Psycho Donuts and mental health

Jordan Zweigoron wanted an "edgy" doughnut shop, said Lauren Cox in ABC News, and he got it. Zweigeron called his California store "Psycho Donuts," then dressed his cashiers in old-fashioned nurse outfits, built a padded room where customers can be photographed wearing straight-jackets, and came up with menu items like his "bipolar doughnut" -- half chocolate frosting and nuts, half coconut flakes. Maybe he should have anticipated the protests by advocates for mental health advocates that have followed.

Fans of Psycho Donuts say it's "simply lighthearted fun," said Pete Earley in USA Today. But "for those of us with loved ones who suffer from severe mental illnesses, Psycho Donuts is no laughing matter." Words can hurt, by marginalizing and trivializing the suffering of people from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, severe depression and other mental illnesses that are "no funnier than breast cancer or heart disease."

Give it a rest, said Soheil Rezaee in the San Jose Independent Examiner. "I'm an advocate of equal rights and a more tolerant world toward all people of different races, religion, gender, and sexual orientation." But "not every damn group" in the country is entitled to protection from all harmless ribbing. "So just ignore the disruption and enjoy a tasty donut."

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