg|thumb|200px|left|LT B.L. Blackford, CSN, made this sketch of the ''Virginia'' on March 7, 1862. As no photographs of the ship were ever made, this may be the most accurate image of the vessel in existence.]]
On May 8, 1861 Mallory submitted his plans for building ironclads to the Confederate Committee on Naval Affairs, declaring that it would be costly, but the advantages of the Union Navy being overwhelmed by the sheer power implied in these untested vessels would be worth the price. By the end of the month the plans were approved, and the first ship selected for refitting was the salvaged hulk of USS ''Merrimac'', scuttled the previous month when the Union abandoned Norfolk. She was placed in drydock, and over the next several months the hull was razeed to the gun deck, the engine overhauled, and a heavy-timber casemate was built over the hull and plated with four inches of sheet iron. Inside the casemate were two 7-inch pivot guns at the bow and stern, three 9-inch smoothbore Dahlgrens and one 6-inch Brooke rifled gun in each broadside. As a final weapon, a cast iron ram weighing 1,500 pounds was fitted to the bow (TL 3, pp. 48-49). The Confederacy would christen her CSS ''Virginia''.

At about the same time the ''Merrimac'' was being overhauled, a naval committee was convened in Washington in August 1861, with Union Navy Secretary Gideon Welles presiding, and the discussion was also about ironclads. Of seventeen submitted plans, two were accepted, but without much enthusiasm for either: a large, sea-going steam frigate named ''New Ironsides'', and a smaller gunboat named ''Galena'', designed by Cornelius Bushnell of New Haven, Connecticut (TL 3, pg. 51).
[[Image:eric1.jpg|thumb|200px|right|John Ericsson]]
That same night Bushnell had taken his plans for ''Galena'' to a friend named John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor and engineer, who told him the plans were sound. Ericsson then went to a cupboard and pulled a model of his own, a strange looking flat vessel with a single, two-gun turret, and showed it to Bushnell, . Convinced of this vessel's superiority, Bushnell took Ericsson before the board, who bickered back and forth until President Lincoln looked it over. "All I have to say," he said, "is what the girl said when she put her foot in the stocking: 'It strikes me there's something in it!'" After a detailed explanation of his ship's qualities (and after some deception on Bushnell's part after the plans were initially rejected), Ericsson's plans of USS ''Monitor'' were approved (TL 3, pp. 51-52).

==The first day==
[[Image:Fbuc1.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Captain Franklin Buchanan, CSN, Commanding Officer of CSS ''Virginia''.]]
[[Image:Virg3.jpg|thumb|200px|left|CSS ''Virginia'' ramming USS ''Cumberland'', in a painting by Edward Moran.]]
On March 8, 1862, the blockading squadron in Hampton Roads was largely at anchor. Ships present included the 50-gun sail frigates ''St Lawrence'' and ''Congress''; the 40-gun steam frigates ''Minnesota'' and ''Roanoke''; the 24-gun sloop ''Cumberland''; and the gunboat ''Zouave''. At about 12:30 in the afternoon, the watch on the ''Zouave'' spotted the ''Virginia'' heading their way. Also watching was a crowd of civilians on the south side of the Roads, eager to see the Union fleet sent to the bottom (TL 3, pg 54).
====Attack on USS ''Cumberland====
Captain Franklin Buchanan, ''Virginia's'' commanding officer, outlined his plans before his officers. They were ordered to break the blockade; they would attack and sink the two ships anchored near Newport News first (''Cumberland'' and ''Congress''), then she would turn to the east and go after the ''Minnesota'' and ''Roanoke'' near Fort Monroe (TL, pg. 54).

''Zouave'' fired first, its shells glancing off ''Virginia's'' armored hide. Buchanan ignored the smaller gunboat and continued on to the ''Cumberland'', which also had fired on the ironclad to no effect. When ''Virginia'' closed within a mile, Buchanan ordered his bow gun fired; the first shot wounded several sailors on ''Cumberland'', and a second shot tore a hole in the side, killing everyone but two at a forward gun mount (TL 3, pg. 55).

