Thomas Szasz's Books

Cruel Compassion

Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted

By: Thomas Szasz

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Cruel Compassion

Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted

By: Thomas Szasz

Cruel Compassion is the capstone of Thomas Szasz's critique of psychiatric practices. Reexamining psychiatric interventions from a cultural-historical and political-economic perspective, Szasz demonstrates that the main problem that faces mental health policy makers today is adult dependency. Millions of Americans, diagnosed as mentally ill, are drugged and confined by doctors for noncriminal conduct, go legally unpunished for the crimes they commit, and are supported by the state—not because they are sick, but because they are unproductive and unwanted. Obsessed with the twin beliefs that misbehavior is a medical disorder and that the duty of the state is to protect adults from themselves, we have replaced criminal-punitive sentences with civil-therapeutic 'programs.' The result is the relentless loss of individual liberty, erosion of personal responsibility, and destruction of the security of persons and property—symptoms of the transformation of a Constitutional Republic into a Therapeutic State, unconstrained by the rule of law. Szasz shows convincingly that not until we separate therapy from coercion—much as the founders separated theology from coercion—shall we be able to get a handle on our seemingly intractable psychiatric and social problems. No contemporary thinker has done more than Thomas Szasz to expose the myths and misconceptions surrounding insanity and the practice of psychiatry. Now, in Cruel Compassion, he gives us a sobering look at some of our most cherished notions about our humane treatment of society's unwanted, and perhaps more importantly, about ourselves as a compassionate and democratic people.

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290

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815605102

ISBN 13

9780815605102

Antipsychiatry

Quackery Squared

By: Thomas Szasz

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Antipsychiatry

Quackery Squared

By: Thomas Szasz

More than fifty years ago, Thomas Szasz showed that the concept of mental illness—a disease of the mind—is an oxymoron, a metaphor, a myth. Disease, in the medical sense, affects only the body. He also demonstrated that civil commitment and the insanity defense, the paradigmatic practices of psychiatry, are incompatible with the political values of personal responsibility and individual liberty. The psychiatric establishment’s rejection of Szasz’s critique posed no danger to his work: its defense of coercions and excuses as “therapy” supported his argument regarding the metaphorical nature of mental illness and the transparent immorality of brutal psychiatric control masquerading as humane medical care. In the late 1960s, the launching of the so-called antipsychiatry movement vitiated Szasz’s effort to present a precisely formulated conceptual and political critique of the medical identity of psychiatry. Led by the Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing, the antipsychiatrists used the term to attract attention to themselves and to deflect attention from what they did, which included coercions and excuses based on psychiatric principles and power. For this reason, Szasz rejected, and continues to reject, psychiatry and antipsychiatry with equal vigor. Subsuming his work under the rubric of antipsychiatry betrays and negates it just as surely and effectively as subsuming it under the rubric of psychiatry. In Antipsychiatry: Quackery Squared, Szasz powerfully argues that his writings belong to neither psychiatry nor antipsychiatry. They stem from conceptual analysis, social-political criticism, and common sense.

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205

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815651317

ISBN 13

9780815651314

Ideology and Insanity

Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man

By: Thomas Szasz

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Ideology and Insanity

Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man

By: Thomas Szasz

This book is a collection of the earliest essays of Thomas Szasz, in which he staked out his position on “the nature, scope, methods, and values of psychiatry.” On each of these issues, he opposed the official position of the psychiatric profession. Where conventional psychiatrists saw themselves diagnosing and treating mental illness, Szasz saw them stigmatizing and controlling persons; where they saw hospitals, Szasz saw prisons; where they saw courageous professional advocacy of individualism and freedom, Szasz saw craven support of collectivism and oppression.

