mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the so“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware” (Henry Miller)

Madness is contact with other dimensions. There are patterns, clinical categories and the baffled look from the viewers of the outside. Madness itself though has its own internal logic like a theatre play or work of art. The mad occupy a world that is very real to them. I believe that we all harbour archetypes in our subconscious and that these surface in madness. It is a collective unconsciousness relived on individual terms. Madness is a larger than life experience and it breaks all barriers and boundaries we are accustomed to. It is not yet proven that madness is a brain disease, although this is how it is treated by today’s medical community and society. There are disputes not only within the psychiatric field that madness is part of an individuation process and not always an illness parse. The latter view strongly alters the perception of madness. If there are forms of madness which belong to the area of self-growth and individuation rather than just to illness, then, what does this say about our current treatment of madness? Madness gets locked away, it is relegated to the fringes of society, the mad are medicated, supervised, picked up by the police, kept in confinement by lawyers, judges, doctors and families. The world of the mad is shunned away, neither doctors, nor nurses, nor lawyers or judges, often also not the afflicted families, actually enter the mindset of madness. It is kept abreast by being ignored and medicated. All this whilst madness can be amazingly creative, nurturing and insightful. Madness in my experience is an amazing poetic and oeneric production and it should not be relegated to the fringes of society or consciousness. The mad conjure up entirely new worlds, new systems of organization and communication, the mad invent languages and have often a very special relationship to the arts. The creative aspects of madness should be allowed to live and to have a space in which to unfold. They should not be repressed. The upside of madness is often accompanied by a down side. Here too, therapy should enter this dark side of consciousness and the soul in order to allow these other worlds to have room to breath. What happens today in regard to madness is that it is silenced. It is robbed of its voice. There were times and cultures where the mad had a special status. In Shakespeare’s world for example, or among the many shamanistic cultures of American Indians, South American Indians, the Celts and others. It is only in modern times that the voice of the mad has been muted. It is left to the world of the insane without any interest from the so called healthy and normal world. The mad are often visionaries who in other cultures might achieve the status of a magician, doctor, artist or oracle and I wonder whether we as a culture by silencing the voice of the mad are not doing tremendous harm to our culture at large. Leaving untapped resources of the mind and soul go to waste. What does this say about us?

Films like the One who flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest still ring very close to home especially where closed psychiatric institutions are concerned. Closed psychiatric institutions are not friendly places. They are places of alienation and pain. There is a tremendous amount of suffering and all involved are hard pressed in coping with the strength and fervour with which mad people inhabit their own seemingly “isolated” space and time. For patients it is unfathomable to suffer the degradation and humiliation of being robbed of one’s usual freedoms. Locked wards are like prisons. Hopefully there will be a time in the future when locked wards will be looked at with disbelief. I am certain there will come a time when this form of incarceration will be seen as what it is, a violation of human rights and dignity. The mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the so

f madness. If there are forms of madness which belong to the area of self-growth and individuation rather than just to illness, then, what does this say about our current treatment of madness? Madness gets locked away, it is relegated to the fringes of society, the mad are medicated, supervised, picked up by the police, kept in confinement by lawyers, judges, doctors and families. The world of the mad is shunned away, neither doctors, nor nurses, nor lawyers or judges, often also not the afflicted families, actually enter the mindset of madness. It is kept abreast by being ignored and medicated. All this whilst madness can be amazingly creative, nurturing and insightful. Madness in my experience is an amazing poetic and oeneric production and it should not be relegated to the fringes of society or consciousness. The mad conjure up entirely new worlds, new systems of organization and communication, the mad invent languages and have often a very special relationship to the arts. The creative aspects of madness should be allowed to live and to have a space in which to unfold. They should not be repressed. The upside of madness is often accompanied by a down side. Here too, therapy should enter this dark side of consciousness and the soul in order to allow these other worlds to have room to breath. What happens today in regard to madness is that it is silenced. It is robbed of its voice. There were times and cultures where the mad had a special status. In Shakespeare’s world for example, or among the many shamanistic cultures of American Indians, South American Indians, the Celts and others. It is only in modern times that the voice of the mad has been muted. It is left to the world of the insane without any interest from the so called healthy and normal world. The mad are often visionaries who in other cultures might achieve the status of a magician, doctor, artist or oracle and I wonder whether we as a culture by silencing the voice of the mad are not doing tremendous harm to our culture at large. Leaving untapped resources of the mind and soul go to waste. What does this say about us?

Films like the One who flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest still ring very close to home especially where closed psychiatric institutions are concerned. Closed psychiatric institutions are not friendly places. They are places of alienation and pain. There is a tremendous amount of suffering and all involved are hard pressed in coping with the strength and fervour with which mad people inhabit their own seemingly “isolated” space and time. For patients it is unfathomable to suffer the degradation and humiliation of being robbed of one’s usual freedoms. Locked wards are like prisons. Hopefully there will be a time in the future when locked wards will be looked at with disbelief. I am certain there will come a time when this form of incarceration will be seen as what it is, a violation of human rights and dignity. The mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the so

the arts. The creative aspects of madness should be allowed to live and to have a space in which to unfold. They should not be repressed. The upside of madness is often accompanied by a down side. Here too, therapy should enter this dark side of consciousness and the soul in order to allow these other worlds to have room to breath. What happens today in regard to madness is that it is silenced. It is robbed of its voice. There were times and cultures where the mad had a special status. In Shakespeare’s world for example, or among the many shamanistic cultures of American Indians, South American Indians, the Celts and others. It is only in modern times that the voice of the mad has been muted. It is left to the world of the insane without any interest from the so called healthy and normal world. The mad are often visionaries who in other cultures might achieve the status of a magician, doctor, artist or oracle and I wonder whether we as a culture by silencing the voice of the mad are not doing tremendous harm to our culture at large. Leaving untapped resources of the mind and soul go to waste. What does this say about us?

