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
Results 1-5 of 14
... political power : representing the State , they decree that " mental illness is a disease like any other . ” Political power and professional self - interest unite in turning a false belief into a " lying fact . ” 2 In 1999 , President ...
... political stratagem . For example , my late friend , the development economist P. T. Bauer , saw the same sort of deceptive rhetoric controlling the debate about foreign aid : " To call official wealth transfers ' aid ' promotes an ...
... political and professional interests it sets in motion . I should mention here one of my childhood experiences that influenced me strongly and played an important part in my writing of The Myth of Mental Illness . Growing up in Budapest ...
... political , and social consequences and showed that psychiatry rests on two profoundly immoral forensic practices : civil commitment and the insanity defense . Consistent with those conclusions , I rejected the mendacious rhetoric of ...
... not all patients are sick . Nevertheless , physicians , politicians , the press , and the public conflate and confuse the two categories.23 Given the demonstrated usefulness and conceptual stability of the pathological.
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 |