tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49110909725978474792024-03-13T10:59:56.173-07:00SzaszismSzaszismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07890324040851577524noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4911090972597847479.post-56267894152968190562013-10-09T05:44:00.002-07:002013-10-09T06:10:58.114-07:00Excerpts from "The Myth of Mental Illness"Excerpts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US">"Mental illness, of course, is not literally a 'thing' -- or physical object -- and hence it can 'exist'
only in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist. Yet,
familiar theories are in the habit of posing, sooner or later -- at least to
those who come to believe in them -- as "objective truths" (or 'facts').<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US">During certain
historical periods, explanatory conceptions such as deities, witches, and
microorganisms appeared not only as theories but as self-evident <i>causes </i>of
a vast number of events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I submit that
today mental illness is widely regarded in a somewhat similar fashion, that is,
as the cause of innumerable diverse happenings."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></blockquote>
-- "<a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Szasz/myth.htm">The Myth of Mental Illness.</a>"<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US">"[Someone accused of mental illness] might state... that he is being persecuted by
the Communists. These would be considered mental symptoms <i>only </i>if the
observer believed that the patient was <i>not... </i>being persecuted. This makes it apparent that the statement that <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><i>'X </i></span>is a mental
symptom' involves rendering a judgment. The judgment entails, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">more</span>over, a covert comparison or
matching of the patient's ideas, concepts, or beliefs with those of the
observer and the society in which they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
[Thus] t</span>he notion of mental symptom is therefore inextricably tied to the <i>social
</i>(including <i>ethical</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">) <i>context"</i></span></span></blockquote>
-- "<a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Szasz/myth.htm">The Myth of Mental Illness.</a>"<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<span lang="EN-US">Psychiatry... is more
intimately tied to problems of ethics than is medicine. I use the word
"psychiatry" here to refer to that contemporary discipline which is
concerned with <i>problems in living </i>(and not with diseases of the brain,
which are problems for neurology).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Problems in human relations can be analyzed, interpreted, and given
meaning only within given social and ethical contexts."</span></blockquote>
-- "<a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Szasz/myth.htm">The Myth of Mental Illness.</a>"<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span lang="EN-US">"The assumption is made that some neurological
defect... will ultimately be found for all the
disorders of thinking and behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">..</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This position implies that people <i>cannot </i>have
troubles -- expressed in what are <i>now called </i>"mental
illnesses" -- because of differences in personal needs, opinions, social
aspirations, values, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>All
problems in living </i>are attributed to physicochemical processes which in due
time will be discovered by medical <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">research."</span></span></blockquote>
-- "<a href="http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Szasz/myth.htm">The Myth of Mental Illness.</a>" Szaszismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07890324040851577524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4911090972597847479.post-78582587379402459132013-10-09T05:43:00.000-07:002013-10-09T10:03:23.467-07:00Quote:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.imgur.com/bqktT4s.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://i.imgur.com/bqktT4s.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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