But personally, I call it a nuisance, a straitjacket on my life, and/or the root of all evil (depending on my mood).
Throughout my childhood, I witnessed the barbaric treatment my mother received -- from the attendants who put her in a straitjacket and from my father who used me as an unwitting accomplice ("Let's go get ice cream!") to trick her into returning to the hospital that terrified her.
"Sparkle That Shines," Straitjacket Fits (1990) My favorite from New Zealand's Flying Nun label; turned on a dime between subtlety and bombast, like Radiohead.
Suddenly, the straitjacket I had worn beneath my overalls, bulky wool sweaters and puffy down vest had vanished.
I cannot claim that the improved media coverage of mental illness in recent years is due to all of my articles going back to my 2005 L.A. Times op-ed, "Shedding Stigma of the 'Psycho' Straitjacket".
The shirt had armholes at the shoulder, and the sleeves were tied decoratively at the back -- an effect slightly reminiscent of a straitjacket, perhaps to remind me of my feckless behavior with the forgotten coat.
A few of the highlights of my thrilling adventure: being bathed in the warm glow of cinematic blue light in the cabaret, reading disturbing chalkings on an observational medical table, and a padded cell with occult symbols ripped into wall with a straitjacket limp on the floor at my feet (which I promptly put on and spooked fellow theatergoers with).
Those who have been reading my articles on mental illness, going back to my 2005 L.A. Times op-ed, "Shedding Stigma of the 'Psycho' Straitjacket," know that I often invoke Hamlet.
In 1987, just a year after she was sent to a hospital in a straitjacket, her charmingly upbeat 1959 recording of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" was chosen by Chanel for its international television ad campaign.
He jokes, "My flow so schizophrenic that I think I need a straitjacket".
