Nuthouse, Nutty, and Why Nuts Are Associated With Mental Illness

A psychiatric home health worker is curious about the use of nuthouse to mean “a mental health facility.” This term goes back to the turn of the 20th century. The word nuts itself once had an extremely positive connotation, referring to anything as delicious and satisfying as these edible kernels. By the 18th century, to be nuts on meant “to be fond of” something or someone, and over time, to be nuts or nutty came to mean having extreme, over-the-top enthusiasm about something, and eventually took on the meaning of being “emotionally unstable or extreme.” The association of nuts with not being right in the head was probably also influenced by the use of the term nut, as applied metaphorically to one’s hard, similarly shaped head. This is part of a complete episode.