Excerpt: Mad Science

Was Moreau insane? Most readers would argue that he exhibited a clear-cut case of Messiah complex, in which he believed himself to be a god, and could on that front level the charge of insanity from relatively comfortable ground. But, if we look into the matter briefly, we will find that not only is the messiah complex not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, it is also considered a subset of types of schizophrenia, a term so ill-defined that in the practicing medical community it is no longer used. If medical professionals cannot even agree on the meaning of the term ‘schizophrenia’ (a condition which roughly 2.2 million Americans are thought to have, according to the National Institute of Mental Health’s most recent study) then one is left to wonder to what degree insanity can confidently be assessed at all.