Glad To Be Mad: Mentally Ill Start 'Mad Pride' Movement (VIDEO)

Yesterday the New York Times explored the burgeoning "mad pride" movement, which aims to fight the stigma of serious mental illness like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and even, in some cases, celebrate it.

"Until now, the acceptance of mental illness has pretty much stopped at depression," said Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. "But a newer generation, fueled by the Internet and other sophisticated delivery systems, is saying, 'We deserve to be heard, too.' "

About 5.7 million Americans over 18 have bipolar disorder, which is classified as a mood disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Another 2.4 million have schizophrenia, which is considered a thought disorder. The small slice of this disparate population who have chosen to share their experiences with the public liken their efforts to those of the gay-rights and similar movements of a generation ago.

Just as gay-rights activists reclaimed the word queer as a badge of honor rather than a slur, these advocates proudly call themselves mad; they say their conditions do not preclude them from productive lives.

Mad pride events, organized by loosely connected groups in at least seven countries including Australia, South Africa and the United States, draw thousands of participants, said David W. Oaks, the director of MindFreedom International, a nonprofit group in Eugene, Ore., that tracks the events and says it has 10,000 members.

Keep reading.

Or check out the mad pride movement's most hilarious, if unofficial, spokesperson Liz Spikol's blog The Trouble With Spikol, which chronicles her struggle with bipolar disorder.

Or watch two of Liz Spikol's many YouTube videos:
First, she tells an abbreviated version of her life story.

Then discusses her experience with electroshock therapy (or electroconvulsive therapy, ECT).

For more information on mad pride and mental illness advocacy, visit these websites:
The Icarus Project
National Alliance on Mental Illness
MindFreedom International
The Freedom Center
The Radical Mental Health Collective
BonkersFest

Or to buy these books on the subject:
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness By Kay Redfield Jamison
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness By Elyn Saks

Comments

[incontempt]

11:26 AM on 05/13/2008

This message may be irresponsible in some peoples eyes, but weed is natural and scripts are dangerous, so if you don't like it you can you can address complaints with my other personality...oh .. he say he doesn't give a rats ass what they think either. LOL

[incontempt]

11:25 AM on 05/13/2008

You are beautiful, savvy, intelligent and perhaps a bit too introspective, nevertheless your putting the cart before the horse because crazy people...i mean truely crazy people....don't know they are crazy.

You or others around you may see "defects" or "issues" but these things are simple variations in the human psyche or a natural response to your current "environment". From my perspective, I supect I am crazy because people tell me I am, so be it. Psychiatrists and psychologists and counselling lala la...none of it works, a dozen different meds, all of them more troublesome then the "symptoms"...labelled moderate depression with anxiety disorder manifesting panic attacks in diaphram and jaw...blah blah blah.

I may be who you are trying to reach but have found a path...or treatment that is far better then ECT or Suicide. I get a few freinds together of similar age with similar circumstances(family,kids,job etc) and do a little group therapy over a big joint...yeah marijuana!! it works, atleast for me...that two or three hours allows a sort of meditation/relaxation that makes the rest of the day acceptable...geesh I can even cope on bad days, my prescription...self therapy daily and group therapy three days a week and luckily a whole month of weed is still cheaper then an hour at shrink and much easier then electrocution.

[IndieVisible]

11:45 AM on 05/13/2008

I'm not gonna tell you or any one you should not smoke pot. Of all the drugs you could be taking it is the least harmful including legal scripts! BUT, you knew that was coming right? You have to remember that all of our feelings inside our mind is caused by chemical reactions! Every thing we see, touch, hear, taste, smell, and feel are from chemical reactions! Alter this balance some how either by man made drugs or by our own natural chemicals inside us and strange things can happen!

Also you must keep in mind that every one is different. What works good for one person may not work the same for another person. In the case of pot, I like it but it makes me too relaxed, almost lazy lol, to others it may make them paranoid!

The best treatment would be no drugs! But easier said then done I agree! I find love to be the best drug. Also easier said then done too! Best Regards!

[mcthorogood]

12:27 PM on 05/13/2008

I've been told that many people with mania will self-medicate with alcohol.

I became allergic to alcohol after leisurely imbibing for 40 years. The anaphylactic symptoms of this allergy have ceased since not drinking.

I believe that my cessation of all alcohol was responsible for having my second manic episode. See my other comment in reply to Strywever below.

Thank you Huffpost for including this topic in your blog.

[IndieVisible]

11:23 AM on 05/13/2008

Mad Pride, I love it! Thanks for a great share. I love the coverage here at the Huffington Post!