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292

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815602561

ISBN 13

9780815602569

Psychiatric Slavery

By: Thomas Szasz

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Psychiatric Slavery

By: Thomas Szasz

Re-examining psychiatric interventions from a cultural-historical and political-economic perspective, Szasz demonstrates that the main problem that faces mental health policymakers today is adult dependency. Millions of Americans, diagnosed as mentally ill, are drugged and confined by doctors for non-criminal conduct, go legally unpunished for the crimes they commit, and are supported by the state - not because they are sick, but because they are unproductive and unwanted. Obsessed with the twin beliefs that misbehaviour is a medical disorder and that the duty of the state is to protect adults from themselves, we have replaced criminal-punitive sentences with civil-therapeutic programmes. The result is the relentless loss of individual liberty and erosion of personal responsibility - symptoms of the transformation of a Constitutional Republic into a Therapeutic State, unconstrained by the rule of law.

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196

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815605110

ISBN 13

9780815605119

Faith in Freedom

Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices

By: Thomas Stephen Szasz

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Faith in Freedom

Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices

By: Thomas Stephen Szasz

Szasz provides biting profiles of leading libertarian figures and what they've said about psychiatry. Ignorance, haziness, omission, and inconsistency are exposed--Hayek's work on theoretical psychology is "a monumental mistake." Szasz's consternation is justified and cause for concern that even libertarians think of some as less equal than others."-- Daniel Klein, Associate Professor of Economics, Santa Clara University "Szasz's book is superb. I am amazed that he has kept his humor and good sense after half a century making the argument that freedom, after all, is best. A less sane person would long since have abandoned reason and evidence. Szasz makes a devastating logical and factual case against what he calls the new slavery. As someone who has in a small way experienced the slavery, I can appreciate his advocacy of voluntary psychiatry. He has written a literate, sophisticated brief for what Adam Smith called "the simple and obvious system of natural liberty" applied to the one area of modern life in which our liberties are still eroding--psychiatry. As was famously said, when they came for the Jews, I did nothing, because I wasn't a Jew. And so forth, to: When they came for the gender crossers, I did nothing, because I wasn't a gender crosser. When they came for me, Szasz warns, there was no one left to do anything."--Deirdre McCloskey, Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago and author of Crossing: A Memoir The libertarian philosophy of freedom is characterized by two fundamental beliefs: self-ownership is a basic right, and initiating violence is a fundamental wrong. Psychiatric practice violates both of these beliefs. It is based on the assumptions that self-ownership--epitomized by suicide--is a medical wrong, and that initiating violence against persons called "mental patients" is a medical right. Thomas Szasz raises fundamental questions about these assumptions. Are self-medication and self-determined death exercises of rightful self-ownership, or manifestations of serious mental diseases? Does deprivation of human liberty under psychiatric auspices constitute odious preventive detention, or is it therapeutically justified hospitalization? Should forced psychiatric drugging be interpreted as assault and battery on the person, or is it medical treatment? The ethical standards of psychiatric practice mandate that psychiatrists coerce certain innocent persons. Abstaining from such "intervention" is considered malpractice--dereliction of the psychiatrists' "duty to protect." This duty reflects the fact that psychiatry is an arm of the coercive apparatus of the state, converting it to an institution Thomas Szasz calls "psychiatric slavery." How should friends of freedom--especially libertarians--deal with the conflict between elementary libertarian principles and prevailing psychiatric practices? In Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practices, Szasz addresses this question. After examining the theoretical underpinnings of the problem, with precision, he presents several analytical studies. Expanding on ideas first developed in the groundbreaking and controversial works The Myth of Mental Illness, Ceremonial Chemistry, and Liberation by Oppression, Faith in Freedom is a strikingly original book, written by one of the foremost champions of psychiatric freedom. It will be of lasting interest to psychiatrists, sociologists, mental health practitioners, and students of political science. "[Faith in Freedom] is a strikingly original book, written by one of the foremost champions of psychiatric freedom." -SirReadaLot.org Thomas Szasz is professor of psychiatry emeritus at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C. He is the a

