Mad Pride

Last night I was having some drinks with some new friends and one of them, who works for a mental health charity mentioned an organisation called Mad Pride.

It sounds like the sort of organisation which could polarise opinion. On one hand there will be those who say it is derogatory towards sufferers of mental health problems and will set back mental health care by years, and on the other hand there will be those who say it empowers those with mental health problems. And on the other, other hand there will be those who say... what a great name for a band!

Actually, the idea is a time-tested one and possibly a logical next step on from gay pride and black pride. In both those cases there are people who took words which were previously used as terms of abuse like 'queer' and 'nigger'and tried to reclaim them, with differing rates of success.

For years we have had mental health professionals saying that we should avoid words like 'mad', 'crazy' or 'mental' (on its own). How do they feel if the very patients with mental health conditions decide to go ahead and call themselves mad? It probably drives them crazy.

I think its safe to say that Mad Pride would not be one of those po-faced bands who all dress in black and look like they are sucking a lemon.