Call Me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement

by Irit Shimrat

As a young woman, Irit Shimrat went crazy and spent two years locked up in psych wards. She escaped to find support, respect, and political awareness in the Mad Movement and among queer people. This... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889740704
• ISBN13: 9780889740709
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Press Gang Publishers
• Length: 179 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A must-read for psychiatric consumers

One of the hardest things about being given a DSM diagnosis is the act of breaking free from the stigma of such a label. Unfortunately, most psychiatric professionals are more concerned about creating a growth industry than in helping their patients to heal from their psychic wounds.Shimrat allows those who have been denied a voice the room to express what really works for them regarding personal recovery. The key component would have to be empowerment, as the psychiatric industry tends to demoralize and disempower those whom they claim to help. Considering the fact that, at one time, gayness was considered a DSM catagory of mental illness, it stands to reason that such diagnoses are quite arbitrary and political in nature.Empowerment is a political movement to liberate those who have been called crazy by their caregivers who lack the insight to see mental health consumers as human beings worthy of dignity. That is the focus of this book, and for that reason I highly recommend it.