The guy at work sounds like he has boundary issues.

A sense of , he is Holier Than Thou.

He doesn't sound very stable to me .

Madness and eccentricity , maybe they are 2 separate issues ?

Perhaps at times they are 2 separate issues. In my mother's case they overlapped.

I think madness is composed of many issues of which eccentricity may or may not be one. Eccentricity has many facets and may not be involved in madness at all but is still odd and an indication that something is wrong. At least that's the way I see it, very little black and white and lots of gray.

Well What's eccentric could be subjective.

Am I eccentric for wearing cat ears to a bar?

Rappicteeinblue -- people with problems or issues are everywhere. Sometimes we're lucky enough to have a support team to keep us going; sometimes we're not so lucky and have to face the world head on alone. The stigma that mental illness carries is SO POWERFUL that I'm sure many folks would NEVER see a psychologist or pdoc. I feel sorry for them. Egos and pre-perception are part of the problem. Ugh.

inkspring - you've got my mother right on.

sonofsitka, that is an excellent article! Definitely outlines a possible difference(s) in eccentricity and madness.

Ahhh, but unforgiveness is quite the sin from where I stand ;). I love your final thought.

"Eccentric" is a cultural term. Technically it means "Not placed centrally or not having its axis or other part placed centrally:" and is applied according to the Oxford dictionary to "unconventional and slightly strange"

I would think it would apply to the man you are discussing and many others including some of us here.

As said, it's a cultural term rather than a medical one.

My take, for what it's worth, is that there are alot more "strange and unconventional" people out there, except they keep that strangeness inside.

I'd further suggest that if it were possible to actually look inside people's thoughts then we would find that our notions of what is normal would have to be massively revised on the statistical evidence - normal would then have to cover a much larger bit of territory.

Empirical evidence from Kinsey's work and the likes of the Milgram experiment seem to back this view up.

Sounds to me he is stuck (in a mental and spiritual sense)and not so much eccentric.

BTW, I really don't think that mental illness and eccentricity are as common as we are lead to believe. There are many, many people who live a mainstream life (conventional), and try to cope with the illness. Eccentrics may tend to have some neurosis, but not necessarily a mental illness. However, I am certainly eccentric- sometimes I know it's a gift and other times I wish I were more conservative since PA is that kind of place. I'm often misunderstood. I belong in San Fran!!!!