Mental Illness Thomas Szasz Analysis

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

Jim Stevens “Schizophrenia” is open to interpretation. The title “Schizophrenia” sticks out because it is a mental disorder that affects how a person feels, thinks, and acts; it leads the reader to believe this poem has a dark undertone. Each line gives a story of how a family deals with the issues of two people in a relationship. For instance, in the last line of the poem, "It was the House that suffered the most" (Stevens line 1), Stevens indicates the relationship was not a happy one and the house suffered for it. He sets up the image with this opening line and repeats it in the close of the poem. Throughout the poem, the house transforms from a symbol to a person.

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

Thomas Szasz was a psychiatrist who wrote a book called the Myth of the Mental Illness.

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

It is imperative to seek treatment for children or adolescents who present with the onset of serious mental illness. Early-onset of illness is a high prediction of poor outcomes for the patient. Severe mental illness diagnoses include schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. The schizophrenia spectrum includes schizoaffective disorder, schizophreniform disorder and xxxx. The diagnoses fall into xxx categories; xxx, xxxx and xxx. Early onset of schizophrenia (EOS) before the age of 13, is very rare at 0.04 % of population in the United States. EOS is before the age of 18, 0.5% of U.S. population. Children and adolescents make up xxx of the psychiatric patient in the United States. The DSM-5

My pre-existing belief included the idea of individuals self-diagnosing themselves to an extreme. For an instance, some individuals self-diagnose themselves as being depressed when really they’re just really lazy and blame the fact that they're “depressed”. This belief led to believe that Karp’s story was going to be the same. But by the end of the story, was I amazed. The way David Karp explains his story within a few pages got me very intrigued. Not only was it very well writing but it felt personal. This particular reading made me feel like I was experiencing it with him.

Szasz makes a note that when talking about mental illness it is usually parallel to other diseases of the body except it involves plaguing of the brain. Just like any other disease which is a defect of that specific body part, disease of the brain is a neurological defect, not an issue of living. There is another valid point people overlook as well. Saying that mental illness is the same as any other bodily illness or disease would mean that it could be inside the individual, able to be transmitted to others and could even be cured. He proves this to be inaccurate in

The existence of mental disorders, while taken for granted by most people, is disputed by moral skeptics. Moral skepticism is the view that mental disorders do not exist and that it is wrong to label someone as having a mental disorder. In his book, The Disordered Mind, George Graham discusses moral skepticism at great length and offers his contrasting viewpoint. In this essay, I will discuss Graham’s view of moral skepticism and contrast that with the views of one of moral skepticism’s greatest proponents, Thomas Szasz. I will also elaborate on my own personal views of moral skepticism in an attempt to unify these two opposing theories of mental disorder.

As I began to read chapter 5 one thing that stood out to me was insanity and that insanity can be measured through the M’Naghten Rule. Going along with insanity we experienced something horrendous last week. There was a school shooting in Florida and the gunman seemed to be unstable and will most likely be proven insane. I think one of the most frustrating things in this case is that the shooter portrayed cries for help by posting online and the police had been called to his home over 30 times. Understanding insanity and mental illness is what we need to focus on. These issues cannot be ignored because horrendous acts of violence will take place. I enjoyed learning about insanity and mental illness because everyone needs to be aware of it and

The contemporary concept of mental illness is a growing public health concern. Around one in six adults in the UK were suffering from a common mental disorder in 2014 (NHS, 2014). Statistics such as this are discovered by numerous modern studies such as the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2014) which aim to determine prevalence and pattern with the overall aim of offering guidance to the people suffering from these mental health issues, and the disciplines they are involved in. What little stigma remains surrounding the issue of mental illness, is disappearing as the years go by. However, this was not always the case. The rise and fall of the asylum system demonstrate the shift from confinement to care in the community. The following will be a critical discussion of the impact that this asylum system has had on the contemporary understanding of mental health issues, incorporating the theoretical concept of post-structuralism and its underpinning within this context.

When I first set out to propose a project, I wasn’t sure what topic I wanted to conquer. Therefore, I quickly jumped when the professor suggested reading the memoir, “Darkness Visible” by William Styron. I have enjoyed all the class readings so far, I even did my last project on another memoir, and thought that reading a fresh perspective regarding mental illness would be engaging and inspiring.

Today, mental illness has been the scapegoat for most crimes today. From mass shootings to bombings, most people have blamed mental illness for the cause of these crimes. Moreover, even some defense attorneys have even had cases in which they claimed their client had a mental illness in order to receive a lesser sentence. However, in order to truly understand mental illness, we must first look at the history of people studying the brain. The history of the study of the brain, psychology, dates back to ancient Greece. By using the scientific reasoning, Hippocrates speculated that human temperament can vary by a person's physical qualities, such as yellow bile or too much blood (Smith). Many philosophers during this time period might have only

While I do feel that Dr. Szasz won the debate, I agree with Dr. Ellis. His argument is more defensive and, in my opinion, not as well prepared, but still, I agree with the fact that mental illnesses do exist. There are certainly people in society who have mental illness, and need the help of psychologists, and in some cases, medication. The example of criminals by Dr. Ellis is a perfect example of this. From my personal experience, I certainly believe that there are criminals who are mentally ill. Both of my parents work at a federal prison facility, and have worked there for a number of years. From the things they have shared with me, and the things I have personally observed, I certainly feel that there are mental illnesses in our society. While everyone may be somewhat irrational and self destructive, there are members of society that display these attributes much more clearly than others. These people, in my opinion, can be classified as mentally ill.

The rise of mental illness is upon us, but this is nothing new. We have become exposed to different illnesses in the media, particularly films. No one bats an eye at the validity of a teenager being diagnosed with brain cancer, but people refuse to accept their family member having a mental disorder. Popular culture tends to associate persons with mental disorders as “crazy” and “dangerous”, and we accept these characteristics and do not question them. This becomes dangerous when judges or jurors in a courtroom also begin to adopt this ideology.