Also written: Loony, Mad, Psycho, Nuts, Deranged
| Source | Year | Position |
|---|---|---|
| SumOfUs | 2016 | Avoid |
| National Center on Disability and Journalism | 2021 | Avoid |
| Sierra Club | 2021 | Avoid |
| American Psychological Association | 2023 | Avoid |
| Diversity Style Guide | 2023 | Avoid |
“Terms avoided/questioned by disability rights activists: … crazy … loony … maniac … nut, nut job, nutter, nutso … psycho”
SumOfUs lists "crazy" — along with "loony," "maniac," "nut," and "psycho" — among the terms avoided or questioned by disability rights activists, contrasting them with person-first forms such as "person who has [schizophrenia, etc.]."
“These words were once commonly used to describe people with mental illness but are now considered offensive. … Do not use these words, particularly when reporting on mental illness, unless they are part of a quote that is essential to the story.”
NCDJ — the chapter's anchor source — groups "crazy," "loony," "mad," "psycho," "nuts," and "deranged" as former descriptions of people with mental illness that are now offensive, and advises against using them, particularly in mental-illness reporting, except in an essential quote.
“Instead of saying something is "crazy," just be more specific! Is it bizarre, unprecedented, or extremist? We should never use "crazy" or other terms about mental health to pejoratively refer to a specific person.”
Sierra Club calls the pejorative use of "crazy" (and "insane") one of the most common forms of unconscious ableism, instructing writers to never apply it to a person and to reach for specific words — "bizarre," "unprecedented," "extremist" — for actions or events instead.
“Term to avoid: crazy. Suggested alternatives: person living with a mental illness / person with a preexisting mental health disorder.”
APA's term-to-avoid table lists "crazy" (alongside "nuts," "insane," and "mentally ill"), prescribing person-first phrasing such as "person living with a mental illness" instead.
“Derogatory language that contributes to the negative attitudes about mental illness that keep people from seeking treatment. … rather than crazy or deranged, use people living with a mental illness.”
The Diversity Style Guide files "crazy" with "crazed," "psycho," "nuts," "lunatic," "deranged," and "wacko" as derogatory language that reinforces stigma around mental illness, preferring "people living with a mental illness," and notes that any essential quoted use needs careful context.
“Crazy” is rejected across the corpus, most pointedly as a casual metaphor and not only as a description of a person. All five sources reject it, and those that characterize it tie it directly to mental-illness stigma. NCDJ — the chapter’s anchor — groups “crazy” with “loony,” “mad,” “psycho,” “nuts,” and “deranged” as former descriptions of people with mental illness that are now offensive; the Diversity Style Guide files it with “crazed,” “lunatic,” and “wacko” as language that reinforces stigma; APA’s term-to-avoid table prescribes “person living with a mental illness”; and SumOfUs lists it among terms avoided or questioned by disability rights activists. What the sources point at is the writer’s own throwaway usage. Sierra Club calls the pejorative “crazy”/“insane” the single most common form of unconscious ableism, instructing writers never to apply it to a person and, for an event or idea, to reach for a specific word: “bizarre,” “unprecedented,” “extremist.”
The shared exception is narrow. NCDJ and the Diversity Style Guide preserve “crazy” only inside a quote that is essential to the story, handled with care, never in the publication’s own voice.
The guidance is stable from SumOfUs (2016) through the 2021–2023 guides, and unusually direct: this is one of the few entries in the chapter where the rule is about the writer’s own habits rather than how a subject is described. The closely related insane carries an added legal-term nuance.