Mental Illness Szasz Summary

Thomas Szasz believes that what has been labeled mental illness more often than not reflects nonconformity or problems in living, not true illness. He says the diagnosis of mental illness is not medically based, but rather socially, politically, and/or morally based. According to Szasz, psychologists and psychiatrists are only worthy professionals if they view the people they help as clients rather than patients, and help them learn about

As defined by experts, a mental illness is a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and involves changes in thinking, emotion, behavior, interpersonal interactions, daily functioning, or a combination. The causes of mental illness are complex and vary depending on the theories associated to the different biological, psychological, and environmental factors. The etiology of mental illness is based on five broad models: biological, psychological, behavioral, cognitive, and social.

I do agree that mental illness are simply behaviors that are not socially acceptable because our society has not educated themselves enough to accept them. When I was growing up society put a label on a mentally ill person as, crazy, mad, retarded and put them in our local faciality for retarded people. Even though some were severely crippled, developmentally slow and developmental challenged, they were put away in the local mental hospital or in a mental hospital ward. They were isolated from society, so they were not exposed to societies skills, and trained correctly to be a productive citizen, therefore they could not learn and become productive citizens.

When someone is asserted mentally ill, in the eyes of Szasz, they are providing a way of explaining the everyday problems of living (90, Szasz). Szasz does not believe that mental illness is necessarily really there. Consequently mental illness is more of a mere way of pushing aside ones daily living problems and putting up an excuse of why circumstances are not always harmonious. This concept was difficult to read, but made there be a great deal of thinking about whether this is a true statement. It is clear that Szasz has not personally experienced any form of mental illness himself. If Szasz had experienced personally what most define mental illness as

Laing, who examined the existential aspect of symptom’s characteristic; and Michel Foucault, who explored the social and political factors of the institutionalization of those with mental illness. Mental illness, to these academics, was “a social construction used to label socially intolerable behavior” thereby branding it as individual flaws. Such claims from academic figures such as Szasz, Laing, and Foucault led to an anti-psychiatry movement that was highly critical of the psychiatric authority. Psychiatry and psychology at the time was argued to “enforce power relations rather than [treat] actual clinical conditions” which mirrored Szasz’s ideas on the political agenda behind psychology and

When people think of an “illness” they typically don’t automatically think of mental illness. They think about HIV, cancer, or even a cold or flu. However when it comes to mental illness it is a whole different idea. But is mental illness even real? Addressed in the book, The Myth of Mental Illness (1961), a psychiatrist Thomas Szasz argues that the idea of classifying psychological and emotional difficulties as “illnesses” takes away sense of control. Instead of holding people personally and morally responsible for their actions, he states, doctors attempt to “treat” the person, often with medications. Diagnosing mental illness, on the other hand, argue that mental disorders are as real as physical diseases and diagnosing them allows people

Dr. Szasz’s point in this video is about coercive-forced- treatment of psychologically sick people and stigmatization. He makes point that it’s a social idea to categorize people's behavior if they don't fit in to the expected standards, and then put them on medication to change them. There is lots of people who behave different than others and their behaviors might be disturbing in the society but I feel like they need to be able to decide if they want to take the medication or not because medications gave side effects. Psychiatric medications just slow patients down, it’s like they take the control of the body by numbing the brain. When my daughter was in kindergarten she had a classmate who was a little active boy. I was volunteering in

Each participant met with a psychiatrist for a complete mental health assessment regardless of the hospital conducting one. This assessment sets the baseline for that participant. After the initial psychiatric evaluation each participant filled out a questionnaire that was created by the psychiatrist. Having a psychiatrist create the questionnaire gave the study validity, because the psychiatrist is a professional and expert in the area that was studied. Validity is necessary for good science and research.

In his view, today, particularly in the affluent West, all of the difficulties and problems in living are considered psychiatric diseases, and everyone (but the diagnosticians) is considered mentally ill (Szasz 4). However, there is very little evidence supporting the popular view that for the most part "mental illnesses" are mental diseases; that is, of a legitimate biological, physiological, neurological or chromosomal nature. Instead, as Szasz writes, "what people now call mental illnesses are, for the most part, communications expressing unacceptable ideas, often framed in an unusual idiom (Szasz 19)."

Szasz’s most radical belief is undoubtedly his opinion that what many people practicing psychiatric medicine would call a mental illness is in fact not an illness as at all, going as far as to calling them “myths”. Szasz came to this conclusion because aside from certain diseases, including alzheimer 's, that can be clinically proven, all other instances of “mental illness” are subjective. Szasz believed that in order for something to be labeled as a disease there must be a clinical correlation. The nature of disease, to Szasz, referred to a malfunction of the human body, easily identifiable and a disease needs to demonstrate a clear pathology at the cellular or molecular level. The nature of the mental, to Szasz, is concerned with what people do, the actions

In the article, “The Myth of Mental Illness” written by Thomas S. Szasz, Szasz states that the concept of mental illness is essentially inconsistent because it is based on the evidence that it occurs due to the nervous system disorders, specifically brain disorders, which marks themselves through irregular thought processes. Szasz argues in opposition to the predisposition of psychiatrists to mark people who are “disabled by living” as mentally ill. In addition, Szasz believes that there is not any real illnesses of the mind, and is rather a metaphor that is not valid. He thinks that it is inappropriate to categorize mental illnesses as diseases. Furthermore, mental illness is rationally illogical as well as has harmful consequences. Psychotherapy helps people gain more knowledge about them, others, and life as stated by Szasz.

To understand what mental illness is you have to know what it means. Mental health is the state of our well-being. Mental health has to do with the mind. According to thefreedictionary.com mental health is “a state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life”. Mental illness are behavioral, psychological, and emotional disorders that effect the mind. Mental illness is not something that should be avoided. There many different types of mental illnesses. There are also mental healthcare services that can help people with their mental illnesses.

The premises of Thomas Szasz’s book are that ‘mental illness’’ are a myth. He argues mental illness should not be classified as psychological problems as they arise from categorical error. He claims the concept of illness

Mental illness becomes a bigger issue with a long lasting cultural stereotyped due to the manner in which it has long been labelled (Miles, 1988). Although mental illness is very much connected to instabilities in one’s mental health state, as previously mentioned, a person can be mentally healthy but still suffer from a mental illness. What is understood by mental illness is that it

Imagine a world where a third of the human population suffered from the same type of illness. Imagine a world where the government does little to help those who suffer from this terrible illness. Imagine a world where nobody acknowledged the pain and suffering that comes along with this illness. This is, unfortunately, the world we live in today. The illness is not one that others notice, but it can have terrible consequences to those who suffer from it. The type of illness are the ones that plague people mentally.