A degree in Mad Studies

[CarpetTime]

“At the core of Mad Studies, we should have mad people, mad issues and mad culture. QMU is keen to push academic boundaries and we are passionate about social justice, equality of opportunity and person-centred learning. We can’t wait to engage with students, who want to learn how Mad Studies can meaningfully contribute to social justice and change.”

www.qmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/20203011-qmu-launches-the-world-s-first-master-s-in-mad-studies/

What will they come up with next?

Imagine putting that on your CV.

I thought this was going to be something from the University of Hard Knocks that half of Facebook have gone to.

I can't believe this is genuine! "Mad Studies"?!?! wtf?

I thought it was rude to refer to someone as ‘mad’ - what does it even mean in this context?

Mad identities?
Is that like people who proclaim "I'm mad, me!!!!!1!"
"You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps! HA HA HA...."

Ah stop. Is this where the School of Full Time Mad Bastards end up going?

Ah OK, this explains it
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_studies

Blimey, I’ve been a ‘client’ of mental health services for 30 years and probably would qualify as ‘mad’ as I’ve got mental illness I’m medicated for (depression and social anxiety) but I don’t feel any affiliation with this at all.

In all seriousness, I am not sure how advisable it is for students with "lived experience of mental health" to spend an entire masters degree dedicated to "mad identity and history" (endlessly analysing and focusing on how people in the "mad" box may be different to those in other boxes??) I do think mental health needs to be taken more seriously and I do not want to be dismissive, but I think that this degree of navel gazing could actually be very harmful!!

And what's with the "mad" label? Some post modern reclaiming of the word? I assume it is a new identity, to be loosely synonymous with mental health problems, but no doubt so fuzzily defined and inclusive as to render the word utterly meaningless.

I'm driven mad everytime I open my annual student loan statement. Doing a masters might just send me over the edge.

Crossposted with pollyanna.
Just seen the wikipedia page and it confirms my suspicions. A whole new, meaningless identity. A lovely new opportunity for post-modern circular word wanking.

Seems odd to self-identify as "mad", but I'm not one to judge. I think if done well, this could potentially be a helpful learning tool

Not the comic book then?

I went to a whole conference on Mad Studies a few years ago but I do work in mental health. They take it very seriously as an academic discipline. It's really important that people with loved experience get to influence the conversation about how we treat and describe mental ill health.

*lived obviously

Mad Pride has been a mental health movement for nearly 30 years....

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Pride#:~:text=Mad%20Pride%20is%20a%20mass,of%20their%20'mad'%20identity.

^
Early origins
Elizabeth Packard (1816-1897) was deemed insane by her husband as she did not agree with his conservative political views. In Illinois at the time, involuntary admission to an asylum did not require a public hearing so long as it was a husband admitting his wife.

Due to this, Packard was institutionalized though she saw herself to be sane. In Packard’s lifetime to be labeled as ‘mad’ was a form of social disapproval. However, she felt solidarity among Mad people due to her experience in the institution. Though she did not personally identify as Mad and had to identify as ‘sane’ in order to be an activist, it is here that we see early forms of organizing from ex-patients.

Mad studies has been around along time and is really important to many people who have experienced the rough end of psychiatry.

Seems quite interesting. If it weren't a post-grad I'd be looking into it.

There’s ‘mad’ though where you yourself feel quite happy m, functional and ‘sane’ even though society (for whatever reason) would deem you ‘mad’ in an attempt to control/coerce/supervise your behaviour. Cf Foucault. Rumination on this state of affairs is very much a good thing.
There’s also ‘mad’ which is terrifying, you don’t want to be like how you are as the negative impact is enormous, and you’ll happily take whatever help you can get as you’re living in hell. In this case, rumination on your state of affairs is very detrimental.
I don’t see how both situations can be claimed by the positive self-identification label of ‘mad’.

E.g. the mental condition of being ‘hysterical’, named after the womb, a woman airing her justifiable grievances would historically be labelled ‘hysterical’ to put her back in her place.
Very different from someone behaving very ‘hysterical’ because they’re suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain post-partum which would benefit from intervention.
Both people could be viewed as ‘mad’.

Well I just learned something new.

So I’ve skimmed over the course curriculum - my goodness. Who came up with this? I studied psychology, trained as a therapist - I can’t see the value of this, and find the name a bit offensive.

@bitheby

I went to a whole conference on Mad Studies a few years ago but I do work in mental health. They take it very seriously as an academic discipline. It's really important that people with loved experience get to influence the conversation about how we treat and describe mental ill health.

By all means, but the terminology isn’t quite there yet I’d say...