Foreword by Kate Millett
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Discovering the Higher Sanity within Madness
Part One
The Failure of the Psychiatric System and the Biomedical
Myth
1 Interview with Peter Stastny, M.D.: The
Psychiatric-Pharmaceutical Complex and Its Critics
2 The Mind Freedom Hunger Strike
3 Interview with David Oaks: From Harvard to the Psychiatric
Survivors’ Movement
Part Two
The Intellectual Background of Mad Pride
4 Mental Patients’ Liberation
5 R. D. Laing, John Weir Perry, and the Sanctuary for
Visionaries
6 Interview with Chaya Grossberg: Spiritually Informed
Social Activism
7 Interview with Caty Simon: The Communitarian Vision
Part Three
Dangerous Gifts
8 The Roots of The Icarus Project
9 Interview with Sascha DuBrul: The Reluctant Warrior, May
2009
10 The Warrior in Retreat
11 The Icarus Project and the Future of Mad Pride
Part Four
Prophets of Madness or Messiahs among Us?
12 The Messianic or Postmodern Paradigm?
13 The Relationship of Mad Pride to Messianic
Transformation
14 Interview with Dr. Ed Whitney: Finding Oneself at the Age
of Forty-five; Messianic Visions
Part Five
Awakenings in History and Social Activism
15 Cultural Revitalization Movements
16 Interview with Paul Levy: “They May Say I’m a
Dreamer”
17 Revitalization and the Messianic-Redemptive Vision of Sri
Aurobindo
18 Whither Mad Pride?
Epilogue
Beating the System
Appendix
Extracts from Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Seth Farber is a psychologist, public speaker and a founder of the Network against Coercive Psychiatry. The author of several books, including Unholy Madness and an editor of The Journal of Mind and Behavior, he lives in New York City.
“By reclaiming their rightful role as prophets of spiritual and
cultural revitalization, the mad--by seeding new visions for our
future--can help humanity overcome the spiritual crisis that
endangers our survival and lead us to a higher and long-awaited
stage of spiritual development.”
*Earth Star Magazine, June 2012*
“The book will appeal to devotees of spirituality and/or
metaphysics.”
*Linda F. Petty, Library Journal, July 2012*
“This book rightly points out the need to reevaluate our
classifications of madness and open the door to the sometimes
visionary rantings of our fellow citizens.”
*Lotus Guide, July 2012*
“A fine pick for any mental health collection seeking different
perspectives on the idea of insanity and its treatment.”
*Midwest Book Review, July 2012*
“Seth Farber is one of the most provocative and original thinkers
in America. He brings us to the threshold of the only questions
that really matter: the demarcation lines between imagination and
objective reality and between ‘madness’ and ‘sanity’. The Spiritual
Gift of Madness is an important book that could revolutionize the
way progressive religious people regard what is called mental
health. ”
*Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of
the Elect, Helped Found the Religi*
“Farber critically considers the role of madness in culture and
sees it as a positive force for change rather than a disease
needing treatment. At the same time he does not play down the
difficulties encountered by those experiencing such ‘initiations,’
but believes we need to cherish them and appreciate their visionary
role in a world gone insane.”
*Robert Black, New Dawn, January 2013*
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