Solidarities and tensions in mental health politics: Mad Studies and Psychopolitics

Cresswell, M and Spandler, H (2016) 'Solidarities and tensions in mental health politics: Mad Studies and Psychopolitics.' Critical and Radical Social Work, 4 (3). pp. 357-373. ISSN 2049 8608

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Abstract

Recent years have seen a resurgence in radical mental health politics and accompanying social movements. This article identifies two tendencies. The first, the Mad Studies tendency, indicts psychiatry as a branch of medicine and asserts a politics of identity based upon the experience of ‘madness’. The second, the Psychopolitics tendency, defends the value of welfare and medicine and asserts a politics of alliance between service users and mental health workers. Using three recent texts, Mad matters (2013), Psychiatry disrupted (2014) and Madness, distress and the politics of disablement (2015), this article analyses the solidarities and tensions that exist within and between these tendencies.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	mental health, social movements, austerity, Mad Studies, politics of welfare
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JC Political theory
Divisions:	School of Sciences
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1332/204986016X14739257401605
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2019 11:54
Last Modified:	15 Aug 2021 09:51
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/11879

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