Mad Pride, Bad Pride?

I'm seeing quite a few articles about people who are proud of refusing treatment for their mental illness these days. One doesn't want to take his medication. Another one doesn't want to go to electric shock therapy. Then another refuses to see a therapist. All of them are proud of the fact that they have acted on their right to be and stay, well, crazy.

I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about all this media attention on "Mad Pride". Then I remembered a conversation with a former client, Frank*. We keep in touch even though he isn't a part of Tasks Unlimited. He has struggled with schizophrenia and other personality disorders and yet has worked most of his life and lives in his own apartment in a nice suburb of Minneapolis. He's experienced homelessness, joblessness, hospitalizations, incarceration, and isolation from friends and family. When I asked him what he thought about "Mad Pride". He said something profound, "Well, John, they have a right to be whatever they want but why would they want to go in and out of the hospital? That's the real torture."

If you ask people who have dealt with mental illness, you will find that Frank is right. No one wants to go in and out of the hospital. You know why? You have no privacy. The doctors drug you up and you have no control. You can't do anything you want. You're not free.

So, after a lifetime of losing your freedom over and over and over and over, it is torturous. I really cannot imagine it. But, I have seen people with mental illness stay out of the hospital and find that they can do what they want, buy what they want, have the life they want. I have seen people with mental illness fight for and win their freedom from their own minds. I have seen people with mental illness reclaim their lives. Frank tells me that he feels more free today than he ever did at the hospital or on the streets. "I'm free to have a clean or messy apartment because it's mine. I'm free to do whatever I want with the money I earn because it's mine," he boasts.

What does it take? It takes a lot of work. It takes humility. It takes patience. It takes a big support system. It seems like a lot but isn't it worth it? If you have mental illness, isn't your life worth it? If someone in your family has mental illness, isn't their life worth it? I think it is.

I believe that as human beings, people with mental illness have every right to fight for their freedom. But what will this freedom cost us? If they want to be proud, they have every right to be.

You know what I'm proud of? I'm proud of Frank and the fact that he has won his freedom on his own terms. I'm proud that I can call him friend...

*name changed