A review by papercraftalex
(Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start the Conversation About Mental Health by Kelly Jensen

2.0

I read this for the disability readathon and I really shouldn't have. Throughout multiple stories, it perpetuates the idea that physically disabled people have it easier than people with mental illness. Like many anthologies, the quality of the stories varied widely, but unfortunately the subjects did not. The stories were mostly about anxiety and depression, with a sprinkle of OCD, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders. The only story in this collection about schizophrenia was about someone's abusive mother, which perpetuates very harmful stereotypes. That's not the worst one though! The editor was reprehensible for including "The Alchemy of Healing" by Emily Mayberry. The story is about a school shooting survivor who blames school shootings on mental illness (I thought the point of this collection was to destigmatize mental illness) and then advertise her appropriated scam business. Another story was a veteran's narrative of living with PTSD, which would be great to include if the veteran telling the story wasn't racist. He said "My little blond-haired daughter deserves a father who lives in the present." So she only deserves that because she's blond? You took that opportunity away from other dads. "I will not let Iraq win." They didn't, thousands of people's lives are destroyed, because of you.

The only stories I feel are worth reading are CODA by Meredith Russo, What We're Born With and What We Pick Up Along the Way by Heidi Heilig, and Call Me Crazy by s.e. smith.