This refers to ‘users, ex-users and survivors of psychiatric services, people who hear voices, people who see visions or experience changes in their mood, mad people, and people with psychosocial disabilities. People who have faced the deprivation of their freedom, restraint, involuntary manipulations, torture, and even death resulting from mental treatment’ (REDESFERA, 2020).
People with psychosocial diversity repeatedly face social and attitudinal barriers that hinder their performance on equal terms as others (Fábregas and others, 2018, p.47).
This type of self-recognition is connected to the mad movement that emerged at the beginning of the 1990s. It has become a symbol of opposition and resistance to the traditional management of mental health. It groups together people with diverse characteristics; people who had been stigmatized under the mark of madness or a mental disorder.
References:
Fábregas, M., Tafur, A., Guillén, A., Bolaños, L., Méndez, J., & Fernández de Sevilla. (2018). Guía de estilo sobre salud mental para medios de comunicación: las palabras sí importan. Madrid: Confederación SALUD MENTAL ESPAÑA.
Photo credit: Liga Cerina