[Nutcase]

10:35 AM on 05/13/2008

Since the blog recommends a couple of books, perhaps it is not out of place for me to recommend another. It just happens to be mine. http://www.whyareyoumad.com

[BOBONDE]

09:13 AM on 05/13/2008

HER LONG DARK HAIR LOOKS GREAT!

[OddManOut]

08:51 AM on 05/13/2008

Observation: Why is it that the people pictured here on HuffPost all have frizzy, Jim from Taxi, whacked out hair? If one suffers from mental illness, does it mean they cannot find a brush or comb?

[CocteausTwin]

07:11 AM on 05/13/2008

I am glad Liz is doing her part in helping others and herself. She seems like a very kind hearted soul.

[Dap]

06:37 AM on 05/13/2008

Fight the stigma indeed. Good on them!

[AdamX]

03:18 AM on 05/13/2008

Being accepted, and being "proud" of mental illness are two different things.

[PuffAndStuff]

12:46 AM on 05/13/2008

Good for her .... I think this is a wonderfully brave thing for her to do: share her personal story and try to chip away at societal stigma regarding mental illness. Perhaps she will really be of help to others out there who also are suffering in ways similiar to her, and her knowledge through her personal experiences can be of great help .....

However, this woman should be warned ...

Tom Cruise and his minions are probably already trying to find her so they can help her, because they "know" as "Scientologist" they are "the only ones" who can really help, and they have a "duty" to help because they're the only enlightened ones --the "J29f" syborgs-- the "only ones" who can.

Excuse me for being so GLIB ;) ..... But don't they believe their cult can cure all illness', including those of the mental variety, via some sort of 'cleansing' and by using No --NO, NO: NEVER-- No use of "evil" pharmacuetical medication, EVER.

[incontempt]

11:28 AM on 05/13/2008

or hypnotherapy...i read a little bit of dianetics once LOL now i am scared shitless of hypnotism LOL

[LudwigVan]

12:23 AM on 05/13/2008

I wouldn't say I'm "glad to be mad", but I am proud to be someone who has survived mental illness (bipolar I disorder with a history of mixed episodes and psychotic symptoms) as well as the often miserable treatments we're stuck with. I've never had ECT, but I've been prescribed potentially dangerous drugs with nasty side effects.

I talk about my illness openly now, screw the stigma. I have my own blog, in fact (I won't spam it here). I'm also open about my frustration with psychiatry - I'm not anti-psychiatry, but I do favor reform. For one thing, it seems they rely way too much on medications, and they overmedicate. They don't rely enough on cognitive and behavioral therapy and learning coping skills. Also, they need to make sure there's not a *medical* cause for psychiatric symptoms first.

[devis1]

11:38 PM on 05/12/2008

Oh, and I am anything but glad to be mad. Mad Pride--that's insulting in itself.

[H.L. Mencken]

11:36 PM on 05/12/2008

With the present of available electronic communications paraphernalia, there is no excuse for this educational information should not be spread ubiquitously athwart America! I audacious believe that information communications such as this personalizes the much misunderstood process of mental illness pain! Only "E" brain type females possess the apparatus of mental equipment to comprehend this ladies sever mental pain! I have argued to many american jury's regarding mental pain of accident victims and I find it this most difficult to to articulate as a leson in quantum physics !
Sever Mental pain is so harmful and disruptive to our well being of normal homeostasis that mother nature permits us to quickly forget! To persuade a jury to revisit that pain is a hard slug! We as a society must learn the feeling and behavior practice of einfuhlung! Look it up!

[mcthorogood]

12:16 AM on 05/13/2008

The "u" in einfuhlung has an umlaut, the korrekt (sic) spelling is einfuehlung.

[devis1]

11:34 PM on 05/12/2008

The statements she makes about her experience with ECT are bizarre. Wearing adult diapers and having a mouth guard placed before you are put under were not part of the procedures in the 1990's. Her lack of sense of self upon returning to her room sounds more like the anethesia wearing off. There is considerable memory loss though which I found very disturbing and 10 treatments given twice in a 6 year period did not help me. Sorry, but I've been through it all and though I would tell anyone not to have ECT, I don't believe this person is a good representative for the cause.

[stringer]

10:49 PM on 05/12/2008

Awesome! While I myself don't have any of these, I think it's really cool these people are taking ownership of this issue and saying it loud and proud!

Trust me, if most so-called sane people behaved better or had this much pride in themselves the world would be a much better place.