Mental health affects us all, and yet it remains elusive as a concept.

Does getting a diagnosis help or hinder it? How is mental well-being, which is often incredibly personal, driven by widespread societal suffering? Can it be a social construct and real at the same time?

These are some of the big questions Micha Frazer-Carroll asks as she reveals mental health to be a political issue that needs deeper understanding beyond today’s 'awareness raising' campaigns.

Exploring the history of asylums and psychiatry; the relationship between disability and broader liberation movements; alternative models of care; the relationship between art and mental health; law and the decarceration of mental health, Mad World is a radical and hopeful antidote to pathologization, gatekeeping and the policing of imagination.

It's time to reclaim our mental health!

Introduction
1. Asylums
2. 'Knowing' Mental Health Today
3. Mental Health in a Maddening World
4. Why Work is Sickening
5. Disability / Possibility
6. Diagnosing Diagnosis
7. On Disavowal and Disorder
8. Art for Mental Health
9. Law and Disorder
10. Other Possibilities
Conclusion

‘A radical antidote to the constraints of our current conceptualisation of mental health’

‘Frazer-Carroll takes aim at the individualisation of mental health, arguing for radical, political change’

'In these urgent times, activists are often seeking guidance on radical approaches to mental health. Mad World offers a welcome and refreshing guide to a progressive politics of mental health – an indispensable resource for activists today'

‘An incredibly well-written and clear-thinking introduction to the issues at stake in the mad movement. It offers a contemporary and forward-thinking analysis of how mental well-being is both damaged and politicised in capitalist society’

‘Frazer-Carroll takes on the politics of mental health with accessibility, compassion and curiosity. She calls for critical, progressive thinking and radical change to systems that have been tools of oppression for far too long’

'Wow! An honest, urgent and lovingly researched invitation to rethink our assumptions about madness. 'Mad World' is an invaluable toolkit, not just for dismantling oppressive health structures, but for building the systems of care we desperately need. This book is a gift and that gift is hope.'

‘This incredibly thought-provoking debut shows the need for new, deeper, and more radical mental health conversations. This book doesn’t just think outside the box, it rips the box wide open'

'Really brilliant...this is by far the best introduction to mad politics I've ever read.'

‘An accessible and in-depth tool for thinking radically and politically about mental health in the 21st century’

‘An inquisitive and nuanced look at a topic that we talk so much about and yet still don’t really have much of a holistic grasp on’

'An urgent introduction to a new radical politics of mental health which embraces the messy, unruly nature of our collective vulnerability and interdependence. Frazer-Carroll exposes the underlying truth that capitalism is fundamentally incompatible with our wellbeing. Mad World teaches us how to transform the ways we understand madness, illness, and disability to build a better world.'