Thomas Sazasz Mental Illnesses

Society has stereotyped views about ill health or mental health needs and how it affects people. Many people believe that people with mental ill health are violent and dangerous, when they are the ones that are more at risk of being attacked or harming themselves than harming other people. Stigma and discrimination can also worsen someone’s mental health problems and delay their help and treatment. Stigma and discrimination can trap people in the cycle of illness.

Sense or nonsense, many different views can come from reading the Szasz article on mental illness. According to Szasz mental illness is “merely a convenient myth” (91, Szasz). In the article Szasz compares what it looks to have physical illness compared to mental illness, as well as the concept of what mental illness really consists of. By comparing physical and mental illnesses Szasz makes it evident to the readers that there are clearly more symptoms visible to the eye with physical illnesses, then there are with mental illnesses. Szasz explains that he does not believe in such concepts as mental illness, but he agrees that some factors of mental illness are evident in people’s everyday life. Szasz has some valid points and arguments in his article but overall, there is more to mental illness then just was Szasz sees.

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

In addition, “The perceived link between mental illness and violence could lie in television and films that sensationalize murders committed by mentally ill persons…” (Callahan). The problem with people with mental illness being categorized as being violent is with popular TV shows showing people crimes such as murder being committed by people with mental illnesses. The media also plays a huge role in the reason why people with mental health issues are thought of as violent because they talk more about crimes such as murder being done where mental illness played a

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

“It is common that the media will associate mental illnesses with fear…The explanation may lie in negative stereotypes of people with mental illnesses as dangerous and unpredictably violent, thus making them ‘scary.’ Our brain’s natural tendency to confirm negative stereotypes ingrains this myth in our minds.”

The general public seems to favor the idea of increasing the reporting of mental illness in background check databases and limiting the ability of those with mental illness from gaining access to guns. In an article by James D. Calvert PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Southern Methodist University, cites a recent study done by The New England Journal of Medicine that found that both gun owners, and those who don’t own a gun agree that mental health providers should be required to report those who have threatened to hurt themselves, or others to a background database (Calvert, 76). Another article written by Jeffrey W. Swanson, PhD., a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University, discusses how the public bases its information on what it learns from sources in the media, which “reinforces the public’s perception of a strong link between mental illness and violence.” (Swanson, 169). This perception then also helps creates a fear of people with mental illness and makes those with such problems afraid to seek voluntary treatment.

Historically, society has believed that people with mental disorders tend to be more violent than normal people, creating a stigma for patients. They thought that a mentally ill person tends to cause harm and chaos which was difficult for this person to deal with. In fact, research suggests that public opinions on the relationship between mental illness and violence do not reflect reality, although some people with psychiatric disorders commit violent crimes, it was not really clear about how much mental illness or substance abuse affect violent behaviour. Media had a great effect on people by making them think that the mentally ill are violent which was proved to be a myth, as they are more likely to be victims than offenders.

Metzl and Kenneth T. MacLeish, we can see how these misconceptions are formed. In one passage of this article, it states that “mass shootings represent anecdotal distortions of, rather than representations of, the actions of ‘mentally ill’ people as aggregate group” (Metzl and Macleish pg. 877). Basically, these anecdotal accounts reported by the media do not represent the big picture of the gun violence going on in the country, and it is because of this great exaggeration based on specific events that skews the public’s perception of the mentally ill. Also, the media often makes a distinction between mild and severe mental illnesses, connecting the latter to unpredictability and lack of self-control (Metzl and Macleish pg. 878). But this connection is also called into question by mental health research when serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia may actually reduce the risk of violence due to traits often associated with schizophrenia such as social isolation and withdrawal (Metzl and Macleish pg.

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

The social model of mental illness emphasizes the social environment and the roles people play. Thomas Scheff maintains that people diagnosed as mentally ill are victims of the status quo, guilty of often unnamed violations of social norms; thus the label "mental illness" can be used as an instrument of social control. I agree with Scheff's analysis, and I strongly concur with the view Thomas Szasz takes on the notion of mental illness. Szasz argues that much of what we call "mental illness" is a myth; it is not an illness, but simply "problems in living", troubles caused by conflicting personal needs, opinions, social aspirations, values, and so forth (Szasz 13). It thus follows that the widely

Conclusion Although there will always be stereotypes on mental illness, many of the misperceptions proven wrong in recent years (McKenzie, 2005). There still will be myths, but maybe in time people will be able to understand and help these, slightly different, but completely normal people. Reshaping beliefs is not an easy task, but it is important to correct the misleading information about this issue. It can lead to intolerance and negatively impacts the lives of people with mental illness and our society as a whole. Learning about the facts about violence and mental illness is an important first step in building realistic attitudes about this issue.

Conversations associating mental illness with extreme cases of violence have become, and continue to become, more and popular in the United States of America. Many people across the nation, and even in other countries around the world, are demanding answers to an outstanding number of questions. Why did these tragic events occur? Why do these tragic events continue to occur? Why is it that whenever a mass shooting occurs the suspect claims insanity? What is insanity? Are they telling the truth or is it just a cover up? Does mental illness really cause crime? There are so many questions all with varying supplementary scenarios however, I will focus on my belief that although mental illness does not cause crime and violence, it does contribute to it. I believe that the first and most important problem in this controversy is the lack of understanding what both mental illness and crime is. Robert Schug refers to both terms as “umbrella terms” in Stacy Mallicoat’s Crime and Criminal Justice: Concepts and Controversies (2016). Mental illness consists of numerous complex conditions that alters one’s state of mind with ranging severities and crime consists of varying levels of behaviors and actions that are against the law.

There are many ways in which people view mental illness. “Some analysts suggest that the difference in types of mental disorders is linked to gender-role socialization, which instills aggressiveness in men and learned helplessness in women” (Kendall, 2013, p. 231). “Social scientists Joe R. Feagin and Melvin P. Sikes found that repeated personal encounters with racial hostility deeply affect the psychological well-being of most African Americans” (Kendall, 2013). “Feagin and Hernán Vera found that white Americans also pay a high psychic cost for the prevalence of racism because it

Mental health—and the stigma that comes along with it—is a very important issue, one of global importance. Shah and Beinecke explain that 450 to 500 million people suffer from mental illnesses (15). Just considering the amount of people who suffer from mental illness is enough to prove that this is a global issue. Despite the large amounts of people who are affected by mental illness, only one third of countries have some sort of program to help (15). This shows the lack of concern for those who suffer from mental illness. Stereotypes affect many people, and those with mental illness are no exception. Everyone has their own preconceived perspectives and notions of mental health, and many of them are uninformed and unjustified. It is up to us to start changing our viewpoints on mental health.