Call Me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement

by Irit Shimrat

Irit Shimrat went crazy as a young woman and spent two years incarcerated in psychiatric wards. Her escape and subsequent involvement in the psychiatric survivors' movement (a.k.a. the Mad Movement) is documented here, along with accounts from other activists including Don Weitz, Lanny Beckman and Pat Caponni. An international coalition of former mental patients and their allies who oppose forced drugging, solitary confinement, electroshock and other psychiatric abuses, the Mad Movement has been active for three decades. Shimrat and others put forward powerful arguments that "mental illness" is a lucrative and socially constructed myth rather than a genetic or biochemical brain defect.

Call Me Crazy is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and a springboard for intelligent, creative and humane alternatives to psychiatry. It includes a comprehensive bibliography.

Genres: Psychology, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Disability

244 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Corrie F · Rating 5 out of 5]

love the crazies

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just re-read Call Me Crazy. I still found it inspiring to read about all that was accomplished from basically nothing in the Mad movement in Canada--build from the ground up. I also found Shimrat's story of madness and recovery validating. I think that over the years, since I first read it over a decade ago, my views have changed somewhat. I think at the time I was more aligned with Shimrat's conviction that psychiatry is primarily social control and that there is nothing wrong with people who are deemed mentally ill, other than that people internalize the notion that there is and are made sick by the "treatments" they receive. Although I remain critical (I don't know how I would ever not be given my experiences of the system) over the years, I have moved to a more nuanced model, one that incorporates the concept of neurodiversity. There can be a biological element to experiences of mental distress without that meaning deficiency. I think that my madness is partly genetic inheritance, partly experience, partly coping mechanisms and community support, or lack thereof.

I'm grateful Shimrat wrote this book; if I have one criticism it's that sometimes a timeline could have been clearer (ie. specific dates) for events in the book, especially in regards to movement history, but overall, it's a great read and I appreciated the inclusion of all the different voices as well as a bit of an exploration of alternatives to psychiatry at the end.

[Oriyah N · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic introduction to The Mad Movement, aka the Anti-Psychiatric movement. As a psychology major who studied clinical psych, I'm surprised (but, with more thought, not surprised) that this book never made it onto our reading lists and no-one ever mentioned The Mad Movement. Although exposing students to alternatives to typical psychiatric treatment might make students question the methods they are studying, it seems important to know that there are voices of dissent who firmly believe that these treatments are ineffective.

As for the book and it's presentation of these ideas, I think the first half (or section) of the book did a good job of introducing the reader to these potentially novel concepts and I personally was convinced that this could be a viable option (and perhaps the best option) for many people suffering from mental disorders. In my opinion, this was the point of the book. After this, the book took what seemed to me to be a more self-congratulatory turn. Rather than stories, it seemed more like an introduction to various personalities that had been involved in the Mad Movement and what they personally felt they had accomplished (As opposed to relating particular incidences that would be enlightening as to the nature of the mad-movement itself. In other words, it seemed more like a history of the development of the mad movement and some of it's not necessarily, though perhaps actually, important players.)

All in all I felt the first section of the book was more interesting (and necessary) than the second, which left me wondering - who exactly is this book's audience? It seems to me that the first half would be for the general population, mental health workers and people who suffer from mental illness, whereas the second seemed more geared towards those who are already in the mad movement itself.

All in all, however, a valuable book.

[Rachel Harry]

Wonderful book for anyone who has a mental illness or has a family member with one. It discusses the stigma that we still have in society that prevents people from being treated. It also gives good examples of people's experiences with mental illness and services for mentally ill and their families. I wanted to share something personal to anyone who reads this review: I realized that people say, "I have cancer" or "I have diabetes", but mentally ill people are taught (not purposely)to say "I'm bipolar". That is making the illness your identity. Now I say, "I have bipolar" and it makes me feel much better, because that is not who I am.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are in the Mad Movement or want to know more about the Mad Movement then this book has to be read!

[Lynda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very taken with this book.

I know it was written by an ex mental health patient in Canada but it seems so matter of fact she went from a mental health hospital as a two year patient, to one of the leaders in a kind of political party for the revelation of the way people are treated in the mental health system.
Yes the system needed change and yes the people in charge of the mental health hospitals got it so wrong back then.

Will they ever get it right?

[Ocean · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book forever changed the way i think about mental illness. i gave it away to a friend a long time ago and wish i hadn't.