Finding Meaning in the Madness Conceptualising compassion as a unifying force for Mad Studies

Abstract

What is compassion and how do we achieve it? Or more accurately what stops us from being able to engage in life compassionately? It is often suggested that madness involves a detachment from the world in which we inhabit, suggesting it is the antithesis to compassion. However, this is more down to a warped dominant understanding of how we connect with what is around us than the ‘nature’ of Mad experiences. This essay seeks to critique how Modern expectations surrounding the production of knowledge create conceptions of distress and the human condition which undermine a compassionate understanding of Madness. A process which cuts us off from the range of possibilities available to us. The essay therefore questions how we deem knowledge as proper and asks if there is not another, more collaborative, way in which we can make greater time and space for a wider diversity of living.