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264

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Transaction Publishers

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ISBN 10

0765802449

ISBN 13

9780765802446

Our Right to Drugs

The Case for a Free Market

By: Thomas Szasz

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Our Right to Drugs

The Case for a Free Market

By: Thomas Szasz

In Our Right to Drugs, Szasz shows how the present drug war started at the beginning of this century, when the US government first assumed the task of protecting people from patent medicines. By the end of World War I the free market in drugs was but a dim memory. Instead of dwelling on the familiar impracticality and unfairness of drug laws, Szasz demonstrates the deleterious effects of prescription laws, which place people under lifelong medical supervision. The result is that most Americans today prefer a coercive and corrupt command drug economy to a free market in drugs.

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236

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815603339

ISBN 13

9780815603337

Words to the Wise

A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

By: Thomas Szasz

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Words to the Wise

A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

By: Thomas Szasz

The human mind abhors the absence of explanation, but full understanding is never possible. Human understanding is likely to be incomplete at best and, more often, utterly fallacious. To make matters worse, it is likely to be supported as truth and wisdom by religious and scientific authority, intellectual fashion and social convention. In Words to the Wise, Thomas Szasz offers a compendium of thoughts, observations, and aphorisms that address our understanding of a broad range of subjects, from birth to death.In this book, Szasz tackles a problem intrinsic to the human condition. What problem? In the words of the American humorist Josh Billings: ""The trouble with people is not what they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so."" Many of Thomas Szasz's books have been devoted to exposing what ""ain't so"" about mental illness and psychiatry. Here, Szasz applies the same skeptical spirit to the larger problem of people knowing much that ""ain't so."" About addiction, Szasz observes: ""If a person ingests a drug prohibited by legislators and claims that it makes him feel better, that proves he is an addict; if he ingests a drug prescribed by a psychiatrist and claims that it makes him feel better, that proves that mental illness is a biomedical disease."" About beauty: ""Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; ugliness is in the personality of the beholden."" About libertarians: ""Libertarians regard liberty as contingent on the right to property; scientists regard disease as contingent on pathological alteration of the body. All libertarians reject the notion of 'socialist liberty,' yet many accept the notion of 'mental disease.'"" Or about power: ""Many of my critics say I am hostile to medicine and physicians. They are wrong. I am hostile only to the power of the medical profession and of physicians.""Szasz notes that despite enormous social pressure for a shared perspective on how the world works and how we ought to live, every person'saunde

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237

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1351471120

ISBN 13

9781351471121

Psychiatry

The Science of Lies

By: Thomas Szasz

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Psychiatry

The Science of Lies

By: Thomas Szasz

For more than half a century, Thomas Szasz has devoted much of his career to a radical critique of psychiatry. His latest work, Psychiatry: The Science of Lies, is a culmination of his life’s work: to portray the integral role of deception in the history and practice of psychiatry. Szasz argues that the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness stands in the same relationship to the diagnosis and treatment of bodily illness that the forgery of a painting does to the original masterpiece. Art historians and the legal system seek to distinguish forgeries from originals. Those concerned with medicine, on the other hand—physicians, patients, politicians, health insurance providers, and legal professionals—take the opposite stance when faced with the challenge of distinguishing everyday problems in living from bodily diseases, systematically authenticating nondiseases as diseases. The boundary between disease and nondisease—genuine and imitation, truth and falsehood—thus becomes arbitrary and uncertain. There is neither glory nor profit in correctly demarcating what counts as medical illness and medical healing from what does not. Individuals and families wishing to protect themselves from medically and politically authenticated charlatanry are left to their own intellectual and moral resources to make critical decisions about human dilemmas miscategorized as "mental diseases" and about medicalized responses misidentified as "psychiatric treatments." Delivering his sophisticated analysis in lucid prose and with a sharp wit, Szasz continues to engage and challenge readers of all backgrounds.