As ''Virginia'' was taking fire from ''Cumberland'', ''Congress'' and the shore batteries at Newport News, Buchanan ordered full speed, intent on ramming ''Cumberland''. A.B. Smith, the pilot of ''Cumberland'', looked down with worried facination at the ram, clearly visible in the water. "As she came plowing through the water toward our port bow," he said, "she looked like a half-submerged crocodile. At her prow, I could see the iron ram. It was impossible for our vessel to get out of her way." ''Virginia'' tore a hole in ''Cumberland's'' side, and deep enough to temporarily lock both ships together; the incoming current from the tide would release ''Virginia'', but in so doing would force the ram to break away and leave it inside ''Cumberland's'' hull. But even as she sank, the crew kept at their guns and continued to give a withering rate of fire to the ironclad. She would sink in 54 feet of water, with her masts poking above the surface, and her commanding officer refusing Buchanan's request to surrender (TL 3, pp. 55-56).
====Attack on USS ''Congress''====
The commanding officer of ''Congress'', Lieutenant Joseph Smith, Jr., signaled to ''Zouave'' to tow the frigate into the shallow water near the shore; he knew the deep draft of ''Virginia'' would prevent her from reaching the frigate there. However, Buchanan saw this and went after both, firing round after round into the ship's stern. Then ''Congress'' ran aground at an angle preventing all but two of her 50 guns to be useful; Buchanan would soon put these out of action. Then a shot killed Smith, and seeing how helpless the ship was, the executive officer ran up a white flag. As Buchanan sent out boats to accept the surrender, the shore batteries continued to fire, and a sharpshooter put a bullet in his thigh. Badly wounded, Buchanan ordered ''Congress'' set on fire by hot shot, cannonballs heated red-hot prior to loading in the guns. As Buchanan was carried below, his executive officer, Lieutenant Catesby Jones, took over command (TL 3, pg. 56).

Jones then made a heading for ''Minnesota'', which struggled to get herself off a shoal she had run aground on. By now, the pilots on ''Virginia'' had made a case to Jones they they themselves would run aground as a result of an ebb tide, and the sun was going down. Reluctantly, Jones abandoned the attack and headed back to Norfolk, intending to finish the battle in the morning (TL 3, pg. 57).
====Effect on Washington====
The following morning, as news of the disaster was telegraphed north, President Lincoln called an emergency meeting of his cabinet. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was worried. "The ''Merrimac'' will change the whole course of the war," he declared. "She will destroy, seriatum, every naval vessel; she will lay all the cities on the seaboard under contribution." Afterwards, he would fire off telegrams to the governors of all the states which shared the seacoast: "MAN YOUR GUNS. BLOCK YOUR HARBORS. THE MERRIMAC IS COMING!" (TL 3, pg. 57)

==The second day==
[[Image:Moni.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Duel of the Ironclads, March 9, 1862.]]
[[Image:Jlw1.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Lieutenant John L. Worden, USN, Commanding Officer of USS ''Monitor''.]]
[[Image:Catesbyjones.jpg|thumb|150px|left| Lieutenant Catesby ap Jones, CSN, Executive Officer of CSS ''Virginia.]]
[[Image:Mon2.JPG|thumb|250px|right|USS ''Monitor'' some months after the battle.]]
On March 9, ''Virginia'' again got underway and headed north into Hampton Roads, intending to finish off ''Minnesota'' and drive the remaining vessels from the area, and again spectators lined Sewell's Point to watch the battle. As Jones and his crew neared their objective, a strange little vessel came out from behind the big frigate. "No words can express the surprise with which we beheld this strange craft," wrote an observer in a rowboat, "whose appearance was tersely and graphically described by the exclamation of one of my oarsman, 'A tin can on a shingle!'" (TL 3, pp. 59-60)

The "tin can on a shingle" was USS ''Monitor'', Ericsson's "folly" as Stanton called her, just arrived in Hampton Roads after a harrowing trip from New York in which she nearly sank twice, and guided into the Roads by the light of the burning ''Congress''. At 8:06 am, the ''Virginia'' opened fire, which passed over ''Monitor'' and struck ''Minnesota''. When the distance between the two ironclads closed, ''Virginia'' turned her beam and fired a full broadside at ''Monitor's'' turret; the shot glanced harmlessly off and into the sea. The men inside, thinking they were in a coffin a few minutes before, found renewed confidence. Lieutenant Dana Greene, ''Monitor's'' executive officer, wrote years later "We believed the ''Merrimac'' would not repeat the work she had accomplished the day before." (TL 3, pg. 62)

Both ships then exchanged blows against each other for the next four hours, neither gaining an advantage over the other. ''Monitor'' had an advantage in speed and maneuverability, as well as her turret, which could be trained on ''Virginia'' without turning the whole ship, which her opponent had to do. Further, ''Virginia's'' deep draft prevented her from being effective anywhere but the deep channels; at one point she grounded for fifteen minutes as the crew frantically worked to increase the steam pressure to get her out of the mud, all the while being relentlessly pounded by ''Monitor's'' guns (TL 3, pg 62).

