Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionised thinking throughout the world about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing behaviour problems as 'mental illness', psychiatry, Szasz argues, absolves the individual of responsibility for his actions, placing blame instead on the illness. In "The Myth of Mental Illness", he attacks Freudian psychology as a dangerous pseudo-science and critiques the overreach of psychology into all aspects of modern life.
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Born in Budapest, Hungary, Thomas Szasz is professor emeritus of psychiatry at the State University of New York in Syracuse, where he has taught since 1956. He earned his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati and received psychoanalytic training at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. In addition to The Myth of Mental Illness, his best-known work, Dr. Szasz is the author of 30 scholarly books and numerous academic articles.
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First Sentence
Since the modern concept of hysteria was cut from the cloth of malingering, and since the physician most responsible for establishing "hysteria" as a medically legitimate illness was Charcot, I shall start with an examination of his work; and I shall then trace the development of the concept of hysteria to the present time. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Since the modern concept of hysteria was cut from the cloth of malingering, and since the physician most responsible for establishing "hysteria" as a medically legitimate illness was Charcot, I shall start with an examination of his work; and I shall then trace the development of the concept of hysteria to the present time. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Steve92
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is seminal work, that is just as valid today as when written. As a nurse that has worked for many years with people who struggle through life with a pattern of non adaptivew coping strategies, this book increases an understandng of the futility of applying the medical model. I recomend you read it!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By E. Blonde
Format:Paperback
The first time I came into contact with Thomas Szasz was in the spring of 1980, my last year in high school. The book was about anti-psychiatry and the way society was responsible for many mental problems. Later when I studied medicine my grandmother bought me another Szasz book (she was also born in Hungary) because i was studying Freud and Adler. His books changed my view on the topic of mental illnesses and psychiatry. He calls Psychiatry, the science of lies in his last work, he is not telling lies, he is very close to the truth. "The subject matter of psychiatry is neither minds nor mental diseases, but lies ...." After more than 25 years at the university, I went back to real science, I felt that social science does not stand the test of real science, psychiatry is not a science, but a tool for society to eliminate unwanted subjects. If you look closely to forensic psychiatry, how it works, what it says .... you can spot the lie, you can smell deceit from a distance. Szasz is the scientific knight who pulled the veil of Maya away from psychiatry and psychology !
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Szasz is not saying there is no such thing as human distress, he agress with that. It is just the labels and diagnoses that are attached to the person who exhibits a categorised "illness." Mental illness cannot be found in the body as a disease or a genetic change, therefore he sets out to highlight how psychiatry invented the disorers.
The basic belief being that psychological illnesses do not exist, as in a pathogene, or the body changing its infrastructure irrevocably. There is no bipolar, autism, schizo, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, anorexia gene. There is however a belief these genes exist and huge expenditure is placed upon finding them. All based on the perception that human beings are clockwork toys that lack certain chemicals just like a car or a robot. The views arrive from a sense of making the human being into a robot regardless of veracity. Szasz begins to talk apart the constructs within this book, piece by piece, and it makes very uncomfortable reading for any psych doctor, nurse etc.
The first and fundamental error of psych science, it all rests upon belief, just the same as religion. It needs adherents and people to spread the message. Then it needs to take out dissenters. Into the silo huge industries arise based on keeping the real causes of misery a mystery - the social structures created to make sense of the world and negating the emotional world at the expense of abstracts.
Szasz dons his armour, takes his sword and charges ahead into the mass ranks of the believers and they all melt into thin air, because their genetic beliefs are tissue paper. However this tissue paper is encoded in the belief systems of those who need to believe. It is this which keeps it all intact.... Read more ›
The basic belief being that psychological illnesses do not exist, as in a pathogene, or the body changing its infrastructure irrevocably. There is no bipolar, autism, schizo, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, anorexia gene. There is however a belief these genes exist and huge expenditure is placed upon finding them. All based on the perception that human beings are clockwork toys that lack certain chemicals just like a car or a robot. The views arrive from a sense of making the human being into a robot regardless of veracity. Szasz begins to talk apart the constructs within this book, piece by piece, and it makes very uncomfortable reading for any psych doctor, nurse etc.