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170

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815650442

ISBN 13

9780815650447

Pharmacracy

Medicine and Politics in America

By: Thomas Szasz

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Pharmacracy

Medicine and Politics in America

By: Thomas Szasz

The modern penchant for transforming human problems into "diseases" and judicial sanctions into "treatments," replacing the rule of law with the rule of medical discretion, leads to a type of government social critic Thomas Szasz calls "pharmacracy." He warns that the creeping substitution of democracy for pharmacracyprivate personal concerns increasingly perceived as requiring a medical-political responseinexorably erodes personal freedom and dignity.

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252

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815607636

ISBN 13

9780815607632

The Manufacture of Madness

A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Manufacture of Madness

A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

By: Thomas Szasz

In this seminal work, Dr. Szasz examines the similarities between the Inquisition and institutional psychiatry. His purpose is to show “that the belief in mental illness and the social actions to which it leads have the same moral implications and political consequences as had the belief in witchcraft and the social actions to which it led.”

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420

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815604610

ISBN 13

9780815604617

Fatal Freedom

The Ethics and Politics of Suicide

By: Thomas Szasz

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Fatal Freedom

The Ethics and Politics of Suicide

By: Thomas Szasz

Fatal Freedom is an eloquent defense of every individual’s right to choose F a voluntary death. By maintaining statutes that determine that voluntary death is not legal, Thomas Szasz believes that our society is forfeiting one of its basic freedoms and causing the psychiatric medical establishment to treat individuals in a manner that is disturbingly inhumane. Society’s penchant for defining behavior it terms objectionable as a disease has created a psychiatric establishment that exerts far too much influence over how and when we choose to die. In a compelling argument that clearly and intelligently addresses one of the most significant ethical issues of our time, Szasz compares suicide to other practices that historically began as sins, became crimes, and now arc seen as mental illnesses.

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204

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815607555

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9780815607557

The Meaning of Mind

Language, Morality, and Neuroscience

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Meaning of Mind

Language, Morality, and Neuroscience

By: Thomas Szasz

This is Szasz's most ambitious work to date. In his best-selling book, The Myth of Mental Illness, he took psychiatry to task for misconstruing human conflict and coping as mental illness. In Our Right to Drugs, he exposed the irrationality and political opportunism that fuels the Drug War. In The Meaning of Mind, he warns that we misconstrue the dialogue within as a problem of consciousness and neuroscience, and do so at our own peril.

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212

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

081560775X

ISBN 13

9780815607755

Ceremonial Chemistry

The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers, Revised Edition

By: Thomas Szasz

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Ceremonial Chemistry

The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers, Revised Edition

By: Thomas Szasz

Responding to the controversy surrounding drug use and drug criminalization, Thomas Szasz suggests that the "therapeutic state" has overstepped its bounds in labeling certain drugs as "dangerous" substances and incarcerating drug "addicts" in order to cure them. Szasz shows that such policies scapegoat certain drugs as well as the persons who sell, buy, or use them; and 'misleadingly pathologize the "drug problem" by defining disapproved drug use as "disease" and efforts to change the behavior as "treatment." Readers will find in Szasz's arguments a cogent and committed response to a worldwide debate.

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316

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815607687

ISBN 13

9780815607687

The Myth of Psychotherapy

Mental Healing as Religion, Rhetoric, and Repression

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Myth of Psychotherapy

Mental Healing as Religion, Rhetoric, and Repression

By: Thomas Szasz

This intriguing book undercuts everything you thought you knew about psychotherapy.

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258

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815603134

ISBN 13

9780815603139

The Medicalization of Everyday Life

Selected Essays

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Medicalization of Everyday Life

Selected Essays

By: Thomas Szasz

This collection of impassioned essays, published between 1973 and 2006, chronicles Thomas Szasz’s long campaign against the orthodoxies of “pharmacracy,” that is, the alliance of medicine and the state. From “Diagnoses Are Not Diseases” to “The Existential Identity Thief,” “Fatal Temptation,” and “Killing as Therapy,” the book delves into the complex evolution of medicalization, concluding with “Pharmacracy: The New Despotism.” In practice, society must draw a line between what counts as medical practice and what does not. Where it draws that line goes far in defining the kinds of laws its citizens live under, the kinds of medical care they receive, and the kinds of lives they are allowed to live.