Films like the One who flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest still ring very close to home especially where closed psychiatric institutions are concerned. Closed psychiatric institutions are not friendly places. They are places of alienation and pain. There is a tremendous amount of suffering and all involved are hard pressed in coping with the strength and fervour with which mad people inhabit their own seemingly “isolated” space and time. For patients it is unfathomable to suffer the degradation and humiliation of being robbed of one’s usual freedoms. Locked wards are like prisons. Hopefully there will be a time in the future when locked wards will be looked at with disbelief. I am certain there will come a time when this form of incarceration will be seen as what it is, a violation of human rights and dignity. The mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the so

of the mad are not doing tremendous harm to our culture at large. Leaving untapped resources of the mind and soul go to waste. What does this say about us?

Films like the One who flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest still ring very close to home especially where closed psychiatric institutions are concerned. Closed psychiatric institutions are not friendly places. They are places of alienation and pain. There is a tremendous amount of suffering and all involved are hard pressed in coping with the strength and fervour with which mad people inhabit their own seemingly “isolated” space and time. For patients it is unfathomable to suffer the degradation and humiliation of being robbed of one’s usual freedoms. Locked wards are like prisons. Hopefully there will be a time in the future when locked wards will be looked at with disbelief. I am certain there will come a time when this form of incarceration will be seen as what it is, a violation of human rights and dignity. The mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the so

mad are sentient beings often even more sensitive to infringements of basic freedoms than the normal because for the mad often the very social order and way of human beings relating to one another has become a primary question and focus of their attention. Often the very rules and regulations that make up a psychiatric ward are a mirror of regulatory mechanisms present in society under which the so called mad already suffer more than others. The mad are often the more sensitive in a culture. I am convinced that psychiatry is in need of tremendous reform into areas hitherto thought unthinkable. The actual content of a psychosis needs to be integrated and a part of therapy from very early on. Psychoses need to be seen as part of an individuation process and the patient should be viewed anew under this light. The patient role of the passive person who is treated should be activated to become a full fledged human being undergoing tremendous labour of the psyche and the soul. Psychiatric institutions should aid such people on their journey in talk-therapy, art, dance, music therapies and so on, the actual content of the psychosis should become part of the content of therapy. The mind of the “patient” should be engaged with even during acute phases of a psychosis. Experiments of this kind have existed. John Wier Perry ran a house in San Francisco in the 1970`s called diabase, where first time schizophrenic patients could go and live out their madness without medical sedation. The house was open and the staff and doctors accompanied the “patient” on their journeys into the subconscious. The experience made at diabase showed that most people undergoing a first psychosis would remain in a state of madness for about 40 days after which period the “patient” would out of her or his own accord gradually move back into “normality” again. Now I am not advocating that mental patients stop taking their medicine. I am on medication and would not dream of discontinuing it for obvious reasons. I have unfortunately had relapses when going off the medication. So I urge anyone reading this to not stop taking their medication and to make changes in your medication only with the advice of your doctor, family and friends. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that medication is all too rapidly conceded to when it comes to mental health. John Weir Perry argues even that patients who were treated with medication during a first time psychosis, repressing the symptoms, had a much higher relapse rate than first time psychosis patients. So the question of medication should always be considered very carefully.

Next to the pain psychiatric institutions are also places where great creativity and fragility can be found. The human condition in all its most multifaceted forms. They are places of imagination, poetry and strength above and beyond the paths and orbits of misery which are drawn in these places. The mad speak and think in tongues. There are the languages of depression, of mania, of schizophrenia, but then these are terms the psychotic don’t know or use. This is the language of the normal. To a mad person such categories do not exist. What exists is an endless boundless universe of connections, threads, lightning rods mental and linguistic bursting stars or burnt out amber. The mad have an energy of their own. Their body, mind and soul are like on strings. Imperceptible to weather and times of the day madness is above all a great wide continuum boundless and oceanic. It is one of the most dreadful and most beautiful places I have ever been to.

Madness substantially alters the chemistry of the body and the world. My flesh is of this world and the world is made of my flesh. Everything is illuminated and all things are possible. Like when I dressed up as Lenny Kravitz's sister, thinking I am connected to an eternal flow of money, walking into my bank and telling the perplexed bank officer that I am expecting a sum in the order of 20 Million Euros being transferred to my account and demonstrating how I would invest this money in the arts, in film, music, theatre, printing and the like. Good progressive investment, wanting to create a new superstructure in the world, quoting Marx and showing him my lists of music, film and publishing companies I had researched. Not bad really, feminist, progressive, up on the newest and most important going on in today’s culture. I had all of progressive Hollywood, French and German film, books and music on my list. My performance was really good, so good, that I wonder even in my sane state, how come nobody at the bank called me later in order to make this eternal well of money flow for the arts,- instead my ex-husband got called with the question what strange things his former wife is up to.

The down side of my psychoses was a severe bout of Satanism with incessant images of sadist, demonical and cann