''The myth of mental illness:'' Continuing controversies and their implications for mental health professionals

Journal/Book: Clin Psychol Rev. 1997; 17: The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England OX5 1GB. Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd. 733-756.

Abstract: Since the publication of ''The Myth of Mental Illness'' in 1960, there has been an ongoing debate about Thomas Szasz ideas concerning mental illness. In this paper Szasz's views are summarized, as are the views of Szasz's critics. Spefically, the following areas are addressed: definition of disease, his notions regarding the unconscious and rationality, his beliefs regarding culpability his proposed differences between psychiatry and other-branches of medicine, the uses of the term ''mental illness,'' and the possibility of implicating physical lesions in some mental illnesses. With this discussion as a backdrop, the importance of these issues to mental health practitioners is addressed.

Note: Review Dammann EJ, William Alanson White Inst Psychiat Psychoanal, 20 W 74TH St, New York,NY 10023 USA

Keyword(s): SZASZ,THOMAS; DISEASE; PSYCHIATRY; DIAGNOSES; DRUGS

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