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236

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815608675

ISBN 13

9780815608677

Coercion as Cure

A Critical History of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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Coercion as Cure

A Critical History of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

Understanding the history of psychiatry requires an accurate view of its function and purpose. In this provocative new study, Szasz challenges conventional beliefs about psychiatry. He asserts that, in fact, psychiatrists are not concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of bona fide illnesses. Psychiatric tradition, social expectation, and the law make it clear that coercion is the profession's determining characteristic. Psychiatrists may "diagnose" or "treat" people without their consent or even against their clearly expressed wishes, and these involuntary psychiatric interventions are as different as are sexual relations between consenting adults and the sexual violence we call "rape." But the point is not merely the difference between coerced and consensual psychiatry, but to contrast them. The term "psychiatry" ought to be applied to one or the other, but not both. As long as psychiatrists and society refuse to recognize this, there can be no real psychiatric historiography. The coercive character of psychiatry was more apparent in the past than it is now. Then, insanity was synonymous with unfitness for liberty. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a new type of psychiatric relationship developed, when people experiencing so-called "nervous symptoms," sought help. This led to a distinction between two kinds of mental diseases: neuroses and psychoses. Persons who complained about their own behavior were classified as neurotic, whereas persons about whose behavior others complained were classified as psychotic. The legal, medical, psychiatric, and social denial of this simple distinction and its far-reaching implications undergirds the house of cards that is modern psychiatry. Coercion as Cure is the most important book by Szasz since his landmark The Myth of Mental Illness.

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295

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Transaction Publishers

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ISBN 10

1412808952

ISBN 13

9781412808958

My Madness Saved Me

The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf

By: Thomas Szasz

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My Madness Saved Me

The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf

By: Thomas Szasz

The vast literature on Virginia Woolf's life, work, and marriage falls into two groups. A large majority is certain that she was mentally ill, and a small minority is equally certain that she was not mentally ill but was misdiagnosed by psychiatrists. In this daring exploration of Woolf's life and work, Thomas Szasz--famed for his radical critique of psychiatric concepts, coercions, and excuses--examines the evidence and rejects both views. Instead, he looks at how Virginia Woolf, as well as her husband Leonard, used the concept of madness and the profession of psychiatry to manage and manipulate their own and each other's lives.Do we explain achievement when we attribute it to the fictitious entity we call ""genius""? Do we explain failure when we attribute it to the fictitious entity we call ""madness""? Or do we deceive ourselves the same way that the person deceives himself when he attributes the easy ignition of hydrogen to its being ""flammable""? Szasz interprets Virginia Woolf's life and work as expressions of her character, and her character as the ""product"" of her free will. He offers this view as a corrective against the prevailing, ostensibly scientific view that attributes both her ""madness"" and her ""genius"" to biological-genetic causes. We tend to attribute exceptional achievement to genius, and exceptional failure to madness. Both, says Szasz, are fictitious entities.

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213

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351503979

ISBN 13

9781351503976

The Myth of Mental Illness

Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct

By: Thomas S. Szasz

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The Myth of Mental Illness

Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct

By: Thomas S. Szasz

“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times The 50th anniversary edition of the most influential critique of psychiatry every written, with a new preface on the age of Prozac and Ritalin and the rise of designer drugs, plus two bonus essays. Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

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436

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Harper Collins

Published Date

ISBN 10

0062104748

ISBN 13

9780062104748

Psychiatric Justice

By: Thomas Szasz

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Psychiatric Justice

By: Thomas Szasz

Szasz troubles the dark, still waters of psychiatry and the law. He peeps beneath the crazy quilt of federal and state procedures which render impotent the constitutional right to a speedy and public trial.

