The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life. |
From inside the book
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... diagnoses - diseases - treatments , eschewed the massive coercive - excusing apparatus of the institution called " psychiatry , " and limited my work to psychiatric relations with consenting adults - that is , confidential conversations ...
... diagnoses and guide therapy , pathologists identify changes in the gross and microscopic appearance ( morphology ) of cells and tissues , and biochemical alterations in body fluids ( such as blood and urine ) . ” 20 The pathologist uses ...
... Diagnoses of malaria and tuberculosis rest on the demonstration of pathogenic microbes in the patient's body fluids or tissues ; diagnoses of depression and schizophrenia rest on no similar objective evidence . 2001 : “ Not only is the ...
... Diagnoses are not diseases , " The Lancet , 338 : 1574–1576 ( December 21/28 ) , 1991 . 24 Kendell , R. E. , “ The concept of disease and its implications for psychiatry , ” in Caplan , A. I. , Engelhardt , H. T. , Jr. , and McCartney ...
... diagnoses” and “hospitals,” “instincts” and “endocrine functions,” and, of course, “libido” and “psychic energies,” both “free” and “bound.” All this is fakery and pretense whose purpose is to “medicalize” certain aspects of the study ...
Contents
Breuer and Freuds Studies on Hysteria | |
SEMIOTICAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR | |
RULEFOLLOWING ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR | |
GAMEMODEL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR | |
Conclusions | |
Defining Disease | |
References | |
Bibliography | |
Name Index | |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | |
Other editions - View all
The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct Thomas S. Szasz No preview available - 2010 |