Call Me Crazy: Stories from the Mad Movement

Part self-help guide, part history of the "mad movement," Call Me Crazy articulates how and why we need to create real alternatives to current psychiatric practices. Irit Shimrat's personal journey from helpless patient to outspoken activist is interwoven with the bold and illuminating tales of others who are working to build a world where locked wards and forced drugging are not acceptable solutions to suffering.Noteworthy contributions to the book include Pat Capponi, David Cohen, Bonnie Burstow, Carla McKague, David Reville and Don Weitz. They and others recount highlights from the past twenty years of the antipsychiatry movement in Canada, including: providing peer advocacy and other alternatives to hospitalization; winning compensation for victims of psychiatric abuse; achieving significant changes to mental health legislation, and producing accessible information about psychiatric drugs. Call Me Crazy ends with a checklist for helping someone in crisis, along with a thorough bibliography of other useful books and available resources.