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308

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815602316

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9780815602316

Coercion as Cure

A Critical History of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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Coercion as Cure

A Critical History of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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1412808952

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9781412808958

The Myth of Mental Illness Revised Edition

By: Thomas S. Szasz,Thomas Szasz

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The Myth of Mental Illness Revised Edition

By: Thomas S. Szasz,Thomas Szasz

“The landmark book that argued that psychiatry consistently expands its definition of mental illness to impose its authority over moral and cultural conflict.” — New York Times “Controversial and influential . . . an iconoclastic work.” — Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review A 50th Anniversary Edition of Thomas Szasz’s famous, influential critique of the field of psychiatry, with a new preface on the age of Prozac, Ritalin, and the rise of designer drugs.

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324

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Harper Collins

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ISBN 10

0060911514

ISBN 13

9780060911515

The Myth of Psychotherapy

Mental Healing as Religion, Rhetoric, and Repression

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Myth of Psychotherapy

Mental Healing as Religion, Rhetoric, and Repression

By: Thomas Szasz

This intriguing book undercuts everything you thought you knew about psychotherapy.

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260

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815602235

ISBN 13

9780815602231

The Medicalization of Everyday Life

Selected Essays

By: Thomas Szasz

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The Medicalization of Everyday Life

Selected Essays

By: Thomas Szasz

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236

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Syracuse University Press

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0815608675

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9780815608677

Liberation by Oppression

A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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Liberation by Oppression

A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

Originally called mad-doctoring, psychiatry began in the seventeenth century with the establishing of madhouses and the legal empowering of doctors to incarcerate persons denominated as insane. Until the end of the nineteenth century, every relationship between psychiatrist and patient was based on domination and coercion, as between master and slave. Psychiatry, its emblem the state mental hospital, was a part of the public sphere, the sphere of coercion.The advent of private psychotherapy, at the end of the nineteenth century, split psychiatry in two: some patients continued to be the involuntary inmates of state hospitals; others became the voluntary patients of privately practicing psychotherapists. Psychotherapy was officially defined as a type of medical treatment, but actually was a secular-medical version of the cure of souls. Relationships between therapist and patient, Thomas Szasz argues, was based on cooperation and contract, as is relationships between employer and employee, or, between clergyman and parishioner. Psychotherapy, its emblem the therapist's office, was a part of the private sphere, the contract.Through most of the twentieth century, psychiatry was a house divided-half-slave, and half-free. During the past few decades, psychiatry became united again: all relations between psychiatrists and patients, regardless of the nature of the interaction between them, are now based on actual or potential coercion. This situation is the result of two major ""reforms"" that deprive therapist and patient alike of the freedom to contract with one another: Therapists now have a double duty: they must protect all mental patients-involuntary and voluntary, hospitalized or outpatient, incompetent or competent-from themselves. They must also protect the public from all patients.Persons designated as mental patients may be exempted from responsibility for the deleterious consequences of their own behavior if it is attributed to mental illne

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252

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351508784

ISBN 13

9781351508780

A Lexicon of Lunacy

Metaphoric Malady, Moral Responsibility and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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A Lexicon of Lunacy

Metaphoric Malady, Moral Responsibility and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

Thomas Szasz is renowned for his critical exploration of the literal language of psychiatry and his rejection of officially sanctioned definitions of mental illness. His work has initiated a continuing debate in the psychiatric community whose essence is often misunderstood. Szasz's critique of the established view of mental illness is rooted in an insistent distinction between disease and behavior. In his view, psychiatrists have misapplied the vocabulary of disease as metaphorical figures to denote a range of deviant behaviors from the merely eccentric to the criminal. In A Lexicon of Lunacy, Szasz extends his analysis of psychiatric language to show how its misuse has resulted in a medicalized view of life that denies the reality of free will and responsibility. Szasz documents the extraordinary extent to which modern diagnosis of mental illness is subject to shifting social attitudes and values. He shows how economic, personal, legal, and political factors have come to play an increasingly powerful role in the diagnostic process, with consequences of blurring the distinction between cultural and scientific standards. Broadened definitions of mental illness have had a corrosive effect on the criminal justice system in undercutting traditional conceptions of criminal behavior and have encouraged state-sanctioned coercive interventions that bestow special privileges (and impose special hardships) on persons diagnosed as mentally ill. Lucidly written and powerfully argued, and now available in paperback, this provocative and challenging volume will be of interest to psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists.

