“The cruelty intrinsic to the workhouse system was excused by the need to discourage idleness, much as the malice intrinsic to the mental hospital system has been excused by the need to provide treatment.” LibertyPovertyMental IllnessInsanityPsychiatryCoercion Book:Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted Source: Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted
“The young and the old are defenseless against relatives who want to get rid of them by casting them in the role of mental patient,and against psychiatrists whose livelihood depends on defining them as mentally ill.” Mental IllnessChild AbusePsychiatryElder Abuse Book:Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted Source: Cruel Compassion: Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted
“Many of the verbal expressions that cause people to be detained on "mental health" grounds are — should be — protected speech. People who say things considered incomprehensible or illogical by the police or "mental health" workers are given ostensibly medical diagnoses and imprisoned for a limited time. That is, people who speak in a way those in authority disapprove of are punished, even if the speaker breaks no law. This blatant and often exercised limit on free speech is a "for your own good" exception to the First Amendment. There should be no such exception. But it is so woven into the fabric of American society and jurisprudence that virtually nobody objects. You can refuse a lifesaving treatment for cancer, but you cannot refuse to be jailed for saying something like, "I am Jesus" to the police when they are doing a "welfare check," a euphemism if there ever was one.” Free SpeechPsychiatryPolicing Author:Thomas Stephen Szasz