Madness: Network News Reader

About this book

Have you ever thought you were going crazy? Did you ever have feelings that you didnt understand? Or do something without knowing why you did it something that other people thought was strange? If you wound up with professional help you may have seen how frequently that help is delivered through a syringe or a pill. If so you have heard the underlying message delivered with the treatment: The patient is mad; no longer a valid responsible individual but an invalid irresponsible one. You may also know that the role people labeled crazy are forced to play once the psychiatric system has a firm hold on them is really that of an acquiescent prisoner. If you dont know about these things you should read this book. If you do know you will find some or all of your suspicions confirmed here. The Reader is a collection of works written by people who have experienced first-hand that kind of help. They have recognized their needs and the needs of their friends and family which have not been met by the system. Madness Network News Reader is an outgrowth of Madness Network News a newsletter designed to bring together and disseminate information about the psychiatric system and alternatives to it. The Reader is designed so you can pick it up and browse at any point. Section 1 gives you an inside look at the Madhouse as described by patients and workers and in some cases people have been both. Section II talks about the Cure (or treatments) and discusses the politics of hospitalization. Section III the Resistance is about the embryonic movements to change the system and contains pieces on Robert Laing and psychiatry and the law and arun-down on the legal and rights organizations operating around the country. The book ends with letters from our readers and members of the madness network.