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331

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1351535021

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9781351535021

Law, Liberty and Psychiatry

An Inquiry into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices

By: Thomas Szasz

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Law, Liberty and Psychiatry

An Inquiry into the Social Uses of Mental Health Practices

By: Thomas Szasz

1 copy located in CIRCULATION.

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308

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Syracuse University Press

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0815602421

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9780815602422

Cruel Compassion

Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted

By: Thomas Szasz

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Cruel Compassion

Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted

By: Thomas Szasz

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290

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Syracuse University Press

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0815605102

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9780815605102

Liberation by Oppression

A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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Liberation by Oppression

A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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252

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Routledge

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1351508784

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9781351508780

My Madness Saved Me

The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf

By: Thomas Szasz

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My Madness Saved Me

The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf

By: Thomas Szasz

The vast literature on Virginia Woolf's life, work, and marriage falls into two groups. A large majority is certain that she was mentally ill, and a small minority is equally certain that she was not mentally ill but was misdiagnosed by psychiatrists. In this daring exploration of Woolf's life and work, Thomas Szasz--famed for his radical critique of psychiatric concepts, coercions, and excuses--examines the evidence and rejects both views. Instead, he looks at how Virginia Woolf, as well as her husband Leonard, used the concept of madness and the profession of psychiatry to manage and manipulate their own and each other's lives. Do we explain achievement when we attribute it to the fictitious entity we call "genius"? Do we explain failure when we attribute it to the fictitious entity we call "madness"? Or do we deceive ourselves the same way that the person deceives himself when he attributes the easy ignition of hydrogen to its being "flammable"? Szasz interprets Virginia Woolf's life and work as expressions of her character, and her character as the "product" of her free will. He offers this view as a corrective against the prevailing, ostensibly scientific view that attributes both her "madness" and her "genius" to biological-genetic causes. We tend to attribute exceptional achievement to genius, and exceptional failure to madness. Both, says Szasz, are fictitious entities.

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177

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Transaction Publishers

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1412809452

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9781412809450

Ideology and Insanity

Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man

By: Thomas Szasz

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Ideology and Insanity

Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanization of Man

By: Thomas Szasz

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292

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Syracuse University Press

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0815602561

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9780815602569

The Social Worker'S Guide To The Social Sciences: Key Concepts

The Key Concepts

By: Pierson, John,Thomas, Martin

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The Social Worker'S Guide To The Social Sciences: Key Concepts

The Key Concepts

By: Pierson, John,Thomas, Martin

This book provides social work students and professionals with core knowledge of the most important concepts in the social sciences. Offering a straightforward guide to diverse and complex disciplines, the book will equip and encourage you to delve further into the way societies function and individuals behave.

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281

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McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

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0335245714

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9780335245710

Formed From This Soil

An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America

By: Thomas S. Bremer

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Formed From This Soil

An Introduction to the Diverse History of Religion in America

By: Thomas S. Bremer

Formed from This Soil offers a complete history of religion in America that centers on the diversity of sacred traditions and practices that have existed in the country from its earliest days. Organized chronologically starting with the earliest Europeans searching for new routes to Asia, through to the global context of post-9/11 America of the 21st century Includes discussion of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, political affiliations, and other elements of individual and collective identity Incorporates recent scholarship for a nuanced history that goes beyond simple explanations of America as a Protestant society Discusses diverse beliefs and practices that originated in the Americas as well as those that came from Europe, Asia, and Africa Pedagogical features include numerous visual images; sidebars with specialized topics and interpretive themes; discussion questions for each chapter; a glossary of common terms; and lists of relevant resources to broaden student learning

