TWO TYPES OF MADNESS

[julie gosling]

A GREAT POST FROM KIRSTEN BELLOWS IN CANADA ON HER 'PRIDE IN MADNESS' BLOG


Two Types of Mad. APR 6. Posted by prideinmadness

I self identify as a Mad person. I am someone who has a psychiatric history and I wear the reclaimed title of Mad with great pride (see where I got my blog name?)

http://prideinmadness.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/two-types-of-mad/

I was very fortunate to have been brought into the amazing world of Madness while in my 3rd year of university. It was here I learned everything that now shapes how I view mental health, mental illness, psychiatry, psychology, social work and myself. The includes learning about the consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement and mad-positive teachings.

It has been a great challenge to try and bring Madness into the classroom, mostly, for now, at Ryerson University where I attended school for social work and where my other Mad activist colleagues/friends are.

Ryerson’s School of Disability Studies offers History of Madness and Mad People’s History and special this year (2012-2013), a course that I helped develop through my past research with the professor, the first ever undergraduate social work mental health course, Critical Mental Health and Madness. We hope this becomes a permanent course in the near future.

Here is a great video by Professor David Reville, from Ryerson, about what Mad People’s History is and why it is so important.


I don’t know how many of you, my amazing followers, know but what we are doing, blogging about our mental health and addiction experiences, sharing how we feel about it, is extremely progressive! We are contributing to the Mad voice that has for so long been ignored! We are doing an amazing thing and we need to keep doing it!


Mad positive, views madness, well, positively! It is about self determination, the person with the experience making decisions. Mad positive means that I define myself, that I have a voice. It does not reject out current medical system but it critiques it, challenges it, it knows that there are more options then what we are being given (way more options) and that those with lived experience need to play an active role in developing those options! The goal is to coexist and support.


I get emotional thinking about what it is to be Mad positive because it has brought me such strength and I do not think I would be the person I am today without it.

Now, I also self identify as a Mad person. I am someone who experiences anger and I’m alright with that.

How are these two Mads coming together? With these buttons.



Professors of Mad positive courses and values have been handing out these buttons to other professors they see around campus. The problem is, some professors are refusing the buttons. Of course it is within their right to not take them but it is the look on their face, the tone in their voice or the actual words they say that take it from simply not wanting a button to not supporting having an inclusive positive space for Mad students and faculty. Some professors are saying that Mad positive is something they “can’t get behind.” Some of these professors are in the disciplines that interact with Mad people such as social work and psychology. It appears that Mad positive is being treated like a silly fad, something not worthy of deep consideration. This is not the case.

Mental health doesn’t need to be all or nothing. We need to stop being so dependent on our current medical model and admit that it does not help everyone and that we need options for those who do not want the medical route. There should be nothing wrong with that.

I am very confused as to how a discipline like social work can support the critical and alternate views of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia but then draw the line at mental health! Why draw the line there? Seriously, why? I can only guess it has something to do with how loyal many professionals are to the medical model.

I have had people without a past diagnosis tell me that my views about my mental health, in terms of being Mad positive, are wrong! Yes, I am being told that I am wrong to have a Mad identity by people who have no history of mental illness. I don’t accept that.

I am a Mad Mad person and I won’t let people tell me that my identity is wrong. They can get as angry as they want but I know who I am and what I want.