Find out more about the history of MAD Pride, what's happening around the world, and what it all means.
International news from MindFreedom
International news from Community FreeSpeech
UK Mad Pride
Australasian Mad Pride (Keepwell)
Mad Chicks
Aussie Mad Pride
Other Peer Support Networks & Human Rights Movements
The Icarus Project: - Our goal is to help people like ourselves feel less alienated, and to allow us�both as individuals and as a community�to tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness.
The Soteria Network links mental health users, carers and professionals seeking to make a change to current medically-based approaches to mental health.
International Network of Treatment Alternatives for Recovery (INTAR) - A group of like-minded mental health workers, survivors and relatives concerned about the lack of alternative treatments in the Western World.
The Winds of Change is an online peer support group for people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Mental Disability Rights International - an international human rights organization which focuses on the protection of human rights for people labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis or an intellectual disability.
World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
The Winds of Change is an online peer support group for people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Asylum Magazine - An international magazine for democratic psychiatry, psychology, education & community development. With more than 20 years history, this is a must read.
European Network of (ex-)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP) is an initiative to give people a means to communicate, exchange opinions, views and experiences in order to support each other in the personal, political and social struggle against expulsion, injustice and stigma in our respective countries.
Stigma
SANE StigmaWatch
Challenging stigma
Rethinking mental illness
Don�t Call Me Nuts: Beating the Stigma of Mental Illness
Use of Language
Why we use the word 'Mad'...some information about reclaiming language.
Psycho, patient, person: Perspectives on being labelled mentally ill
Glad to be 'mad'?
How dare I say 'crip'?
How to defeat racism by appropriating derogatory language
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). An introduction to the manual. To access the full manual online requires a subscription fee.
This website argues that the DSM-IV is a convenient and simplistic method of compartmentalizing symptoms without actually working to isolate the true cause of the patient's real problems.
An overview of mental illness and treatments by the Victorian Government�s �Better Health Channel�
Richmond Fellowship of Western Australia presents a balanced view of what �mental illness� � or mental or emotional distress � might be. Also discusses different types of distress and a psycho-social (rather than biological) based approach to recovery
Questioning the Dominant Views of 'Mental Illness'
Defending human rights and promoting humane alternatives for mental and emotional well being
About Loren Mosher - The work of this eminent psychiatrist demonstrated that the prevalent excessive destructive psychiatric drugging is a huge and tragic mistake. The psychiatric establishment was offended. Prestige and Money won. Truth and Love lost
Video: Dr Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the State University of New York, on the pseudo-science of psychiatry.
Video: "Psychiatry - An Industry of Death"
Serotonin and Depression- challenging the chemical imbalance theory
Authors of psychiatric DSM-IV & financial links to big pharmaceutical companies
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
Paper: "There is no such thing as a psychiatric disorder"
"My thoughts, moods, feelings and emotions are NOT an illness, disease or disorder. They are me; the essence of my being."
Once anxiety and stress were problems. Now they are illnesses. But a backlash is brewing.
Mental Illness: From shame to pride
Is psychiatry hearing voices too
Other Resources
Get reading! Visit the comprehensive mental health resource centre at VICSERV (Psychiatric Disability Services of Victoria) in Elsternwick, Victoria.
ARAFEMI: Association of relatives and friends of the emotionally and mentally ill
Creative Arts
We Need to Pay Attention - Review of US TV commercial for the anti-psychotic drug Abilify.
We'd love you to link to us too!
Taking charge of depression
Hearing Voices Network
International voice hearers support
Prahran Mission: Provides a drop-in centre, rehabilitation programs and support for people experiencing mental or emotional distress in the cities of Stonnington, Port Phillip & Glen Eira.
The Mental Illness Fellowship of Victoria represents and supports people with a severe mental illness and their carers. Their site includes factsheets and information on support services available in Victoria, as well as news about what is happening in the community.
The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is the professional body for psychologists in Australia. The site includes factsheets and information on treatments and diagnosis, a search facility to find a psychologist, and community information.
Advocacy & Legal Issues
Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC) provides support, advocacy and referrals to people who have experienced emotional or mental distress. Advocates are available to represent you if you feel you have not been treated with respect, fairness and honesty.
The Mental Health Legal Centre provides a free and confidential legal service to anyone who has experienced mental illness in Victoria where their legal problem relates to their mental illness.
The Mental Health Review Board is a statutory tribunal established under the Mental Health Act 1986 to conduct reviews of, and hear appeals by, psychiatric patients being treated involuntarily either as inpatients or on community treatment orders. Includes information about involuntary detention & your rights of appeal.
Personal Experiences
Ron Coleman has used his own experiences of recovery to develop his ideas for recovery centred treatment of others.
Rebekah Beddoes endured years of being misdiagnosed, only to realise that her medication was the cause of her mental deterioration.
Do you have an experience you would like to share? Send us an email!
