Mad pride giving voice to mentally ill

NEW YORK, May 10 (UPI) -- U.S. residents suffering from mental illnesses have a new public voice, owing to the growth of so-called mad pride events, mental health professionals say.

Yale School of Medicine psychiatry lecturer Charles Barber said the growing mad pride movement represents a new generation's attempt to bring mental illness into the public eye without shame or remorse, The New York Times said Saturday.

"Until now, the acceptance of mental illness has pretty much stopped at depression," Barber said. "But a newer generation, fueled by the Internet and other sophisticated delivery systems, is saying, 'We deserve to be heard, too.'"

Molly Sprengelmeyer, who helped organize a mad pride group in North Carolina, said the events help challenge stereotypes of mental illness and improve the lives of those suffering from such illnesses.

"It used to be you were labeled with your diagnosis and that was it; you were marginalized," Sprengelmeyer told the Times. "If people found out, it was a death sentence, professionally and socially.

"We are hoping to change all that by talking."