Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

Disease, death and killing 213
And whereas just the sight of a physician can make some people feel better,
for others it induces white-coat hypertension, which causes blood pressure to
rise in the doctor’s office. 29
The drawbacks of medical labelling become particularly acute where the
disease is a stigmatizing one. Usually, it is one of mystery – of uncertain
cause, with no ready cure. Such a disease is quick to become tainted with
attitudes of shame and disgrace. Patients may find themselves branded with a
label they find impossible to lose, even after treatment is complete. Mental
illness carries just such a stigma.
Mental illness
A demonological concept of mental illness prevailed even as late as the
1800s. The idea of insanity as demonic possession meant that people suffering
from mental disorders were especially feared. Usually, their symptoms were
thought to be the work of malicious devils, so that cruel, often drastic,
measures were needed to dislodge the demons. People whose madness manifested
itself in the form of religious fervour were more fortunate. If their
madness was seen as a gift that was divinely inspired, they were able to
escape the brutal treatments normally recommended. But whether touched by
holiness or by evil, madness was linked with the supernatural world and the
insane were feared and shunned, much like lepers in the Middle Ages.
The term mental illness covers an enormous assortment of conditions,
ranging from mildly eccentric or neurotic behaviour, to severe psychotic
disorders where a patient might lose total contact with reality (as in the case
of severe schizophrenia, for example). The lay person lumps all these together
as insanity. When is non-normal behaviour to be considered an illness? When
is behavioural deviance considered problematic? ‘[T]he fear of becoming
insane is one of the most common of fears felt by normal people, taking
equal place with those of cancer and death.’ 30 This fear continues to inspire
strong linguistic taboos.
The origins of mental illness are usually mysterious, and because of this,
there is great shame attached to having the disease, the burden of responsibility
often falling on patients themselves. Even the role of patient is not one
that is readily accepted. Mental illness is viewed not so much as a disease but
as a moral failure, and onlookers are more judgmental than they are with other
illnesses. This disease suggests a deficiency in the person, some sort of
weakness of character, even if it results from a tumour or an accident of some
sort. Until quite recently, people used to visit an insane asylum for entertainment,
much as they nowadays visit the monkey house in a zoo. Bedlam
(Bethlehem Royal Hospital for the insane, founded in 1247 and located just
outside of London) was open to fee-paying spectators in the seventeenth and