In “A Mad Fight: Psychiatry and Disability Activism,” Bradley Lewis highlights the contemporary conflicts between psychiatry and disability activism. According to the New York University faculty website (2022), Bradley Lewis is an associate professor at NYU with interdisciplinary training in continental philosophy, psychiatry, and humanities.
Bradley Lewis appears to fight the deep-rooted assumption in 21st-century medicine that brain illness has a biological basis by proposing a social model. He suggests that mental illnesses should be treated by peers who have also experienced mental differences before rather than being treated by “normal” physicians because much of human suffering arises from exclusion, lack of opportunities, social exclusion, and the side effects of medications (Lewis, 2013, p. 116). The author also highlights the primary differences between the 1960s Mad Pride movement and the movement after the 80s. Besides, Lewis (2013) is critical of the National Institute of Health’s finding that about half of the American population meet the criteria for DSM-IV at one point in their lives, a statistic he mentions to highlight the over-treatment of mental diseases. In general, Lewis wants to change the way people view mental illness.
Lewis’s argument and use of argument in the article are compelling and convincing. The author uses real-life examples and controversies surrounding psychiatric drugs in treating people with mental diseases. He argues that some of these drugs, including SSRIs, have side effects because they are stimulants like amphetamines and cocaine (Lewis, 2013, p.123). The article challenges the bio-psychiatric model that physicians and patients have widely accepted. Lastly, the article reflects a disability studies perspective because it seeks to determine the nature, meaning, and consequences of mental diseases by focusing on the Madness of Pride.
References
Lewis, B. (2013). A mad fight: Psychiatry and disability activism. In L. Davis (Ed.), The Disability Studies Reader (4th ed., pp. 116–123). Routledge.
NYU. (2022). Bradley Lewis. NYU Gallatin. Web.