Mad World cover art

Mad World

The Politics of Mental Health (Outspoken by Pluto)

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About this listen

Mental health affects us all, and yet it remains elusive as a concept.

Does getting a diagnosis help or hinder it? How is mental well-being, which is often incredibly personal, driven by widespread societal suffering? Can it be a social construct and real at the same time?

These are some of the big questions Micha Frazer-Carroll asks as she reveals mental health to be a political issue that needs deeper understanding beyond today’s 'awareness raising' campaigns.

Exploring the history of asylums and psychiatry; the relationship between disability and broader liberation movements; alternative models of care; the relationship between art and mental health; law and the decarceration of mental health, Mad World is a radical and hopeful antidote to pathologization, gatekeeping and the policing of imagination.

©2023 Micha Frazer-Carroll (P)2023 Pluto Press Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Health
All stars
Most relevant
Charts the historical and social context of mental health, sharing a range of perspectives in an intersectional way

radical and paradigm shifting

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An informative text, lots of interesting information and stories of individuals affected by psychiatric violence. Micha raises the many parallels of the mental health system to the prison system, and brings awareness to some of the solutions to change, particularly the Trieste Model, crisis houses and art. She talks about mental health in the context of our social and political world and her perspective is informed by anti-capitalist thought. Some of her thinking around anti-capitalism could do with more fleshing out, I felt some of the arguments were quick and asserted a belief rather than a compelling critique. Hel Spandler is an inspiration for this book, particularly around discussions of zines and mental health discourse. I think that the book has brought more awareness to how our thinking on mental health could be better understood through the lens of different struggles and joins the dots between queer and disability struggle and mental illness. I would recommend this book!

Highly Informative Text!

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Well argued book which takes in the history of asylums, the causes of mental illness and alternative approaches to treatment and care.

Insightful Social Justice Perspectives on Madness/Mental Health

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