The Myth of Mental Illness: Difference between revisions
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==Outline== |
==Outline== |
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Szasz argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill. |
Szasz argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.<ref name="Webster" /> In his view, there is no such thing as illness of the mind, and "mental illness" is an inappropriate metaphor.<ref name="Zilbergeld">{{cite book |author=Zilbergeld, Bernie |title=The Shrinking of America: Myths of Psychological Change |publisher=Little, Brown & Company |location=Boston |year=1983 |pages=78-79 |isbn=0-316-98794-8 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> Szasz discusses [[Jean-Martin Charcot]] and [[hysteria]], making the case that hysteria is an emotional problem and that Charcot's patients were not really ill.<ref name="Webster" /> Szasz questions the legitimacy of psychiatry, comparing it to [[alchemy]] and [[astrology]].<ref name="NYTIMES" /> |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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Revision as of 00:54, 10 March 2014
ISBN 0-06-091151-4 | | |
The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct[1] is a 1961 book by Thomas Szasz, who questions psychiatry's foundations and argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.
Background
Szasz writes that he began work on The Myth of Mental Illness in 1954, when he was relieved of the burdens of a full-time psychiatric practice by being called to active duty in the navy. Later in the 1950s, the book was rejected by the first publisher to whom Szasz submitted the manuscript. Szasz next sent the manuscript to Paul Hoeber, director of the medical division of Harper & Brothers, who arranged for it to be published.[2]
Outline
Szasz argues against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.[3] In his view, there is no such thing as illness of the mind, and "mental illness" is an inappropriate metaphor.[4] Szasz discusses Jean-Martin Charcot and hysteria, making the case that hysteria is an emotional problem and that Charcot's patients were not really ill.[3] Szasz questions the legitimacy of psychiatry, comparing it to alchemy and astrology.[5]
Reception
The Myth of Mental Illness is a well known argument against the tendency of psychiatrists to label people who are "disabled by living" as mentally ill.
The philosopher Karl Popper, in a 1961 letter to Szasz, called the book admirable and fascinating, adding that, "It is a most important book, and it marks a real revolution."[6] Psychiatrist David Cooper writes that The Myth of Mental Illness, like R. D. Laing's The Divided Self (1960), proved stimulating in the development of anti-psychiatry, though he notes that neither book is itself an anti-psychiatric work. He describes Szasz's work as "a decisive, carefully documented demystification of psychiatric diagnostic labelling in general."[7] Cultural historian Richard Webster notes in Why Freud Was Wrong (1995) that some of Szasz's arguments are similar to his, but that their views of hysteria and the work of Charcot are quite different, since Szasz assumes that hysteria was an emotional problem and that Charcot's patients were not genuinely mentally ill.[3]
References
- ^ On the 1962 Secker & Warburg edition, the book is subtitled, "A critical assessment of the Freudian Approach" on the cover
- ^ ISBN 0-06-091151-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-9515922-5-4.
- ISBN 0-316-98794-8.
- ^ a b Carey, Benedict (September 11, 2012). "Dr. Thomas Szasz, Psychiatrist Who Led Movement Against His Field, Dies at 92". New York Times.
- PMID 19192090.
- ISBN 0-7139-1118-2.
External links
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