Tag: Thomas Szasz

Unbiased experts must examine the claims and research of psychiatry and issue a report as to whether psychiatry not only has a valid medical basis, but whether this basis justifies the widespread violation of medical ethics and the routine use of imprisonment and torture.

Dr. Niall McLaren joins us to talk of his experiences working in Australian psychiatry and explains why the models that purport to guide psychiatric diagnosis and treatment are not what they seem.

Americans appear to be increasingly terrified by the possibility of ostracism, including for failing to conform to psychiatry dogma. This prevents critical thinking.

Dr. Thomas Szasz (1920-2012) was one of the greatest thinkers and prose stylists of the last 100 years. Enough time has passed since he died that we can start to take stock of his legacy. This important new collection of essays by former colleagues, psychiatrists, philosophers, and legal experts does just that.

From Psychology Today: "Szasz's ideas on psychiatry and mental illness can roughly be summarized as follows. First, mental illness is a metaphor for human problems...

From Truthdig: Last week marked 40 years since Franco Basaglia’s revolutionary work in Trieste, Italy, led to the groundbreaking Legge 180 (Law 180, also known...

An interview with Professor of classical languages and literature, Michael Fontaine. Michael is Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at Cornell University in New York. We discuss what Ancient Greece and Rome can teach us about psychiatry and the concept of mental disorders.

Szasz clarified what mental illness isn't, but not what it is, and it is something. I will show that it's just a concept that evolved in order to dehumanize those who cope in ways that don't further society's survival, and thus to justify their exclusion so as to maximize society's efficiency.

In this piece for Psychiatric Survivors, John C. Hancock discusses the work of Karl Kraus, who was praised by Thomas Szasz as one of the greatest...

Whole social systems depend on the assumption that what we call ‘mental illness’ or ‘mental disorder’ (a piggy-back term) originates in the body. In particular, this notion is fundamental to the current social response to certain forms of behaviour, and to processes for allocating resources for assistance or welfare.

Why did I read Jeffrey A. Lieberman’s new book, “Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry”? Frankly, I have been befuddled by my profession. I am a psychiatrist — Board Certified, as they say, these past 37 years – for a long time. So finally, I thought, if I read this book, the pieces of the story would fall into place, right? Indeed, I was astonished!