Then came a shot at ''Monitor's'' only weak point: its pilot house. Lt Worden was leaning against the eye slits when the shot struck, sending shards into both eyes, blinding one permanently. Worden had to be taken below, and Greene took the helm of the ship, again preventing ''Virginia'' from attacking ''Minnesota''. As the tide was going out once more, Jones thought the better of it, brought ''Virginia'' about and headed back to Norfolk (TL 3, pg. 64).

The casualties of the battle were:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Army
! total losses
|-
| Union
| 409
|-
| Confederacy
| 21
|}
<ref> [[Civil War: Battles and Leaders]], edited by Aaron R. Murray, DK publishing, 2004, p. 26. </ref>

==Aftermath==
This was their only fight together. ''Virginia'' would continue to be a threat to the blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, coming out once more on April 11 in an attempt to board ''Monitor'', but fell back when the Union ship refused to leave the shallows near Fort Monroe, leaving ''Virginia'' to exchange a few shots with the shore batteries. On May 10, Norfolk fell back into Union hands, and the retreating Confederates set fire to ''Virginia'' to prevent her capture. ''Monitor'' would sink in a gale off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on December 30, while under tow to Charleston, taking twelve of her crew with her.

Although the battle itself was a draw, the Union scored a strategic victory in that the primary mission of ''Virginia'', that of breaking the blockade, had failed. In a larger sense the battle drove in a valid point, and nowhere was this felt more keenly than in Great Britain, home of the world's most powerful navy. The ''Times'' of London lamented that before March 9, 1862, the Royal Navy had 147 powerful, first-rate ships; after March 9, they were down to two, ''Warrior'' and ''Ironside'', both of them ironclads. The Battle of Hampton Roads made the rest of the Royal Navy, indeed every navy around the world, obsolete (Nevins, pg. 55).
----
'''Note:''' The names ''Merrimac'' and ''Virginia'' have been used extensively for this vessel since it was salvaged and refit in 1861-1862. Northern newspapers, dispatches, reports, and everyday language called her by the name of ''Merrimac''; Southerners have used ''Virginia'' as much as the former, as she was christened with that name as an ironclad in the service of the Confederate Navy. Either name is correct, and both are still used to this day. The name ''Merrimack'', with a 'K', was the original name for the ship as christened June 15, 1855, and named after the river formed by the junction of Permigewasset and Winnipesaukee Rivers at Franklin, New Hampshire. The 'K' was eventually dropped by simple usage before the battle took place.
----

==References==
*Time-Life Books ''The Civil War'', vol. 3 (''The Blockade''), Time Inc, New York (1983)
*Foote, Shelby. ''The Civil War: A Narrative (vol 2 "Fort Donelson to Memphis")'', Time Inc, by arrangement with Random House, New York (1998)
*Nevins, Allan. ''The War for the Union: War Becomes Revolution 1862-1863'', Charles Scribner's Sons, New York (1960)

==See Also==
*[[American Civil War: 1861]]
*[[American Civil War: 1862]]

==Links==
*[http://www.wideopenwest.com/~jenkins/ironclads/ironclad.htm Ironclads and Blockade Runners of the Civil War]
====From the ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'':====
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m9/merrimack-ii.htm USS ''Merrimack'' / CSS ''Virginia'']
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m13/monitor-i.htm USS ''Monitor'']
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c12/congress-iv.htm USS ''Congress'']
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c16/cumberland-i.htm USS ''Cumberland'']
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m11/minnesota-i.htm USS ''Minnesota'']

[[Category:American Civil War Battles]]