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458

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1118323548

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9781118323540

Being Mentally Ill

A Sociological Study

By: Thomas J. Scheff

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Being Mentally Ill

A Sociological Study

By: Thomas J. Scheff

In incorporating social process into a model of the dynamics of mental disorders, this text questions the individualistic model favoured in current psychiatric and psychoanalytic theory. While the conventional psychiatric viewpoint seeks the causes of mental illness, Scheff views "the symptoms of mental illness" as the violation of residual rules - social norms so taken for granted that they are not explicitly verbalized. The sociological theory developed by Scheff to account for such behaviour provides a framework for studies reported in subsequent chapters. Two key assumptions emerge: first, that most chronic mental illness is in part a social role; and second, that societal reaction may in part determine entry into that role. Throughout, the sociological model of mental illness is compared and contrasted with more conventional medical and psychological models in an attempt to delineate significant problems for further analysis and research. This third edition has been revised and expanded to encompass the controversy prompted by the first edition, and also to re-evaluate developments in the field. New to this edition are discussions of the use of psychoactive drugs in the treatment of mental illness, changing mental health laws, new social science and psychiatric studies, and the controversy surrounding the labelling theory of mental illness itself.

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220

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1351328239

ISBN 13

9781351328234

Goffman Unbound!

A New Paradigm for Social Science

By: Thomas J. Scheff,Bernard S Phillips,Harold Kincaid

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Goffman Unbound!

A New Paradigm for Social Science

By: Thomas J. Scheff,Bernard S Phillips,Harold Kincaid

Thomas Scheff demonstrates why Goffman remains such a key figure for social scientists. Goffman may have been cautious about recognizing the role of emotions in social life, but Scheff boldly and creatively shows why the sociological and the psychological are necessarily intertwined. This is certainly a book for all serious analysts of social behaviour." Michael Billig, Nottingham University "Scheff's critical eye is equal to his subject, shrewdly appreciating Goffman's many virtues while also showing where and how Goffman's thinking needs revision and development. This original and provocative book offers a fresh interpretation of Goffman and will become a benchmark for all subsequent commentary." Greg Smith, University of Salford One of the seminal sociologists of the twentieth century, Erving Goffman revolutionized our understanding of the microworld of emotions and relationships. We all live in this world every day of our lives, yet it is virtually invisible to us. Goffman's genius was to recognize and describe this world as no one had before. The book synthesizes prior scholarly commentary on Goffman's work, and includes biographical material from his life, untangling some of the many puzzles in Goffman's work and life. Scheff also proposes ways of filling gaps and false starts. One chapter explores the meaning of the emotion of love, another of hatred. These and other new directions could facilitate the creation of a microsocial science that unveils the emotional/relational world.

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246

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1317258789

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9781317258780

No Matter Where I Am, I See the Danube

By: Thomas KABDEBO

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No Matter Where I Am, I See the Danube

By: Thomas KABDEBO

A gripping personal story that is also the dramatic story of 20th century Hungary, with foreword by the President of Hungary, Arpad Goncz.

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192

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Phaeton Publishing Limited

Published Date

ISBN 10

1908420057

ISBN 13

9781908420053

Schizophrenia

The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

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Schizophrenia

The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry

By: Thomas Szasz

First published in 1976, Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry examines the concept of schizophrenia and the origins of its classification as a disease. Szasz convincing argues that rather than a medical diagnosis, the word schizophrenia is a symbol employed by psychiatrists as a means of control.

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260

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Syracuse University Press

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ISBN 10

0815602243

ISBN 13

9780815602248

Book's by Thomas Szasz

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