Thomas Szasz

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1093/med/9780198813491.001.0001 ◽

2019 ◽

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Multidisciplinary Approach ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

Insanity Defense ◽

History Of Ideas ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

History Of ◽

Thomas Szasz

This anthology takes a multidisciplinary approach to examining the legacy of the controversial psychiatrist and libertarian philosopher Thomas Szasz (1920-2012), whose mordant criticism of psychiatry challenged the very concept of mental illness and the practice of coercive psychiatric treatment and some tenets of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. The international spectrum of contributors represents a wide variety of viewpoints in psychiatry, philosophy, and the history of ideas. They discuss the viability of interpretations of mental illness, especially with reference to specific conditions such as schizophrenia; the legal and ethical implications of Szasz’s thought, particularly for the insanity defense; several aspects of the suicide debate; questions of accountability, responsibility, and psychopathy; thinkers who influenced him; and his influences on others.

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Psychiatry and the dark side: eugenics, Nazi and Soviet psychiatry

Advances in Psychiatric Treatment ◽

10.1192/apt.bp.112.010330 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 52-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jason Luty

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Mentally Ill ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

History Of Psychiatry ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Dark Side ◽

Nazi Regime ◽

The Usa ◽

History Of ◽

Thomas Szasz

SummaryPsychiatrist Thomas Szasz fought coercion (compulsory detention) and denied that mental illness existed. Although he was regarded as a maverick, his ideas are much more plausible when one discovers that between 1939 and 1941, up to 100 000 mentally ill people, including 5000 children, were killed in Nazi Germany. In the course of the Nazi regime, over 400 000 forced sterilisations took place, mainly of people with mental illnesses. Other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, had active forced sterilisation programmes and eugenics laws. Similar laws were implemented in the USA, with up to 25 000 forced sterilisations. These atrocities were enabled and facilitated by psychiatrists of the time and are only one example of the dark side of the profession. This article reviews some of these aspects of the history of psychiatry, including Germany's eugenics programme and the former USSR's detention of dissidents under the guise of psychiatric treatment.

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The History of the Treatment of Mental Illness

Acceptance of Mental Illness ◽

10.1093/med:psych/9780190204273.003.0001 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Lauren Mizock ◽

Zlatka Russinova

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Western Europe ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

Shock Therapy ◽

The United States ◽

Models Of Care ◽

People With Mental Illness ◽

History Of ◽

The Impact

Chapter 1 reviews the history of psychiatric treatment of people with mental illness in the United States and Western Europe, highlighting past perspectives in care, such as ancient trephination and exorcism during the demonology era, humorism in early Greek and Roman thought, a return to demonological perspectives in the Middle Ages, as well as mesmerism and psychoanalysis in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 20th-century biological perspective is described, including the use of insulin shock therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomy. Next, the development of more humane treatment approaches is discussed, such as the moral treatment movement of the 1800s. The ex-patient’s movement of the 1970s is reviewed, leading up to the contemporary recovery-oriented and psychosocial rehabilitation models of care. The impact of stigma on the acceptance of serious mental illness is explored throughout this history. Discussion questions, activities, and diagrams are also included.

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History of the Mistreatment of Women with Serious Mental Illness

Women with Serious Mental Illness ◽

10.1093/med-psych/9780190922351.003.0002 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 6-23

Author(s):

Lauren Mizock ◽

Erika Carr

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Illness ◽

Western Europe ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

Psychiatric Symptoms ◽

The United States ◽

Western World ◽

Health Trends ◽

Marginalized Women ◽

History Of

Chapter 2 reviews the history of psychiatric treatment of women with mental illness in the United States and Western Europe. The chapter covers ways in which labeling women as “mad’ has marginalized women, while those with actual psychiatric symptoms were mistreated or overlooked in mental health care. This chapter reviews relevant mental health trends in the treatment of women in the Western world for the past several centuries, from the mass hysteria of witch hunts, to gynecological surgeries believed to cure insanity. Critics of misogynistic treatments and their struggles for justice are highlighted. Themes in the mistreatment of women’s mental health that continue in the present day are also explored. Discussion questions and activities are included.

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Thomas Szasz and the insanity defense

Thomas Szasz ◽

10.1093/med/9780198813491.003.0016 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 189-210

Author(s):

Neil Pickering

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Insanity Defense ◽

The Other ◽

The Third ◽

Widespread Acceptance ◽

Thomas Szasz

Szasz stoutly opposed the use of the insanity defense. This chapter considers the persuasiveness of Szasz’s arguments against it, which fall into three broad categories: (1) arguments that the insanity defense is immoral; (2) arguments that it relies on a nonexistent entity, namely mental illness; and (3) arguments that the sciences of psychiatry offer no grounds for supporting it. Each category of argument is explored in its various forms. The most persuasive type of argument is found to be the third. Unlike the other two, it does not require us to buy into strong and broad beliefs which are indeed characteristically Szaszian (such as that mental illness is a myth), but which lack widespread acceptance. In contrast, Szasz’s argument that the sciences associated with psychiatry (such as psychology) do not offer grounds for the existence of the insanity defense appeals to a commonly held and highly plausible multifactorial account of the causes of human behavior. In short, analysed carefully, Szasz’s writing provides more persuasive grounds for taking exception to the insanity defense than his own best-known views offer.

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The use of Involuntary Commitment and Videotape in the Psychiatric Treatment of an Incarcerated Offender: A Case Study

The Journal of Psychiatry & Law ◽

10.1177/009318538000800103 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 5-30

Author(s):

Dixie Moore

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Legal History ◽

Psychiatric Treatment ◽

Involuntary Commitment ◽

Involuntary Treatment ◽

Involuntary Hospitalization ◽

Videotape Interview ◽

History Of ◽

Clinical Problems

The psychiatric and legal history of a prisoner is reviewed. Ethical, legal and clinical problems related to his mental illness including his refusal to accept a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, his dual role as prisoner and patient, and his subsequent involuntary hospitalization are discussed. Use of a videotape interview as an adjunct procedure in his involuntary treatment is described and recommended.

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The Insanity Defense as a History of Mental Disorder

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.013.0003 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel N. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Ancient Greece ◽

Case Law ◽

Insanity Defense ◽

General Concept ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Relevant Case ◽

History Of ◽

Historical Developments

Throughout its history, the insanity defense specifically and the more general concept of mental defect or incompetence have been grounded in the assumption that those people fit for the rule of law are able to give and to comprehend reasons for their actions. This chapter traces the evolution of perspectives on the nature of mental illness and the manner in which cultural and extra-scientific influences have shaped perspectives. These perspectives are most saliently expressed in statutory provisions and relevant case law summarized here and covering historical developments from ancient Greece and Rome to the present. Significant interactions between law and psychiatry are further highlighted and informed by core and controversial philosophical assumptions. Attention is given to differences between juridical and medical conceptions of responsibility.

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