Japan

2007-09-16T00:05:36Z

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{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="300" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|Japan
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: black; height: 30px; background: white no-repeat scroll top left;"|[[Image:Flag of Japan.svg‎|250px]]
Flag of Japan The Japanese flag. The large red disc represents the rising sun.
|-
|Capital
|[[Tokyo]]
|-
|Government
|Parliamentary democracy/Federal Constitutional Monarchy
|-
|Official Language
|[[Japanese]]
|-
|Head of State
|Emperor Akihito
|-
|Prime Minister
|Shinzo Abe
|-
|Area
|377,832 sq km 145,822 sq mi
|-
|Population (2007 estimate)
|127,433,494
|-
|GDP (2006 estimate)
|$4.2 trillion
|-
|GDP per capita (2006 estimate)
|$33,100
|-
|}

'''Japan''' is a nation that consists of a group of islands off the eastern coast of [[Asia]]. The principal islands are, in the [[Romanization|Roman alphabet]], [[Hokkaido]], [[Honshu]], [[Kyushu]] and [[Shikoku]]. Japan also controls many smaller islands, notably the [[Ryuku]] chain south of Kyushu, for a total land area slightly smaller than California. The islands of Japan are scattered between 24ºN and 45ºN lattitude (roughly 1,800 miles, or [[Florida]] to [[Maine]]). As a result, the climate varies greatly. Its capital, [[Tokyo]], is the largest metropolitan area in the world. [http://www.demographia.com/db-world-metro2000.htm]

== History ==
=== Origins ===
Dating of pottery artifacts found in Japan indicates that human were present in the Japanese archipelago since at least c.10000 BC (see Discover Journal, volume 19, number 6). The wild Japanese Bison was an early target of wild game, hunted to extinction within 500 years.

According to tradition, Japan was unified by [[Emperor]] [[Jimmu]], the grandson of the [[goddess]] [[Amaterasu]], in the year 660 B. C. He conquered Honshu, the largest island, in a series of expeditions starting from his home base of [[Setsuma]] in Kyushu.

=== The Feudal Era ===

Japan was closed off from the rest of the world for a long period of time under the rule of a series of military leaders known as [[Shoguns]] (see [[Tokugawa Shogunate]]), with the sole exception of [[Nagasaki]], where [[Dutch]] merchants maintained a permanent trading post. While the Japanese Emperor continued to reign in the old capital of [[Kyoto]], he was more of a figurehead with little more power than he possesses today.

=== The Imperial Era ===
The rule of the Shoguns came to an end in the middle of the 19th century during a brief but bloody period of conflict known as the [[Meiji Restoration]], which was triggered in part by U.S Commodore Matthew Perry's naval expedition to Japan. During the Restoration a large number of young [[samurai]] from minor families, tired of the government's mishandling of the country and feeling that if action was not taken Japan would be dominated by western countries, initiated an armed revolt to restore imperial rule. Most samurai from the more powerful families sided with the Shogun, fearing that the minor families would replace them if the revolt was successful. Nonetheless, the shogunate was done away with in 1867 and the imperial period began. The capital was moved to [[Edo]], which was renamed [[Tokyo]]; by the early twenty-first century, it had become the center of the world's largest urban conglomeration.

The phrase "imperial period" is not meant to imply that the emperor ruled absolutely in the style of [[Louis XIV]] or a [[Russian]] [[tsar]]; indeed, the emperors relied on [[prime ministers]] throughout this period. Rather, it refers to Japan competing with [[European]] powers and the [[United States]] for colonies and influence during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The high point of Japanese prestige was the [[Russo-Japanese War]] of 1904-5, in which Japan became the principal power in [[Manchuria]] and consolidated its control of [[Korea]].

Japan's success at this great game would ultimately prove its undoing. By 1936, during the reign of Emperor [[Hirohito]], the Japanese Empire would adopt the [[Orwellian]] title "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." The increasingly powerful [[Japanese armed forces]], partly inspired by European [[fascists]], came to dominate Japanese politics, assassinating politicians whom they deemed insufficiently devoted to the Emperor and nation. For the next nine years, the military leadership installed its own members (such as [[Hideki Tojo]], chief Japanese strategist of [[World War II]]) or, occasionally, civilians who were completely identified with their agenda, as prime minister.

=== The Modern Era ===
After the war ended in 1945, Japan was occupied by American forces under the command of General [[Douglas MacArthur]], who helped establish a system of democratic government and implemented a constitution that prevented future military ventures.

