Summary Of The Myth Of Mental Illness By Thomas Szasz

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Thomas S. Szasz argues in his article The Myth of Mental Illness that there is no such thing as mental illness. He argues this by writing that because mental illness “is not literally a thing -- or physical object--” (Szasz 1960, p. 1) that “it can only exist in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist” (Szasz 1960, p. 1). He also nargues throughout the essay that mental illness is a misleading term, could be a sign for brain disease and therefore not a mental illness, and that it actually is a way to express problems of living. He says all this but does not have much evidence to back up these claims or a suggestion for a new name. Szasz’s argument is full of weaknesses that do not support his theory of mental illness being a myth. He writes that mental symptoms can only be identified by and “refer to a patient’s communications about himself, others, and the world about him” (Szasz 1960, p. 2) . It is common knowledge that the way any doctor identifies symptoms of illness is through the words of the patient experiencing it, whether it be physical or mental. The author also writes that “the finding of mental illness is made by establishing a deviance in behavior from certain psychological, ethical, or legal norms”(Szasz …show more content…

1) is a contradiction to his field of study. Psychiatrists are people who specialize in treating people with mental illness. His paper would have been more credible to me if there had been a study conducted on the claims made in his article. The one strength that I recognize with Szasz article is that it is written very academically. The style of writing is that of a organized and that of a scholarly article, but he does not reference any studies regarding mental illness or any statistical figures to back up his claim of mental illness being a myth or being real in same way that witchcraft or witches were

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