The first and fundamental error of psych science, it all rests upon belief, just the same as religion. It needs adherents and people to spread the message. Then it needs to take out dissenters. Into the silo huge industries arise based on keeping the real causes of misery a mystery - the social structures created to make sense of the world and negating the emotional world at the expense of abstracts.
Szasz dons his armour, takes his sword and charges ahead into the mass ranks of the believers and they all melt into thin air, because their genetic beliefs are tissue paper. However this tissue paper is encoded in the belief systems of those who need to believe. It is this which keeps it all intact.... Read more ›
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Who am I?
Format:Paperback
To sum up mental illness is impossible in this space but to add light to the correct or successful line of thinking is to understand 'exactly' what Szasz said back then (1980's), and 'that is' that it is NOT an ILLNESS but a CONDITION. If your football team perform bad and are in a state of frustration and confusion are they ill? No, they are having problems coping with either 'stress, the weather, new team members, the others teams strategy, personal pressure, etc'. They are NOT prescribed pills or tablets but are given guidance and training to help cope. This is the core of the reasoning. There are institutions and people of 'power' (without name) who are in positions which come with responsibility of the 'well-being' of humanity but are not humanitarian's and are often delusional and without sympathy or 'soul'. They know just as the average citizen feels (whether conscious or not) that the 'stresses and pressures' of the society these people 'over-see' are often inhuman and un-natural, therefore reactions and symptoms will inevitably occur which can easily be thought of (without observation and study) as un-natural and sometimes in-human behaviour (remembering some cultures call it possession).
27 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Though this book might be of paramount importance for those who desire to find an antithetical position to the "Doctors for the pathologizing of human behavior," I think it a terrible mistake to read this book with the assumption that understanding Szasz will be the result. Written early in his career, this book, like Beethoven's early symphonies, deserves not the attention it receives for the titilating title. I believe the influence of Karl Kraus caused the about face demonstrated by "The Myth of Psychotherapy" from the position outlined in "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis," both books he published later. For those that desire to find a summation of Szasz in one volume, I would recommend "Insanity."
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant.
If you want an antidote to the drug companies and psychiatiry this is the book to read.
Or any of the numerous other books by Sasz. Read more
Or any of the numerous other books by Sasz. Read more
Published 1 month ago by just Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mr Szasz will be sadly missed
There is no such thing, he's absolutely right! All those charlatan quacks could never face up to their lies and deceptions
Published 1 month ago by Herbie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
Book received in good conditions, as described and after transacton. No necessery any comunication. I recommend this book to any who wants a new perspectiv on theme
Published 3 months ago by António Filipe
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book poor quality
The book itself doesn't need a review but sadly the quality of paper is poor and the printing has errors which make a few pages hard to read as the ink seemed as though it was... Read more
Published 3 months ago by jules
5.0 out of 5 stars
very interesting approach worth reading
This book was in a very good condition, it arrived on time, generally worth buying if anyone is interested in a topic. A very good source.
Published 6 months ago by ewelina
5.0 out of 5 stars
The myths of the fanatical, neo-Kraepelinian brain scapegoaters
Thomas Szasz, vociferous, unwavering opponent of coercive psychiatry and the many it has and continues to ruin, unleashed a lot of irrational forces amongst the psychiatric... Read more
Published 23 months ago by The Sweet poetry of Pus
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Paradigm-changing book
With the late, great Ronnie (R.D.) Laing, Szasz has done from the political Right what many have done from the Left (e.g. Laing himself, Ian Parker etc.) - i.e. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2010 by Richard House
4.0 out of 5 stars
Challenging and important
Szasz has a strong and anti-establishment view of psychiatry, and uses a range of arguments from sociology, semiotics, communication analysis, ethics and game theory to support his... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2008 by Quotidian
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Book
At one time or another many people become unhappy or angry to the point where they don't feel that they can cope with life because of their spouse or their mortgage or whatever. Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2005 by Alan Michael Forrester
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