Mad Pride Switzerland
Mad Pride is a movement that aims at combatting the stigma around mental health and discrimination of people who have (or had in the past) a mental illness/condition. Born in Toronto in 1993, it was a reaction against the prejudices towards people having psychological or psychiatric conditions.
Since then, the idea spread to other countries to become an international movement. It also made it to Switzerland. The first Swiss Mad Pride gathering took place in Geneva in 2019. Sadly, but expectedly the following years it had to be postponed – due to the usual suspect Corona. Finally, the long-awaited second gathering is taking place on 18th of June in Bern.
Compared to anglophone countries, Switzerland stays reserved in the area of mental health – despite the high density of therapists, especially Jungian analysts in the country. Most people seek therapy as a last resort due to the stigma around it. And they are often ashamed to share it with anyone. I believe that as much as the potential judgement of others, we fear our own judgment of being “crazy”. This kind of movements, awareness raising campaigns will eventually help the population to be less-judgemental about mental illness.
So YAY for Mad Pride Switzerland!