== Current Status ==
Japan is currently the world's most populous [[constitutional monarchy]], fourth largest [[economy]] (counting the [[European Union]] as one economy), and has the world's third largest [[defense budget]] (counting the constituents of the EU as separate states).

Japan's modern economy has many world leading industries and companies, being driven by exports and a mastery of high technology. However in the 1990's the economy underwent a major slowdown in part because of overinvestment and an asset price bubble during the late 1980s. Japan has a huge government debt, which exceedes the Gross Domestic product (176% of GDP) and also faces the challenge of a low birth rate, low immigration and an aging of the population which will further increase the debts. [[China]] also is becoming a larger economy and international trading partner than Japan.

The current [[Emperor]] is [[Akihito]]; he will be succeeded upon his death or abdication by [[Crown Prince]] [[Naruhito]]. The current [[Prime Minister]] is [[Shinzo Abe]], of the [[Liberal Democratic Party]]. This party is not to be confused with America's [[liberal]] [[Democrats]]; the corresponding party in Japan is the [[Socialists]]. The Liberal Democratic Party has formed all but two of Japan's post-World War II governments, which as in any [[parliamentary]] system rise and fall with somewhat less predictability than United States administrations.

Among constitutional monarchies, Japan is likely to be supplanted as most populous by [[Thailand]] sometime during the twenty-first century. This is as a result of Japan's low [[birth rate]] (in part a result of the nation's early legalization of [[abortion]]) and lack of desire to expand [[immigration]] (Japan is the most ethnically [[homogenous]] of the world's wealthy countries). Ironically, the relative prosperity of Thailand is in large part due to heavy aid and investment by Japan.

Historically Japanese government has shifted between no official relgion, [[Shinto|Shintō]], and [[Buddhism]].<ref name="WebJapanFactSheet">[http://web-japan.org/factsheet/ Web Japan Fact Sheet], sponsored by the [http://www.mofa.go.jp/ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan]</ref> Modern Japan has no state religion.<ref>Article 20 of the [[Current Constitution of Japan (Full Text)|Japanese Constitution]] erects a legal barrier between political and religious entities.</ref> An extreme interpretation of [[Shinto]] helped drive Japan's participation in [[World War II]]. As in other constitutional monarchies, political involvement of the emperor is limited by the constitution to ceremonial roles under the exclusive direction of the parliament, although symbolic gestures such as the annual wreath-laying ceremony at [[Yasukuni Shrine]] have occasionally antagonized Japan's neighbors. Most imported religions are practiced in Japan without interference, and [[Buddhism]] has been accepted by a large portion of the population. The percentage of Japanese who are Christian stands around 1%. <ref name="WebJapanFactSheet"/> <ref>Central Intelligence Agency, ''The World Fact Book'', [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html Japan]</ref> <ref>Encyclopædia Brittanica, ''2006 World Fact Sheet'', Japan</ref> Japan has also spawned its share of [[cults]], including the exceptionally lethal but fortunately short-lived [[Aum Shinrikyo]] movement of the early 1990's, which in 1994 became the first non-state organization to kill people with [[nerve gas]].

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Japan]]

Category:Personality Disorders

2007-09-15T23:49:46Z

MMing: New page: Category:Mental disorders

[[Category:Mental disorders]]

Borderline personality disorder

2007-09-15T23:47:33Z

MMing: new article

'''Borderline personality disorder''' ('''BPD''') is a [[mental illness]] marked by black-and-white thinking and an instability in [[mood]], [[self-image]], behavior, and [[interpersonal relationship]]s. BPD is often comorbid with anxiety and mood disorders (including [[bipolar disorder]]). The disorder occurs in approximately 1% to 2% of the general population, and is more common in women than men, with a 3:1 ratio. BPD also includes difficulty in controlling anger, or anger over small things, chronic [[emptiness]], fear of abandonment, self-harm, or suicidal behavior. The term "borderline" arises from the idea that one could be borderline between [[psychosis]] and [[neurosis]], athough this idea has fallen out of favor. Numerous studies have shown there is a relation between BPD and childhood abuse. Many with BPD report having been abused or neglected as a child. There may also be a genetic factor. One study of identical twins found that when one twin had BPD there would be a 35% chance that the other would have BPD.<ref>Torgersen S, Lygren S, Oien PA, Skre I, Onstad S, Edvardsen J, Tambs K, Kringlen E. (2000) [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=11086146 A twin study of personality disorders.] ''Compr Psychiatry.'' Nov-Dec;41(6):416-25.</ref> In a study in 2003 patients with BPD showed much more activity in the left [[amygdala]] than in the right.
[[Category:Personality disorders]]
==References==
<references/>

Mental illness

2007-09-15T22:15:33Z

MMing: /* See also */ sp

'''Mental illness''' is a broad concept covering all sorts of diseases, disorders, and disturbances in the human mind (see [[psychology]]).

