Madness

Roles: loss-of-control, departure-from-sanity, irrationality, delusion, obsession, recovery, rational-baseline, lucid-interval, contagion, possession

The folk model of insanity and mental derangement: a departure from a rational baseline into a state of lost control, irrationality, delusion, and obsession, with the possibility of recovery back to sanity. Distinct from the clinical psychiatric model — the folk model treats madness as binary (sane/insane), assumes a rational default state that madness disrupts, and draws on historical frameworks of demonic possession and moral failure. Source domain for metaphors about intense emotion, irrational behavior, and loss of self-governance.

As Source Frame (1)