After an 11 year hiatus, I am back!
As most of you know, my name is Adelle, and I'm a bipolar, bisexual survivor of the Troubled Teen Industry. I identify broadly as a psych survivor.
This blog, f***YeahMadPride is a project I did from 2011-2014; it's a fangirl blog about the Mad Pride social movement.
At the time, I was getting a degree in Human Development/Psychology, and taking courses in feminism, queer theory, critical race theory (i'm a fan), and disability studies. My senior project was called "Camps, Asylums and Boarding Schools: A Mad Coalitional Genealogy". I thought I was pretty smart! hahahaha.
But seriously, I was trying to apply Cathy Cohen's "Punks, Bulldaggers and Welfare Queens" as the foundation for the idea that formerly confined peoples have a shared relationship to power, which could activate political coalitions between our survivor groups.
I remember a big moment in my research was discovering that survivor resources for Native American kids sent to schools had almost identical overlap with suggestions found in Troubled Teen Industry survivor resources. ("never send your child to a school which only lists a P.O. box", is an example).
I also did this because I noticed a difference between outpatient mentally ill people, and mentally ill people who have been longterm inpatient or involuntarily confined, such as myself. I could only explain this through Cohen's frame: seemingly the same out-group or identity, but different relationships to power.
This chapter is a continuation of my work to promote visibility for the mad, sad, mentally ill, troubled teen industry and c/s/x survivors through fangirl content. But this time, I'm posting videos of myself talking - LOL.
I made a TikTok and a YouTube channel (you can find a 5-part introduction to this renewed project on my TikTok, if you're into the lore). I am excited to be back online! It's a totally different era than the tumblr years. Hello fellow kids!
I spent the past 20 years situating my TTI and other psychiatric experiences firmly in the history of asylums and psychiatric survival. Although I became aware of the direct connection between cults and my program about 10 years ago, it honestly has taken a long time for that part to settle in. I spent the last 20 years thinking that I was held captive by uneducated, unethical people, who were haphazardly trying to instill good values and valid psychological principles/theories. It turns out, it was all a grift!!! I spent 20 years reading Carl Jung, when I should have ALSO been reading Robert Jay Lifton.
In this second chapter I'm done being in the closet about my TTI experiences, and I'm done giving those adults-in-charge the benefit of the doubt. I look forward to learning more about "organizational psychology", cults, and coercive control this time around.
TikTok @ex.patient.adelle
IG @ex.patient.adelle
Reddit @ex-patient-adelle
DESCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO ABOVE:
After going into a little background, this video demonstrates how even the most boring, garden variety exchange in a "Feedback Group" at my school, contributes to a compression of harm and stress for survivors. I hope my video provides a thoughtful criticism on the Troubled Teen Industry, and schools considered to be "one of the good ones."
Please note, I made an error in my statement that SRA was open for "16 years". It was open for about 27 years (1996-2023). I correct this in the closed captioning, and added a pop-up in the video with this edit.
IMAGE/VIDEO DESCRIPTION:
A white woman with a short buzzcut is wearing a grey suit, sitting in front of a cute and childish desk full of Archie comics, a Wicked lego set, a pink puppy stuffed-animal, candles, a fireplace youtube video playing on a laptop, books and makeup. Her essay is typed on purple printer paper, which she is holding.
Kind regards,
Your friend,
