Madness: Network News Reader

Have you ever thought you were going crazy? Did you ever have feelings that you didn't 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 don't 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.