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Thomas Szasz Quotes

Psychiatrist

Thomas Szasz, born on April 15, 1920 in Hungary, was a renowned American psychiatrist, writer, and philosopher. He is known for his critical views on psychiatry and liberalism, particularly his skepticism about the nature of mental illness and his emphasis on individual freedom.

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Famous Thomas Szasz Quotes

“We shall therefore compare the concept of homosexuality as heresy, prevalent in the days of the witch-hunts, with the concept of homosexuality as mental illness, prevalent today.”

Today Concepts Illness Mental Illness Compare Witch Homosexuality Hunts Heresy Witch Hunt

Book:The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“In English-speaking countries, the connection between heresy and homosexuality is expressed through the use of a single word to denote both concepts: buggery. ... Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (Third Edition) defines "buggery" as "heresy, sodomy.”

Country Use Concepts Connections Thirds Homosexuality Dictionary Heresy Single Word English Speaking

Book:The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“The disease concept of homosexuality as with the disease concept of all so-called mental illnesses, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or suicide conceals the fact that homosexuals are a group of medically stigmatized and socially persecuted individuals. ... Their anguished cries of protest are drowned out by the rhetoric of therapy just as the rhetoric of salvation drowned out the [cries] of heretics.”

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“So long as men denounce each other as mentally sick (homosexual, addicted, insane, and so forth) so that the madman can always be considered the Other, never the Self mental illness will remain an easily exploitable concept, and Coercive Psychiatry a flourishing institution.”

Men Long Self Concepts Sick Institutions Illness Mental Illness Insane Homosexual Psychiatry Madmen Flourishing

Book:The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement

“Mental illness, of course, is not literally a "thing" - or physical object - and hence it can "exist" only in the same sort of way in which other theoretical concepts exist.”

Way Courses Objects Concepts Illness Mental Illness Theoretical Bipolar Mentally Ill

Author:Thomas Szasz

“No further evidence is needed to show that 'mental illness' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious.”

Shows Purpose Names Nature Conditions Needed Concepts Evidence Illness Obvious Mental Illness Obscure

Book:Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

Source: Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary

“Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.”

Source: The Manufacture of Madness: A Comparative Study of the Inquisition and the Mental Health Movement