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A review by nvrrrdie
Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health by Micha Frazer-Carroll
medium-paced
3.0
This book felt very mixed to me in its quality at different times. Some chapters were much better than others, but I would not recommend this book overall because many times it did not argue very strongly for its claims.
I want to be very clear that I am sympathetic and open-minded to the ideas themselves that were written in this book, but the book itself did not convince me. I really wish it did! I want to have a strong text I can reference to others about these theories. This wasn't that book for me. Many concepts introduced were not duly justified and instead kind of glazed over or told to the reader without enough depth or substance to be very effective. The amount of "should" and "shouldn't"s felt preventative for my attempt to understand the theory the way I would like to.
To its merit, the book was informative of some of the intersectional political issues faced by oppressed people which enforce violent conditions. Some chapters did this well enough, but I wish this book did more with it.
I'm sure there are more books on this subject which I might find more compelling or specific. This one disappointed me. I will keep looking for more literature about the psychiatric complex.
I want to be very clear that I am sympathetic and open-minded to the ideas themselves that were written in this book, but the book itself did not convince me. I really wish it did! I want to have a strong text I can reference to others about these theories. This wasn't that book for me. Many concepts introduced were not duly justified and instead kind of glazed over or told to the reader without enough depth or substance to be very effective. The amount of "should" and "shouldn't"s felt preventative for my attempt to understand the theory the way I would like to.
To its merit, the book was informative of some of the intersectional political issues faced by oppressed people which enforce violent conditions. Some chapters did this well enough, but I wish this book did more with it.
I'm sure there are more books on this subject which I might find more compelling or specific. This one disappointed me. I will keep looking for more literature about the psychiatric complex.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Self harm, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Mental illness