From the [[Middle Ages]] onward, people have been frightened or dismayed by the "crazy" behavior or speech of others. The idea of locking up mentally disordered people or placing them in [[asylum]]s goes back hundreds of years and has often been mentioned in literature. In Shakespeare's play, [[Hamlet]] appeared to be mentally ill; [[Ophelia]] became mentally ill and killed herself.

Various theories have been put forth to account for mental disorders. <ref>"The English-speaking world has not always used medical language to describe the behavior we now label as symptomatic of mental illness or mental disorder. Descriptions were sometimes framed in quite different terms, such as possession. What we now call mental illness was not always treated as a medical problem." [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-illness/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy], Christian Perring</ref>
Religious ideas about mental illness have included [[demon]]ic possession, to be cured by [[exorcism]]. Psychological ideas run a wide gamut. [more needed here]

Mental illness is generally considered to have dimensions of severity and impact, as well as legal implications. Some people are considered [[insane]] in some countries, and are excluded from society or given special consideration. A defendant may be judged not guilty by reason of [[temporary insanity]]. A severely mentally unwell individual may be [[psychotic]] or [[schizophrenic]], while milder forms of mental illness are classified as a [[neurosis]] or [[syndrome]] (see [[Eating disorder]] or [[bulimia]] or [[anorexia]]).

==Forms of Mental Disorder==
Psychosis 
Depression 
Anxiety 
Obsessional Compulsive Disorder 
Personality Disorder 

==Types of mental health professionals==

Professionals involved in the care and treatment of people suffering from mental disorder include [[mental health nurses]], [[social workers]], [[psychiatrists]] and [[occupational therapists]].

==Mental illness and the law==
The mental health community does not recognize or utilise the term "insane" or 'insanity", yet is called upon to give expert opinion as such in capital criminal cases where the life of a defendant is at stake. This is because the terms "insane" and "insanity", whilst written into the law in ''some'' countries, are not defined ''in'' or ''by'' the law. It is for mental health professionals to determine whether an individual is mentally unwell or not; the courts' role is to take the opinions of those professionals into account when deciding on an appropriate disposal for the defendant, which can include prison or detention in hospital under local mental health legislation.

In the UK, a defendant can be placed in a mental health hospital (under the Mental Health Act 1983) if the opinions of mental health professionals agree that the person requires such care and treatment. The most dangerous of defendants who are mentally unwell can be made subject to Part IV of the MHA 1983, which includes provision for detention in hospital without limit of time.

Many courts apply the McNaughton Rules as to whether the defendant was, at the time of the index offence, capable of knowing that what they were doing was wrong.

==Mental illness and the brain==

Scientists who adhere to a purely physical model of mental health regard many aspects of mental illness as disorders of the brain. <ref>"Mental health disorders ... such as [[depression]], [[bipolar disorder]], [[schizophrenia]] and even [[borderline personality disorder]] are medical disorders of the brain." [http://www.mental-health-today.com/index.htm Mental Health Today] </ref>

==Notes==
<references/>

==See also==

*[[psychotherapy]]

*[[List of psychologists]]
**[[Alice Miller]]
**[[M. Scott Peck]], author of ''The Road Less Traveled''
**[[Eric Berne]]
**[[Sigmund Freud]]

[[Category:Psychology]]

User talk:MMing

2007-08-16T21:29:28Z

MMing: it's cool as it is

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GPMG

2007-07-12T18:08:30Z

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#REDIRECT [[L7A2 GPMG]]

Prince of Peace

2007-07-12T18:08:01Z

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#redirect [[Jesus Christ]]

The Savior

2007-07-12T18:07:46Z

MMing: double redirect

#redirect [[Jesus Christ]]