I've always defined sanity as the ability to learn from an action and its consequences. Insanity is repeating those actions, as Einstein put it, expecting a different outcome.

An insane act is a prejudged and conscious decision, executed with forethought and expectations of a result; or, as the Darwin Awards show us, with incomplete knowledge of how it will turn out but you do it anyway. Such acts are done with undiminished mental capacity and bodily control, and so have no known treatment other than education.

Mental illness on the other hand, is involuntary, mostly unwelcome, and treatable once the chemical imbalance has been identified.

You have a choice to act sanely, but you don't have a chance if you're a fruitcake like me.

LTS