Boston Globe article, Judi Chamberlin's legacy of taking on mental health system

VIA The Boston Globe:

1.20.10

Judi Chamberlin, writings took on mental health care


(in part)

"Described as irreverent and fearless, Ms. Chamberlin’s writings about the dehumanizing treatment inside mental hospitals helped galvanize patients to become “psychiatric survivors’’ and changed social attitudes about their future prospects."

AND

"Ms. Chamberlin, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic, contended patients have the right to make choices about their care, and she argued that their using those rights was integral to recovery.

She liked the name “Mad Pride,’’ and her book became the movement’s manifesto. “Instead of a pejorative word, they were saying ‘No, we’re proud of who we are and so be it,’ ’’ said Robert Whitaker, author of “Mad in America,’’ which chronicles the history of America’s treatment of the mentally ill."

Ms. Chamberlin, who grew up in Brooklyn, first sought help at a hospital but was quickly swept into a series of psychiatric stays. She was committed to Rockland Hospital for two months.

“The experience totally demoralized me,’’ she wrote. “I had never thought of myself as a particularly strong person, but after hospitalization, I was convinced of my own worthlessness. I had been told that I could not exist outside of an institution."
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Read further about Judi Chamberlin in my recent post, which includes links to other blogs writing about Judi and her amazing, inspiring life.

Judi Chamberlin,humanitarian, activist and psychiatric survivor dies, but her voice will live on through all of us. That post also hosts a link to a living memorial page dedicated to Judi.